Are you hearing a lot more engine knocks than you usually do? That’s never a good thing. There can be a variety of factors contributing to the problem so it’s important to address all possible causes. Certified Auto Repair has these suggestions for a place to start looking.
Bad Knock Sensors
Your car’s engine has something called a knock sensor and that device’s job is to detect knocks and pings in the engine. That information goes straight to your car’s engine control module where it can make adjustments to things like the fuel to air mixture. When the knock sensor goes bad, it can’t detect or report about engine knocks and the ECM isn’t able to make adjustments.
Low Octane Fuel
Car manufacturers list out things like octane recommendations in your car’s owner’s manual. That’s a lot more important than you might think because that information helps you to put the correct type of gas in your car’s tank. If you use lower octane gas than recommended, the car will run but you’re more likely to hear engine knocks and pings. Over time? That ends up creating engine damage.
Spark Issues
Your car’s engine needs three things for combustion. Spark, fuel, and air are a delicate mixture and they need to all be there in the right amounts and at the right time in order for the engine to run as designed. If your car’s engine is knocking, it’s very likely that you might have issues with the spark. Either the timing of the spark might be off or there might be less spark than needed.
Fuel Injector Problems
Another big problem can be with not enough fuel getting to the engine. If your car’s fuel injectors are clogged or have gone bad, that means that they’re not able to mist fuel properly into the engine. You’ll hear that as engine knocks that eventually do lead to engine damage. It’s a good idea to have your fuel injectors checked if you’re hearing more engine noise than usual, because that could be the source of your problem.
Troubleshooting engine knocks is a complicated process. Let Certified Auto Repair in Henrico, VA help you to figure out what’s going on. We’ll do a series of diagnostic tests to determine all of the issues that are causing knocking in your car’s engine. From there, we’ll help you to find the right solution to keep your car’s engine running perfectly for as long as possible.
