Your vehicle’s carburetor plays a crucial in engine performance. A dirty or failing carburetor can create chaos under the hood. You’ll also run into trouble if your carburetor isn’t adjusted properly. You can tell if you’re on the road to carburetor problems. Just look for any of the four signs listed below. If you notice any of them, it’s time to have a professional take a look at the carburetor.
Engine Problems
As we mentioned above, your carburetor affects your car, truck, or SUV’s engine performance, and if it isn’t working as it should be, you’ll notice your vehicle doesn’t perform like it used to. The carburetor delivers a mixture of fuel and air to your engine so it can start and continue to run while you drive it. A problem with the carburetor usually results in sluggish engine performance and reduce fuel efficiency.
Polluted Exhaust
You might realize the poor engine performance through your exhaust pipe. If you notice black smoke coming out of your tailpipe, the carburetor sends too much fuel and not enough air to the engine. This is a rich air/fuel mixture, and your engine will burn the excess fuel, which is why you’ll see black exhaust as if you were driving a semi-truck. This can also create a problem if you need an emissions test.
Backfires
Backfires can be loud and scary and can generally be traced back to the carburetor. A lean air/fuel mixture can cause your automobile to backfire, and lean means there’s too much air in the mixture. If yours is sending a lean fuel mixture to your engine, your engine will have to work harder because it isn’t getting enough gasoline. This can cause it to overheat and can damage it.
Starting Trouble
Carburetor trouble can make it impossible to start your car, truck, or SUV, especially if it’s cold outside. This is called hard starting, and if the engine isn’t getting the combination of air and gasoline, it won’t be able to ignite, or you will have to flood it to get it to start. If you can start your engine much easier after it’s warmed up, this usually means things need some TLC.
At Pit Shop Auto Repair, we can take a look at your carburetor to make sure it’s mixing and distributing the proper air and fuel mixture to your automobile’s engine. If it isn’t, we’ll fix it. We service foreign and domestic automobiles, so stop by our Libertyville, IL, shop today.
