Your car air filter removes dirt and other debris from the air that enters your engine. Combustion requires huge amounts of clean air, and this makes a good air filter very important. The air filter fills up with dirt as it works and will eventually need to be changed. Your friendly Toyota dealer in Chesapeake, VA, can easily fit a replacement for you! These are some of the signs that your filter needs to be changed.
Black Exhaust Smoke
Your engine requires more air than fuel for combustion, and the perfect ratio is 14:1 air to fuel. The air that enters your engine comes in via the air filter. If the filter is blocked, very little air will be available. When you have more fuel than air, this is known as fuel-rich. It’s also a difficult environment for effective combustion.
The lack of air means that much of the fuel in the cylinders won’t burn. Hot, unburnt fuel is dumped out of the cylinders into your car’s exhaust system. It passes through the catalytic converter. This passage can damage the converter as it isn’t designed to deal with hot fuel. The unburnt fuel will exist in your exhaust as a thick cloud of black smoke.
Lack of Acceleration
When you hit the gas pedal, your Toyota should respond with a burst of speed. If your acceleration is slow, and your engine feels like it’s straining to achieve higher speed, your air filter could be the problem. As we saw above, a fuel-rich environment wastes fuel as much of it won’t burn. The lack of air also affects compression.
Once air and fuel mix in the intake manifold, the mix is injected into the cylinders. This mix is then compressed before it’s ignited. Compression requires air, and the lack of air reduces the power of the compression. If compression is reduced, this means your car’s forward thrust is also reduced. The average reduction in acceleration due to a blocked filter is 6% to 11%.
Check Engine Light
The check engine light is a warning that something is going wrong in your engine, and it needs to be addressed quickly. Numerous sensors are attached throughout your engine. Each sensor is connected to one of your car’s components. The sensor’s job is to relay infractions on the component back to your car’s computer. If a problem is detected with one of these components, its attached sensor will alert your computer.
Poor acceleration, a fuel-rich environment, and a lack of oxygen in the exhaust are all problems that will trigger the warning light.
Staying on top of routine maintenance will allow you to get the most years possible out of your investment. If you suspect you have a worn air filter, call us right away at Priority Toyota Chesapeake.
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