Tag Archives: engine

Is your cylinder head failing? Here’s how to know

Cylinder head

The cylinder head is a crucial component in any internal combustion engine. It’s responsible for optimising your vehicle’s performance, efficiency, and power output. 

Housing the intake and exhaust valves, along with other critical components which control the intake and exhaust processes, the cylinder head maximises airflow to create the ideal air-fuel mixture for combustion.

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Is There A Problem with My Oxygen Sensor?

oxygen sensor in the exhaust

Oxygen sensors are a crucial part of your vehicle’s engine. Each one checks and monitors the flow of air through the system, measuring the amount of oxygen coming into the engine and then leaving the engine by the exhaust. This data then goes on to regulate important fuel monitoring and delivery systems, MPG and timing functions and emissions release.

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Fumes, Emissions and Vapours – Getting a Sniff that Your Charcoal Canister is Faulty

emissions smell in the car

The charcoal canister is responsible for controlling the emission of fumes and vapour leaks from your vehicle’s fuel system. Many people don’t realise that the boiling point of petrol is comparatively low, and it is in a semi-gaseous state at room temperatures, which makes its fumes quite explosive.

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Limp Mode: What is it? What Causes it? And Most Importantly, How do You Fix it?

limp mode with car warning lights on

You’re driving down the road, doing a good pace. Suddenly you change gear or put your foot down on the accelerator and the car doesn’t respond quite as expected. It’s now stuck in second gear. You can’t get any more than around 2,500 rpm out of the engine, and you’re crawling along the road. What just happened?

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Engine Misfires: The Main Causes and the Symptoms of Misfiring You Must Not Ignore

Mechanic working on an engine to cure misfiring

There are many potential causes of a misfiring engine. Some of the most well-known include issues with worn out spark plugs, a weak pressure through the fuel injectors, a vacuum leak, fatigued valve seals, or even issues with the power going to the engine coil. Whatever the reason behind a misfiring engine, you’ll want to get eyes on the problem as soon as possible, as it can rapidly get worse, causing associated systems and parts within your engine to suffer damage. What are some of the most common causes and symptoms of a misfiring engine?

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All is Not Well Under the Bonnet: 7 Engine Symptoms You Don’t Want to avoid

car engine under a bonnet

Engines are the powerful centre of your car. You put your foot down, fuel surges into the cylinder heads and away you go. However, despite its importance, it’s all too easy to overlook problems with the engine, and turn a blind eye to some of the warning signs. Left unchecked, many of these can lead to a breakdown (leaving you stranded miles from home) or worse still, to a bank-balance breaking repair bill. In the most extreme cases engine problems can leave the car beyond viable repair – which then means you’ve got to go to the trouble of spending time finding and shelling out your hard-earned cash on a new vehicle.

To avoid the hassle and expense of experiencing engine failure, watch out for these minor and major warning signs to keep the costs of repair down.

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Why Does Your Car’s Engine Stall?

man inspecting a car after a stall

Unless you are still a novice driver, you should not really be stalling your vehicle (save for the occasional moment where your motoring skills suddenly go on holiday). But if your car starts regularly stalling, then you may have an underlying problem with the air flow, fuel system or electrics.

And when stalls happen on the open road they can be downright dangerous. What’s worse is that they’re always unexpected; stalls come with no warning signs. The check engine light doesn’t illuminate on the dash board and no signs come out of the engine. You could even be motoring on quite dandily and then bang out of nowhere, the stall happens.

If you are experiencing stalls on a regular basis when you’re on the road, then you may want to get the car checked out.

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Are You Suffering from Spark Plug Failure?

Man Holding old and new car spark plugs

Spark plugs are an integral part of the engine. Each one sends a little high voltage spark between the terminals, which is used to ignite fuel in the engine. When spark plugs fail, this means that your engine will stop running efficiently.

Over time spark plugs can become dirty, picking up a residue from the burned fuel, coating the electrodes with carbon. Additionally, repeated sparking of the metal components can simply wear them down, increasing the distance the spark has to jump between electrodes, requiring additional charge from the battery which is not always available.  In short, spark plugs will wear out.

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Don’t Ignore these 5 Symptoms of Water Pump Problems

car water pump

Combustion and friction generate a tremendous amount of heat in your car’s engine. To help all that thermal energy dissipate, you need to have a continuous flow of coolant, which is powered by the water pump. When the pump suffers from a fault or failure, this can lead to overheating, poor running of the vehicle, and even put a stop to your travels on the road. And because keeping the engine cool is so important – any issues that are left unchecked can lead to total engine failure.

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