Having your engine give up on you in the middle of a busy highway or right before the evening of the prom is a nightmare. The good part is that if you keep your eyes & ears open, you can discern the signs of a degrading engine.
For instance, if you spot oil dripping under your car’s engine block, that could be an oil pan leak or a blown gasket.
Never attempt to solve an engine problem at home unless you are a trained engine mechanic, especially if your car is insured. Vann York Toyota, serving High Point, NC, has more warnings to share on engine problems!
You’re Oblivious to The Check Engine Light
Even if you are blessed with impeccable 20×20 vision, it’s easy to miss the minute engine warning light. It looks like a cross-section of a helicopter, sans the rotors & tail, with a pronounced ‘CHECK’ in uppercase underneath.
It won’t specify the real issue, but it’s warning enough that the computerized control unit has flagged your engine for a malfunction.
Smoke is Coming Out Your Exhaust
Bear with us! Smoke is evident in fuel vehicles and is cited as a sign of inefficient combustion. But with modern cars designed for efficient emissions, a smoky exhaust is a matter of concern.
If it’s black, the fuel is not getting burnt right; if the smoke is blue, that’s your engine oil burning up. And if the smoke signals white, you better rush to the mechanic because the gasket is compromised and the coolant is leaking into the cylinders!
That’s The Overheating Gauge!
An overheating engine is terrible news!
You’ve probably revved your car to show off on the RPM gauge, but if the temperature gauge is on high while cruising, then one of your cylinders probably warped, blew the gasket & has coolant leaking into it.
Your Engine Troubles Are Knocking at Your Door
A knocking engine means an imbalance of the air-fuel mixture that is igniting on its own after the initial ignition cycle.
We’ll spare you the technobabble and point right out that if you hear knocking from your engine & you ignore it, your engine is in for some severe internal damage.
Very Bad Fuel Economy
If your car is eating up more fuel than it’s churning out on miles, then you can piece that together with the black smoke & ‘check engine’ light to decide a trip to the mechanic.
It’s a reasonably early stage in an engine fault, but prevention is far better than a costly cure!
Rough Idling, Idle Stalling, or Complete Stall!
Suppose your engine turns off on idle; that isn’t good. If your engine vibrates on idle, that’s also bad. And if your engine completely stalls at high RPM (Idle, neutral, and high race), that’s simply the worst.
An RPM that keeps increasing on idle is also alarming. Basically, any situation where idling is accompanied by high RPM & stalling is bad for the engine & needs checking.
If your engine is exhibiting any of these signs, and if you are savvy enough to notice the ‘check engine light, don’t sit back and relax, don’t shrug it off, book for service & repair at Vann York Toyota. Serving High Point, NC.
We’re well geared for fixing engine problems, so come over let us get your engine back in order.
Schedule for a service, meet our esteemed team, and never ignore your engine lights again!
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