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Fuel System Service for fuel injected or carbureted gasoline engines
The gasoline engine would perform better, last longer, and run smoother in a sterile world. Unfortunately, one look at your air filter after a few thousand miles will let you know what type of environment your vehicle must operate in. A similar examination of your fuel filter would turn up natural sediments that were not removed during the refining process of unleaded gas. Air filters and fuel filters are the engine's last line of defense when it comes to keeping contaminants from the engine. Changing these filters as described by the automobile's manufacturer is an excellent way to keep contaminants out. Although filter technology continues to improve, straining smaller and smaller particles from the air and fuel supply, contaminants still manage to make it through to the combustion chamber.
These contaminants are generally smaller than larger matter that is trapped by air and fuel filters. For this reason, build up from contaminants occurs slower than the dirt that can be seen on the air filter pleats.
The engines in modern cars are with extremely close tolerances. Improvements in manufacturing and materials as well as more stringent environmental guidelines have driven manufacturers to this level of precision. Contaminants that find their way to the inside of your engine disrupt these tolerances.
As mentioned before, two major pathways for contaminants into the engine is through the air supply and the fuel supply. For a vehicle to run, the engine must have spark from the spark plugs, air through the air filter, and fuel from the fuel tank.
Airborne contaminants traveling past the air filter move into the throttle body on fuel injected vehicles and into the carburetor on carbureted vehicles. In both cases, buildup on the throttle plates and linkage result in problems. If contaminants continue through the air induction system, they are forced into the engine's cylinders and combusted with fuel. Combusting contaminants creates carbon, gum, and varnish deposits inside the engine. Situations like this can lead to an accelerated build up of carbon deposits on spark plugs. Another problem that may arise is build up on intake valves. |
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Intake valves act as small gates that let fuel or air into the combustion chamber. In an alternating pattern, fuel and air is let into the chamber where it is ignited by the spark plug. It is important that this alternating pattern is maintained where fuel and air is let into the cylinder in a synchronized fashion. Contaminant build up inside the engine keeps valves from creating a sufficient seal. Without an air-tight seal, fuel or air can leak into the combustion chamber when it should not be allowed to enter. This condition can lead to lost power, knocking, pinging, hesitation, poor fuel economy and a host of other mechanical maladies. |
Fuel-bourne contaminants can create similar problems in increasingly advanced fuel management systems. Contaminants, mostly in the form of sediments contained in gasoline, travel past the fuel filter and to the fuel injectors or atomizer jet in carburetors. In both cases, build up disrupts and restricts the amount of fuel that is sprayed into the combustion chamber.
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The mixture of air and fuel in the combustion chamber is very important as the engine was configured to operate within a strict envelope. Most computer-controlled fuel injection systems can sense problems with the fuel/air mixture. This capability allows the engine to operate efficiently at varying altitudes. The vehicle's computer can only correct this mixture so much. Once the build up is so great that the computer cannot adjust for the reduced fuel flow, a reduced amount of fuel is available for combustion. This creates many of the same problems mentioned in the preceding paragraph. As with airborne contaminants, sediments can enter the combustion chamber through the fuel injector.
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