Your car’s exhaust system handles a lot of thankless tasks. The Auto Shop of Chapin wants you to be aware of some signs of exhaust trouble that are important to deal with as soon as possible after you notice them.
Leaking Muffler
Your car’s muffler does a lot for you and your car’s engine. The muffler’s biggest job is to reduce the engine noise that results from the engine running. If you’re hearing more engine noise than you usually do, that’s probably due to issues with the muffler. There can be even a tiny pinprick hole in the muffler that can cause big changes in how the muffler works and how the exhaust system functions. It’s something that needs to be corrected as soon as possible.
Damaged Oxygen Sensor
Your car’s exhaust system has an oxygen sensor within it. The job of this sensor is to detect how much oxygen is left in the exhaust fumes before they funnel out of the car. Then it reports that data back to the engine control module. The ECM uses that data to adjust the fuel to air mixture and keep the car’s engine running properly. No oxygen sensor? That’s a big problem for the entire engine.
Failed Catalytic Converter
The combustion process is pretty toxic, frankly. Fumes created during combustion need to be converted into something less harmful, and that’s where the catalytic converter comes in. This piece of the exhaust system corrals all of those funky fumes and converts them into far less harmful fumes before sending them out through the rest of the exhaust system. If the catalytic converter goes bad, your engine can fail pretty quickly soon after.
Excessive Exhaust Smoke
You might think that excessive exhaust smoke isn’t necessarily an emergency, and you’re right to an extent. It may not be an emergency, per se, but it’s definitely a sign that something has changed either in the exhaust system or somewhere in the car’s engine. That might indeed be an emergency, so if you’re noticing an increase in exhaust smoke you need to get it checked out.
The Auto Shop of Chapin in Chapin, SC is happy to help with any exhaust issues you’re noticing. We can also help with other service and repair needs, so give us a call today. We’ll be happy to run diagnostic testing and find out what your car needs in order to run as well as it should.