Your car’s exhaust is crucial in engine performance. Spotting problems with your car’s exhaust before they become too involved can help you to protect the engine as well. Here’s what SpringMasters Auto Repair wants you to know.
Poor Gas Mileage
Gas mileage tells you so much about how well your car is doing in general. If your car’s gas mileage is getting worse, and you’ve narrowed down that the problem isn’t other issues, then it might be the exhaust system. That’s because the exhaust is responsible for removing spent gas fumes from the engine and if those stick around, the engine can’t properly combust fuel.
Increased Engine Noise
One of the jobs your exhaust system has is to reduce engine noise. The muffler is the main piece that handles that job, but the entire exhaust system dampens the noise. So, if you’re hearing far more engine noise than usual, the problem could be anywhere in the exhaust. If your engine is suddenly really loud, you might be missing your catalytic converter.
Exhaust Fumes
If you’re standing at the back of your car while it’s running, you’re going to smell exhaust fumes, of course. But if you’re in the car with the windows up and smelling exhaust fumes, that’s a different and far more dangerous story and you have to do something about it right away. This can mean that there’s an exhaust leak that is letting the fumes get into the passenger compartment. You shouldn’t drive if this is the case because exhaust fumes can make you incredibly sick or even cause death.
Check Engine Light
Your car’s onboard computer takes in a lot of information about engine performance and part of how it does this is by monitoring the exhaust system. If there’s a big enough problem with the exhaust system, the check engine light is likely to come on. That’s a big indicator of trouble and you cannot afford to ignore it, hoping that the light just turns itself off. That won’t happen, and it could lead to serious engine damage.
Suspect exhaust issues? Don’t stay in the dark about them. Call SpringMasters Auto Repair in Stickney, IL today and we’ll run some diagnostic testing. That helps us to determine exactly what’s going on with your car’s exhaust system and how far the damage may have spread. We’ll get you back on the road again with a safely functioning exhaust system.
