You are out on a weekend driving; your engine turns over but can’t start. What could be the matter? Three primary things can happen; bad fuel mix, lack of spark or lack of compression. Beyond these three, thousands of other things can create problems to your engine. Here is a quick overview of how these difficulties affect your engine.
- Bad Fuel Mix
Your car can experience bad fuel mix due to the following reasons;
- Air intake may clog, so the air is not enough to burn fuel.
- You run out of fuel, so there is air in the engine but no fuel.
- Your car’s fuel system may supply too little or too much fuel to mix, thus combustion may not occur properly.
- There could be an impurity in fuel like water, which causes the fuel not to burn.
Therefore your engine should always be serviced to ensure such problems do not occur, hence you have a smooth ride.
When the charge of fuel and air doesn’t compress properly, the combustion will not work as expected. Lack of compression could occur due to the following reasons.
- Worn out piston rings allowing air/fuel leak during compression
- When there is a hole in the cylinder
- Exhaust valves are not well sealed, allowing leakages during compression
A natural hole in a cylinder occurs at its top. To ensure a good seal, the cylinder head bolt, and the cylinder together with a thin gasket is pressed. When the gasket gets damaged, a small hole develops in between the cylinder and cylinder head.
The spark generated could be weak or nonexistent for several reasons;
- If the spark plug or wire leading to it gets worn out, a weak spark is produced
- When the spark occurs too early or late into the cycle, fuel will not ignite on time, and this causes problems.
For an efficient engine, you should always ensure that all these things are avoided or prevented.