Stop by Auto Service Kingston today if your car, truck, or utility vehicle’s engine is knocking all the time. It’s important to figure out why the engine is knocking to avoid potential engine damage. We will talk more about this below. Most of the time, the knocking sound that you hear coming from the engine is multiple firings in the cylinders rather than just one firing. The air and petrol in each cylinder should only fire once. Multiple fireballs make a knocking sound.
Faulty Knock Sensor
Generally, your engine may not a few times and then stop. This happens because it is equipped with a knock sensor that reports the sound to the engine control module. The module can make adjustments in the combustion chamber to stop the engine from knocking. This being said, the knock sensor can go bad. When it does, it will not notify the engine control module that the engine is knocking.
Lean Petrol Mixture
One of the things that the engine control module can fix is a lean petrol mixture in the combustion chamber. This is a mixture that has too little petrol and too much air. Unfortunately, this combination is not hot enough to fire one time only. Consequently, the lack of fuel and heat cause the mixture to fire multiple times in each cylinder.
Low-Octane Petrol
Another thing that will create this exact problem is petrol that has a low octane rating. For example, if you drive a high-performance automobile, you are not going to get away with a petrol octane rating of 87. The octane is too low and it will fire cold, i.e., multiple times.
Misfiring Spark Plugs
Unless you drive an automobile that is decades old, the spark plugs in the engine should last for 160,000 kilometres. If you’ve clocked this many kilometres on the odometer, it’s possible that the knocking sound that you hear is multiple firings in the cylinders caused by misfiring spark plugs. Replacing the spark plugs usually resolves the problem.
Worn Rod Bearings
Finally, let’s get to the type of engine knock that can actually damage your engine. You may already know this but the pistons are attached to the rods which are moved up and down by the rod bearings. Over time, the bearings can wear down and cause problems with the up-and-down motion inside the cylinders. When this happens, the pistons crashed against the cylinder walls and damage them.
Auto Service Kingston in Kingston, ON, would be happy to get to the bottom of the reason why your vehicle’s engine is knocking all the time. Call us today.