You need to be able to rely on your car to have the get-up-and-go that it needs when you need to get going, but if your car is stalling, that’s dangerous. Getting stuck in an intersection is no joke. J&S Auto Repair wants you to be safe, so figuring out what’s causing stalling is critical. Here are five reasons for engine stalls that are common and could be precisely what your vehicle is suffering from.
1. Electrical Problems
There are a lot of different electrical connections in your car, some go-to accessories, some are required for your car to run. If there’s a problem somewhere in the electrical system, this can cause your car to stall. It’s tricky to chase down these issues, but we’re experts in vehicle electrical systems, so we can find the problem for you easily and get it fixed to prevent future stalls.
2. Battery Issues
Your car’s battery contributes power to the electrical system, so if there’s a problem anywhere in the battery, this can cause problems, too. Sometimes it isn’t that your battery is dying or dead that is causing the problem. Corrosion on the battery terminals keeps electrical current from flowing consistently through the battery to the rest of the electrical system, which can contribute to stalls.
3. Engine Timing Is Off
With a combustion engine, timing is everything. In the case of a gas engine, your spark plugs have to fire at exactly the right time in order to light the proper mix of fuel and air to keep the engine going. If those spark plugs are off by even a little bit, you’ve got misfiring and possibly also stalling. The problem could be with your spark plugs or your vehicle’s engine control module (main computer).
4. Fuel System Issues
But there’s another part to that timing issue. If the spark plug timing is correct, but the air-to-fuel mixture is off, you can also experience issues with stalling. Most often this is happening due to clogs somewhere in the fuel system, which keeps the right amount of fuel from getting where it needs to go. The clog could be in the fuel lines, the fuel injectors, or even the fuel filter.
5. Airflow Is Restricted
The third part of the combustion equation is air. Say you’ve got spark plug timing that is correct and the fuel system is doing its job but airflow is restricted. That starves your car’s engine of the air it needs to mix with the fuel for proper combustion. Not enough air? Your car is more likely to stall. Generally, the mass airflow or oxygen sensor is to blame. Your air filter might also be clogged.
Not sure why your car is stalling on you? Give us a call at J&S Auto Repair in Warwick, RI. We can double-check all of the potential causes and find the answer for you.
