If you hear suction coming from your car’s engine, it is likely that you have a vacuum leak. The leak is coming from one of the vacuum hoses. These hoses route the vacuum pressure out of the combustion chamber and to accessories and components to power them. Aside from suction, there are other signs that your car has a vacuum leak. Uptown Imports lists these signs below.
Check Engine Warning
One of the first things that will happen is your check engine light will come on. This is because the vacuum leak is affecting the air and fuel balance in the combustion chamber. The balance will be air-heavy, and this will also affect your engine performance. We’ll talk more about that below. In the meantime, it’s common for your vehicle’s engine control unit to turn on the check engine light when the engine has a vacuum leak to let you know there is a problem.
High Idling
Another sign of a vacuum leak on the dashboard is reflected on the tachometer. When the vacuum is blowing out of the hoses, it increases your vehicle’s RPMs. You will see that the tachometer needle is registering unusually high RPMs or sporadic RPMs depending on how much vacuum pressure is being released into the engine.
Hissing/Suction
You already know that suction can be an indication of a vacuum leak, but you may also hear hissing sounds coming from the engine. This is a sign that the vacuum leak is small. If you follow the sound, you may be able to locate which vacuum hose is leaking. Replacing the hose solves the vacuum leak problem and gets your vehicle’s engine running normally once again.
Stalling/Hesitation
Finally, as we said above, a vacuum leak will cause engine performance issues. First, you may notice a lag in your vehicle’s acceleration when you press down on the accelerator. This is because the excess air in the combustion chamber is creating a lean fuel mixture and your vehicle is fuel-starved. Once you get your vehicle going, you will also notice that your engine is hesitant. It may stutter and act as if it’s going to stall, even at high speeds. If your vacuum leak is serious enough, your engine may stall, especially when you are sitting at an idle.
Uptown Imports in Minneapolis, MN, can help. We’d be happy to find the vacuum leak in your automobile’s engine and repair it for you. Once the leak is repaired, you won’t hear suction coming from your engine anymore.