Has your check engine light been on? Is your vehicle suffering from a lean condition Plainfield, Naperville, Bolingbrook, IL? Modern domestic plus foreign vehicles have internal combustion engines that include many different types of sensors, hoses and control systems that monitor and manage your engine during operation. One of the most common problems that effect these components from functioning properly is the good old lean condition.

What Makes an Automotive Engine Run Lean?

So your check engine light has been on, maybe you failed emissions, you find out that the reason for your check engine light is that code P0171 or P0174 or sometimes even both are present in your vehicles ECU, PCM, hence in your vehicles computer. Stored in the history and or in the live data, regardless you find out that they are there. Now what do you do?

Where to start? Fuel system, oxygen sensors, mass air flow sensor, air leaks, computer malfunction or out of date software, etc. With our many, many years of experience we have under our belts, the biggest reason we see for the lean condition scenario would definitely have to be the result of an air leak of some kind. So many places to leak. Where is it leaking?

Air Leaks That Cause A Lean Condition

Vacuum leaks can get a little tricky to diagnose sometimes without the proper tools and knowledge by disguising itself as an ignition or fuel problem where in some cases can boggle a mind.

Typical vacuum leak culprits that cause this so called lean condition can be your intake manifold leaking, cylinder head gasket leaking, valve cover gasket or gaskets leaking, throttle body gaskets leak, carburetor spacer leak, and of course you can’t forget any of the many, many engine’s vacuum fittings, hoses and or accessories leaking. Sometimes it’s as easy as just plugging a line back in, changing a dry rotted connection, or tearing apart the upper half of your engine to get to the leaking gaskets. Need a car repair Plainfield, IL, due to a lean condition?

The number one all time culprit in our eyes would have to be split, cracked, disconnected and or broken vacuum lines. Hopefully this will help show you the way to your lean condition.

Symptoms Of A Vacuum Leak

Where to start? Some the easiest ways to tell that you may have a vacuum leak can be a rough engine idle (hesitation, misfire, shaking, vibration),  poor acceleration, difficulty starting just to name a few of the basics. Have any more questions? Give us a call!