Your car, truck, crossover, SUV, or van uses vacuum that is created naturally by engine combustion to power other things in the engine. If you end up with vacuum hoses that are leaking, you will notice issues with how your vehicle performs. The engine control module or ECM will also alert you of the problem. Trojan Auto Care can find where your engine is leaking vacuum and fix the problem. This gets you back on the road quickly. Here are signs your automobile is leaking engine vacuum.
ECM Check Engine Warning
How the ECM will alert you of a vacuum leak is by turning on the check engine light on your vehicle’s dashboard. The check engine warning might come on its own, or you may notice some of the other signs of a vacuum leak listed below. Either way, if your check engine light does come on, it’s important to have your vehicle inspected right away because something is wrong and continuing to drive could be hazardous to your engine.
High RPMs
The primary problem a vacuum leak causes is too much air in the engine. This can make your engine rev much higher than it should, and you will notice these high revolutions on your tachometer. You will also hear your engine revving too high and may even find yourself fighting it as your vehicle tries to go faster than you want it to. These are all signs of a vacuum leak.
Other Engine Performance Issues
Instead of high RPMs, your engine might also do the opposite. It might sputter and stall or fight you to move forward. This is because the vacuum leak is releasing too much air into your engine. The more air in your engine the more it will sputter, and you might end up stranded somewhere unable to get your engine started after it stalls. This usually happens with serious vacuum leaks where the engine loses total vacuum pressure.
Checking for Vacuum Leaks
You can check for a vacuum leak yourself. With your vehicle in park and the parking brake set, turn on your engine and check underneath the hood for hissing, squealing, or sucking sounds. If you hear what sounds like a vacuum hose sucking in air, see if you can pinpoint from where the sound is coming. You might be able to see exactly which of your vacuum hoses is leaking. If you can’t spot the problem, bring your vehicle into our shop.
We are Trojan Auto Care in Troy, OH, and we’ll find the vacuum leak and repair it.
