Your car engine runs on a delicate balance of fuel and air. When dirt, sand and other general impurities clog your fuel filter and starve your fuel injectors problems will arise. Why? Well starved or clogged fuel injectors can impede your car's engine performance and therefore reduce your fuel efficiency. Early warning signs that your car has a clogged fuel injector or fuel filter can include:
Stalling whilst driving.
Misfiring or hesitation during acceleration of your vehicle.
Difficulty starting your car or long cranking periods before the engine starts.
Engine performance is critical to keeping a car well-maintained in that when one issue arises and is not tended to it can have a domino effect, and the signs of a clogged fuel filter is your vehicles way of screaming that help is required and in fact necessary. The fuel filter serves to filter impurities from commercially purchased fuels before it has a chance to negatively impact your car's engine and performance. By replacing the fuel filter every 10,000 miles or so will help to reduce problems in performance. While this is a little more frequent than most car manufacturers recommend, it will ensure that fuel filter problems will be a thing of the past.
The signs of a clogged fuel filter in a car vary depending upon the severity of the blockages and when you last had your vehicle serviced and the filters replaced. A minor presence of a clogged fuel filter may show in a car that starts and idles decently but experiences sputtering when driving at low speeds. A moderately clogged fuel filter may allow a driver to start their car but the car idles roughly and may stall whilst you are driving - can be extremely dangerous when this happens! The signs of a severely clogged fuel filter are that it is extremely difficult to start your engine and once you have started it you constantly need to rev it to stop it from stalling.
To fix a clogged fuel filter is normally an easy and inexpensive task that involves little more than removing and replacing the old fuel filter. This can be carried out by a professional mechanic at your local independent service centre or garage. A good trick to help alleviate the signs of a clogged fuel filter when assistance is unavailable is to fill the car's fuel tank with a high-octane fuel and purchase a high-octane fuel additive and pour it into the gas tank. The use of additives in your fuel tank is an extremely cost effective way of protecting important components in your car. Please speak to one of the team who will be happy to help answer any questions you may have. The car should run better within a few miles if the culprit is a clogged fuel filter or until the necessary repairs can be made.
