Engine Misfire (Petrol)
If your Car or 4x4 suffers from rough idle, slow/rough acceleration, poor fuel economy, engine misfires or is just hard to start, then you may have issues with your Fuel System. Put simply, the main job for your vehicles Fuel System is to ensure optimal ignition of the correct mix of fuel and air within the combustion chamber. If one (or more) of the systems components starts to fail then you may experience one (or more) of these common fuel system problems: engine misfiring, idles roughly, sluggish performance when under acceleration and poor fuel economy.
To help keep your vehicle running smooth and trouble free it’s best to have any Fuel System issues diagnosed and rectified as quickly as possible. Quick fixes for minor issues like failing Spark Plugs or Ignition Leads are often the cheapest way to regain both reliability and performance. Ignoring any issues that may allow unburnt fuel to pass into your exhaust can cause costly damage to your Catalytic Converter.
One of the best diagnostic approaches is to start checking the easiest (and often the cheapest) parts first such as Plugs and Leads, before investigating the more complex parts of your Fuel System such as Injectors, Engine Management Systems and Oxygen (O2) Sensors.
Ultimately ensuring your vehicle is running efficiently will improve the overall reliability and fuel economy. Luckily fixing engine misfires can be done inexpensively as the issue is commonly simple cheap parts like listed below:
Common Parts That Fix an Engine Misfire
Spark Plugs $
Faulty Plugs can be the reason your vehicle experiences rough acceleration, engine misfires and rough idleing. Spark Plugs should generally be changed every 40,000km to 60,000km or as per manufacturers scheduled details.
This is a cheap fix.
Ignition Coils / Coil Packs $$
Ignition Coils provide a high voltage charge that will will be sent to your Spark Plug so it can ignite the fuel. Faulty Coils can lead to your vehicle experiencing engine misfires and rough idling.
This is an affordable fix.
Fuel Filter $
Fuel Filters can become clogged this will limit the amount of fuel that is delivered to the engine. Clogged Fuel Filters can cause an engine misfire, poor acceleration and make it hard for your vehicle to start.
This is a cheap fix.
Oxygen Sensor $$
Oxygen Sensors will generally trip a check engine light if they are faulty, the Oxygen Sensor measures exhaust gases so the vehicle can work out the correct fuel to air ratio to burn. If it is faulty your car will misfire and run rough.
This is an affordable fix.
Fuel Pumps $$
If your Fuel Pump is faulty it will either limit the amount of fuel to the engine or no fuel will be sent at all. This will mean the vehicle will be hard to start or wont start, hard to accelerate and will have an engine misfire.
This is an affordable fix.
Injectors $$
A Fuel Injector injects the fuel to the engine's combustion chamber. Clogged or faulty Injectors can lead to the vehicle misfiring, running rough due to a lack of fuel.
This is an affordable fix.
