Does Your Chevy Need a New Car Air Filter?

Air enters your car through the filter on its way to the engine, just like air enters through the nose as it travels to the lungs. Your nose filters air to clean it before it enters your lungs, and similarly, your air filter cleans the air before it enters the combustion chamber. Unlike your nose, your car air filter will wear out and need to be replaced. When this happens, your Chevy dealer can help you.

Does Your Chevy Need a New Car Air Filter? See Your Chevy Dealer Today

Coughing From the Engine

A coughing sound from your engine is usually a sign that your engine doesn’t have enough air. Your air filter cleans the air before it enters your engine, and removes any dirt, grit, and other pollutants. As your filter catches more and more debris, it starts to clog up. When the filter is blocked, it will prevent enough air from reaching the combustion chamber for efficient combustion. The coughing sound means that it’s time to see us for a new air filter.

Reduced Gas Mileage

A dirty air filter prevents clean air from entering your engine and this affects performance. For efficient combustion, you need a 14:1 ratio of air to fuel. If there isn’t enough clean air, a large amount of the fuel released into the combustion chamber won’t ignite. This excess unburnt fuel will be forced out of the exhaust. It might not be immediately apparent, but you’ll notice the difference when you have to make more frequent trips to the gas station.

Air Filter Is Dirty

The air filter is easy to access, and you’ll find its position marked in your car’s manual. All you need to do is to pop the hood and find the air filter box. No special tools are required to open the box, and you’ll find the filter inside. The filter should be white or cream, but a worn-out filter looks brown, gray, or black. If your filter doesn’t look clean, it won’t be doing a good job, and it’s time to replace it.

Slow Acceleration

The inefficiency caused by a damaged filter also affects your acceleration. When you put your foot hard on the gas, more fuel is forced into the combustion chamber. Since there’s not enough air for proper combustion, most of the extra fuel is wasted. The extra energy required for poor combustion to take place slows your acceleration down. This is noticeable when seeing that you’re car isn’t moving as fast as the speed recorded on your dash.

If your engine is running inefficiently, you’re losing money due to the waste of gas. Other engine components can also be damaged due to the effects of a bad filter, for example, your spark plugs. If your filter is clogged or worn, call our service center right away at Crain Chevrolet and our expert technicians will investigate. An air filter is cheap and you’ll notice the extra cost savings as soon as you drive away.

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