It is never pleasant to experience an injector noise on your BMW X3. It is a noise that appears regularly, usually when you accelerate or your engine is idling. However, this sign may be related to multiple types of complications with your vehicle injectors. It may not be anything major, but when a repeated noise shows up, you have to be sure. Especially since fixing your BMW X3’s injectors can be expensive. That’s why our team chose to produce this article in order to help you see more clearly, learn about the different conceivable failures and determine your problem. To do this, we will first look at the normal running and usefulness of the injectors in your BMW X3, then at the conceivable reasons from which an injector noise may come.
Functions of the injectors
Injectors are a very significant element of the operation of your engine unit. They were brought in to the modern cars about 20 years ago. Before their introduction, more conventional carburettor-type intake systems were used, which handled the intake of air and fuel into the engine cylinders. With the injectors, manufacturers now have the possibility, thanks to the injectors pump, to control electronically each stage of the intake process very accurately (quantity of fuel injected, air/fuel mixture) via the analysis of the data obtained from the various sensors equipping the vehicle (engine temperature, acceleration level, engine speed, etc.). Their purpose is therefore to inject under high pressure a precise quantity of an air/fuel mixture at a perfect timing to obtain the best possible combustion in the cylinders.
The different reasons of a clicking or knocking noise coming from the injectors of your BMW X3
Finding out injector noises on your BMW X3 may result from different sources, we will now look into the potential triggers of these. In general, the regular noise of a faulty injector is of the snap type. Here are the several origins of these noises and the solutions to be used to prevent them. If you experience another clicking noise but it is not from your injectors, we encourage you to browse this article about clicking noise on BMW X3 to discover the trigger.
The causes for injector clicking or knocking noise BMW X3
A clicking or knocking noise from your injectors can be explained for different causes. In fact, the injectors of your BMW X3 have three main missions, to manage the vaporisation of the fuel, i.e., to transform the liquid into “gas” during injection, to facilitate its combustion. Then, its mission is to control the air/fuel dosage and finally the homogeneity of the mixture, always with the target of improving combustion. If one of these three characteristics is modified, the main role of the injectors will be disrupted and this will lead to poor combustion. This bad combustion will be a violent explosion in the cylinders because of bad timing, or a bad quantity of mixture or finally an inhomogeneous mixture and will trigger thoses knocking or clicking noises on your BMW X3. The main trigger of these problems usually originates from a particle that gets into the injectors. The accuracy of the injector being in the nanometer range, any possible obstruction will inevitably end up in a malfunction of the injector. If after verifying, this noise originates from another part of the engine of your BMW X3, check this article for more informations.
The effects of injector noise on BMW X3
Now that we have reviewed the several reasons for injector noise on your BMW X3, we will end by stating the possible effects of malfunctioning one or more of your injectors. Whether only one is clogged, or broken, or your entire fuel rail is involved, you cannot escape these repercussions which can fairly quickly become severe….
First, you risk destroying your exhaust system in the long run, because the unburned fuel residues that will end up in your exhaust system can corrode the metal in it.
One of the most common consequences noticed by drivers is a severe loss of power. In fact, if your engine is running on 3 out of 4 cylinders for example, you will surely have a loss of power
Finally, you risk deteriorating one of your pistons or your engine. Poor combustion will fairly quickly affect your cylinders or pistons and your engine may tighten.
Here are three little recommendations to limit the risks connected to your injectors and protect you from engine failure:
- Do not drive at the bottom of the tank, as you may absorb impurities
- Use quality fuel
- Think of changing your diesel fuel filter regularly>
