It is never enjoyable to perceive an injector noise on your Toyota Highlander. It is a noise that arises frequently, usually when you accelerate or your engine is idling. However, this symptom may be relating to multiple kind of problems with your vehicle injectors. It may not be anything serious, but when a recurrent noise arises, you have to be sure. Most importantly since repairing your Toyota Highlander’s injectors can be expensive. That’s why our team chose to compose this content page in order to help you see more clearly, learn about the different possible failures and distinguish your trouble. To do this, we will first look at the normal functioning and usefulness of the injectors in your Toyota Highlander, then at the possible triggers from which an injector noise may come.injector-noise-toyota-highlander

Purposes of the injectors

Injectors are a very vital component of the operation of your engine unit. They were introduced to the modern vehicles about 20 years ago. Before their introduction, more conventional carburettor-type intake systems were employed, which handled the intake of air and fuel into the engine cylinders. With the injectors, manufacturers now have the ability, thanks to the injectors pump, to control electronically each stage of the intake process very precisely (quantity of fuel injected, air/fuel mixture) via the analysis of the data collected from the various sensors equipping the vehicle (engine temperature, acceleration level, engine speed, etc.). Their objective 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 based on the injectors of your Toyota Highlander

Discovering injector noises on your Toyota Highlander may originate from different locations, we will now concentrate on the potential causes of these. In general, the common noise of a faulty injector is of the snap type. Here are the different sources of these noises and the solutions to be applied to eliminate them. If you perceive another clicking noise but it is not from your injectors, we advise you to examine this content page about clicking noise on Toyota Highlander to locate the cause.

The causes for injector clicking or knocking noise Toyota Highlander

A clicking or knocking noise from your injectors can be justified by different causes. Indeed, the injectors of your Toyota Highlander have three main tasks, to manage the vaporisation of the fuel, i.e., to convert the liquid into “gas” during injection, to facilitate its combustion. Then, its task is to deal with 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 disturbed 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 induce thoses knocking or clicking noises on your Toyota Highlander. The main cause of these concerns generally comes from a particle that gets into the injectors. The precision of the injector being in the nanometer range, any possible obstruction will inevitably lead to a malfunction of the injector. If after verifying, this noise comes from another part of the engine of your Toyota Highlander, browse this content page for more infos.

The repercussions of injector noise on Toyota Highlander

Now that we have examined the several reasons for injector noise on your Toyota Highlander, we will end by stating the possible effects of malfunctioning one or more of your injectors. Whether only one is clogged, or damaged, or your entire fuel rail is involved, you cannot escape these repercussions which can fairly quickly become considerable….
First, you risk destroying your exhaust unit 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 repercussions noticed by drivers is a distinctive loss of power. Indeed, if your engine is running on 3 out of 4 cylinders for example, you will undoubtedly have a loss of power
Finally, you risk deteriorating one of your pistons or your engine. Poor combustion will fairly quickly damage your cylinders or pistons and your engine may tighten.
Here are three little recommendations to limit the risks relating 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 swapping your diesel fuel filter regularly>