What You Should Know About Your BMW’s Emission System
The emission system of any vehicle is important for a few reasons. The first, and most important, is to limit the number of harmful emissions that your vehicle produces. The exhaustfor your BMWs engine produces harmful carbons that are bad for the environment and bad for your health.
California has one of the strictest policies on emissions and requires vehicles to be checkedevery two years. While in other parts of the country, they don’t require emissions testing at all.The higher the population density, the more essential it is that autos are polluting the city andharming people in the process.
BMW has one of the most complex emission systems, offering lower smog rating than mostother vehicles. The EPA has set guidelines as to how much a car can put out, and BMW hasalmost always exceeded these standards. Their smog system includes:
-Smog Pump
-Secondary Air Pump
-Oxygen Sensors
-Catalytic Converters
-EGR Valves
-PCV Valves
-Vapor Canisters
These parts all work together to test, read, and eliminate emissions your BMW is putting out.When one of these parts fails, the most obvious sign will be a check engine light illuminated onthe dash. A check engine light doesn’t always mean that there is something wrong with theemissions system, but very often it does. The most common reason for a check engine light willbe a faulty O2 sensor or that you had forgotten to tighten the gas cap. A loose gas cap cantrigger the canisters located near the fuel tank that regularly monitor for gas leakage.
While it would be lovely that these were the only parts of the emission system that are prone totrigger the light, they aren’t. A clogged catalytic converter can happen after driving for over 100kmiles from having a build up of carbon. When this happens, you experience power loss andpoor fuel economy.
Have you have had an exhaust leak on your BMW? Exhaust leaks will make a louder soundevery time you accelerate, and generally be louder at idle. A leak located at the headers to thesecond O2 sensor can trigger a check engine light and cause your vehicle to fail emissions.
If your vehicle has a check engine light on and it seems to be running fine, there could be asmaller leak in the exhaust system, that hasn’t created a problem for driveability just yet. In mostcases, a fault with the exhaust system won’t cause your vehicle not to run, just run poorly. Buthaving it checked sooner rather than later is always a good idea. A technician can plug your carinto an OBD2 reader and check the engine codes. The engine codes will tell them where in theemissions system there is a problem so that they can fix it. For more information on SmogServices visit http://www.ryangmw.com/smog-service.
It is crucial that your BMW’s emission system is fully functional and repaired when needed.Aside from the damage, it does to the environment, which is a significant factor; your vehiclewon’t be performing the way it should.
