Everyone is always talkin about there cars running rich or lean. What does running rich or lean do to the car/engine. Also how do u tell if ur running rich or lean.

 

the best way of knowing if youre running rich or lean is using a scan tool and analizing the BLMs... try and search for "winaldl"..

Rich means that the Air to fuel ratio has more fuel in it than it should... the ratio is normaly about 14.7:1.. if the ratio changes to lets say 10:1 then its rich... 17:1 and its lean.. lean meaning that there isn't enough fuel to consume all the oxigen..

running too rich isn't really that bad.. spark plug will go bad faster.. cloged cat etc.... the engine just might stall... bad milage..

Running lean however of waaaaaaay worse.. running lean will cause severe heat build up in the cylindars.. which might burn a hole in a piston.. melt valves... and so on...

i hope i explained it clear enough...

 

Yeah thanks. Where Can I get one of those scan tools.

 

First off you need a laptop and a cable to attach it to the car
http://www.customefis.com/winaldl.html
Thats the site of the program, learn more there.

 

instead of spending a few grand on a labtop and an a/f scanner you can just pull a spark plug and read it. Tan on the ceramic means its right about where you want it, white means it's lean, black and sooty is rich...