Why Is My Car Smoking ? Common Reasons And Remedies

Why is my car smoking? Being a car owner, you can always expect to see some smoke coming from the exhaust system at some point. Depending on the type of smoke you see, it might be a sign of a problem with the car, while sometimes it might be harmless.

Types Of Smoke, Their Causes And Remedies

When it comes to smoke coming out of your vehicle, expect it to vary in color. It can be white, blue or even black smoke. So why is my car smoking? Below, we get to look at the different types of smoke and their related causes.

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Black Smoke 

Not many people would want to see black smoke coming out of their tailpipe. Having a black smoke just means that there is excess fuel in the cylinder area, and not all is being burned completely. In some other cases, this problem is called “running rich” because this issue leads to wasteful fuel burning. It is the reason most people would complain about having bad fuel economy with their cars after experiencing the black smoke.

The black smoke will have effects such as low engine performance, reduced fuel economy among many others. It is however not the biggest cause of alarm as with a few tweaks; the car should be back to normal.

Let recapitulate common reasons why is my car smoking with black color.

Causes 

  A leaky fuel injector

   Burnt engine

  A faulty fuel pump

  Clogged air filter

  Failing engine computer

  Faulty fuel pressure regulator

Remedies

  Check the oil dipstick to see if there is an appearance of something similar to a chocolate milkshake. It shows that there are issues with the oil.

  If you are unsure of how to proceed, always call the mechanic to help with the repairs.

  Start by checking the oil just to make sure that the excess fuel has not mixed with it to cause contamination 

Blue Smoke 

Blue smoke will start coming out of your tailpipe if the engine oil enters the combustion area. The oil will then start being burned along with your fuel and air mixture found in the combustion area.

Remember that with blue smoke; even just a drop of the engine oil into the combustion area will always lead to the problem of blue smoke. People who own older or cars with a higher mileage will have such issues rather than the new models.

Whenever there is enough oil leak into a cylinder, it can fault for the spark plug. It will certainly cause an engine miss for that cylinder or a misfire. When a misfire happens, you need to get the help of your mechanic to repair it before extensive damage is done.

Causes 

The answer to the question why is my car smoking with blue color:

   Burning oil

  Cracked or leaking seals

  Oil leak into the cylinders

Remedies

  Make sure to clean the spark plug to remove the oil. Do this for the case where it is not working properly with the regular misfires.

  Proceed to replace the spark plug if it is always faulty as starting your engine might be compromised by now.

  You can switch to a thicker engine oil as a way of preventing any future leaks into the cylinders

  You can still use recommended oil additives made to reduce cases of oil leaks.

  For the repairs and replacement of engine seals that prevent an oil leak, you might want to let the mechanic handle the repairs.

White Smoke 

White smoke can be either thinner or thicker depending on the cause. The thin white smoke should not be too much alarming as compared to the thick white smoke. We can see the thin white smoke during the cold mornings during winter. It is because the engine is cold and will disappear when the engine is warm enough. If you keep getting a white smoke even on hot days, then there is a problem now. 

The antifreeze or water enters the cylinder area that will always lead to white fumes coming out of your exhaust

The thick white smoke is released when there is water entering the cylinder. The engine will proceed to burn the mixture of fuel and water in the combustion area. Whenever you get such a problem, the first suspect would be the gaskets.

The gaskets are supposed to keep water or antifreeze products from entering the combustion area of the engine. With the white smoke, even the slightest amount of antifreeze or water entering the cylinder area will always lead to the white steam coming out of your exhaust.

Causes

Some special reasons why is my car smoking with white color:

  Blown head gasket of the engine

  Having a cracked engine block

  Cases of engine overheating

Remedies 

  With the engine overheating being among the causes, check to see if you have enough coolant in the radiator and also the overflow bottle 

  Check if there is antifreeze or water contaminating with the engine oil

Your engine dipstick can tell you if there is contamination of the oil with the antifreeze. If there is the engine oil appears to have a chocolate milkshake look, then it is a sign of more issues.

Do not start your car engine with such a different color is observed as it can lead to additional internal engine damage.

Gray Smoke 

It is easy for a car owner to confuse between a black and gray smoke. They are almost the same in color, with one being darker than the other. We should not discount gray smoke. If it occurs, a couple of things need repairs immediately.

Causes

  You might have a faulty turbocharger for those who own one

  There is trouble with your transmission fluid

  Your vehicle’s transmission vacuum modulator is faulty

Remedies

Of course, I am worried why is my car smoking? And we almost do not have things much what we can do on our own in such a type of smoke problem The best way would be taking the car to the mechanic to learn more about the cause of the issue.

The exhaust system is the car’s emission outlet. The presence of continuous smoke signifies there is a problem with the car. When it happens, you need to know all that cause the smoke and the steps to take to repair the issue.