Types of Smoke and Exhaust Problems in Your Car

Learn What Those Exhaust Fume Colors Mean, and What You Can Do to Fix It

OneLeggedKate
Colored smoke coming from your exhaust is never a good thing. The very best scenario is always a colorless fume coming from your car's exhaust. But if your car exhaust has a 'color' to it, it is most likely signalling to you that something is very wrong, and your car needs attention. How do you know what the colors mean? We will give you the four basic 'bad' colors coming from your exhaust , and what may be causing them.

What white smoke means:

White smoke is normally a cause of anti-freeze burning in the piston cylinder. Normal ways for this to occur are a cracked head, blown head gasket,(warped head), or cracked cylinder block(normally uncommon).

What Black smoke means:

Black smoke is oftentimes a result of too much fuel and not enough air in the combustion chamber. In rare cases, it can be caused by weak fuel pressure causing fuel to 'drip' from injectors rather than 'spray'. It can also be caused by weak fire in the combustion chamber.

What gray smoke means:

Gray smoke is caused by brake fluid. It generally means that your brake master cylinder is bad, and is getting sucked through the vacuum brake hose.


What blue smoke means:

Blue smoke is generally caused by the burning of an oil in the combustion chamber. Normal causes of oil getting into the combustion chamber are weak piston rings, bad valve guides, bad valve seals, or plugged up engines where oil is sucked back through PCV system,usually due to lack of oil changes.

The very best way to avoid bad colors coming from your exhaust is to keep your vehicle maintained. Upkeep of your vehicle is always a smart idea.
.

Published by OneLeggedKate

!   View profile

  • ANY color other than no color is always a bad sign coming from your exhaust.
  • Regular maintenance of your vehicle reduces the chance of having a color from your exhaust.
  • Black, blue, white, and gray smoke signals trouble.
Regular maintenance of your vehicle will avoid most color related fume problems.

7 Comments

Post a Comment
  • john 12/18/2010

    I'm loving COCK!!!

  • Muzammil 11/16/2010

    Check my blog for an indepth overview of why blue smoke appears

    http://car-issue.blogspot.com

  • jen 9/17/2010

    i have a 1994 gmc pick up..i got vavle cover gaskets and intake gaskets put on..then my truck smoked..i took it back they changed pcv valve and said it would stop smoking..now it still smokes and the check engine light is on..what could be wrong..i never had a problem with my truck until i took it to this garage

  • phetly 3/30/2010

    smoke is bad for you

  • Tsghdjsdjhsja 3/30/2010

    Is white smoke different from gray smoke?

  • greg 5/22/2008

    i have a 92 mustang gt and i just replaced the stock intake manifold with a gt40 intake manifold. i got the car to start, but it is smoking like crazy. i think the color of the smoke is blue

  • sdasd 11/10/2006

    sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss♥

Displaying Comments

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.