How to diagnose car problems by looking at smoke

The process of burning the fuel and air mixture causes the vehicle to produce exhaust fumes. With a normally operating engine, the fuel mixture is completely burned, the exhaust fumes are usually colorless or clear white and quickly dissipate in the air. If the exhaust fumes have a strange color or smell when operating, it is likely that the engine is faulty. Through the color of the vehicle's smoke, it is possible to know the problems that the vehicle is having.

Car exhaust white smoke

The car engine heats up very quickly, the exhaust pipe emits white smoke, possibly due to the cooling system leaking coolant into the engine's combustion cylinders and a leak appearing on the gasket.

If the white smoke is thin it could be due to water vapor forming in the vehicle's components through condensation. If the white smoke is thick like a cloud it could be due to a damaged cylinder head or a coolant leak.

With diesel powered vehicles, there may be problems with the timing of fuel injection into the combustion chamber.

Black smoke

Black exhaust smoke is quite common. It can be caused by the engine burning too much fuel or the engine burning fuel too quickly. In this case, the engine air filter may be dirty or clogged, causing less air to be drawn into the combustion chamber. If replacing the air filter does not solve the problem, the fuel injectors may be the cause of the black smoke.

With diesel engines, black smoke can indicate the incorrect type of fuel being used; a clogged air filter; an oil leak or an overheating engine.

Gray smoke

According to experts, the darker the gray smoke, the more serious the damage. The cause of gray smoke can be a faulty transmission modulator, causing automatic transmission fluid to leak into the engine's combustion chamber and burn. The fluid keeps the car's mechanical parts lubricated, so if there is a leak, the components can dry out. This can easily lead to serious damage to the car.

Blue smoke

Experts say that blue smoke is usually caused by burning engine oil. The oil used to lubricate the drivetrain components may have leaked through the pipes it passes through, spilling into the engine or fuel tank.

This happens when the piston rings wear out. In this case, acceleration produces more blue smoke.

If blue smoke appears when the vehicle decelerates, there may be a problem with the valve guides in the cylinder head.

When detecting the vehicle emitting smoke of the above colors, the owner should turn off the engine and take the vehicle to a repair facility for inspection to determine the exact cause. The longer the vehicle is left, the more difficult and expensive it will be to repair.