The smoke coming out of your car is not a good sign, be it from the tailpipe or from the engine! You perform all the recommended maintenance of your car, including changing the oil, checking the fluids, rotating the tires and air them every time when you consider filling up the gas tank After performing all these on a regular basis, you may find sooner or later that something will need to be repaired. But, just because something is wrong with your car does not mean that you will be facing a costly repair bill. Take the example of car smoking. If your car is smoking, it does not necessarily mean the engine needs rebuilding!

In this case, you first need to determine the color of smoke that is coming out of the the tailpipe or engine. There are three colors of smoke that can be emitted from a car- white smoke (basically steam), which is caused by water or antifreeze entering the cylinder, and the engine trying to burn it; blue smoke is caused by engine oil entering the cylinder area and being burned along with the fuel air mixture; and black smoke, that is caused by excess fuel that has entered the cylinder area and cannot be burned completely. Apart from determining the color of smoke, following are a few steps that can be taken to troubleshoot the cause before you head to your mechanic:

• First of all, determine the source where the smoke is coming from. And if it is coming from the car engine, make sure there is no fire. Then, look for leaks that might be causing the smoke.
• If the smoke is not coming from the engine, try to find out where it is originating. Apart from the engine, the most possible source can be the car’s exhaust pipe.
• Try to identify the color of the smoke. If the smoke is coming out of your car’s tailpipe, check your radiator as well as the overflow bottle and make sure there is a sufficient amount of antifreeze. If it is not, add antifreeze. Do not use water.
• If the color of the smoke is blue, that means oil has entered into the exhaust system. In such a situation, do a tune-up on your car, check seals, o-rings and gaskets, do an oil change and use a heavier or thicker engine oil than you previously used.
• If black smoke is coming out of your car, you should call your mechanic. Because black smoke is a sign of a major problem, related to a bad sensor, engine computer, carburetor, fuel pump or fuel injector.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 7:27 am and is filed under Buying a Car. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.