What Makes a Car Smoke?
Smoke from a car's tail pipe is a common and unsightly condition that can have a number of causes, ranging from easily repaired mechanical problems to more in-depth and expensive mechanical problems. What follows is a brief list of the most common mechanical problems that cause a car to emit smoke.
Other People Are Reading
-
Worn Piston Rings
-
Piston rings, which are responsible for sealing engine combustion gases within engine cylinders, can cause a car to smoke if they become excessively worn, a condition that allows engine combustion gases to blow past the worn piston rings and emit from a car's tail pipe in the form of bluish-gray smoke.
Bad Valve Guides
-
Valve guides help to seal circulating engine oil in a car's head assembly and prevent it from entering the engine combustion chambers. When valve guides wear and/or go bad, they can allow engine oil from the head assembly to leak into the engine combustion chambers, where the oil gets burned and emitted from a car's tail pipe as smoke.
-
Abnormal Carburetor Function
-
An engine carburetor is responsible for injecting precise amounts of air and gas into a car's engine, a mixture that ensures proper engine combustion. If a carburetor fails to operate properly and/or regulate a correct air/fuel mixture, it can cause smoke, mostly black, to emit from a car's tail pipe.
Blown Head Gasket
-
A blown head gasket can cause white smoke to exit a car's tail pipe if the head gasket breaks to the point of allowing engine coolant to leak into the engine combustion chambers, which is what happens when the head gasket blows completely and the seal between the engine head and the lower engine block is lost.
Worn Engine Cylinders
-
Excessively worn engine cylinders can cause a car to smoke by allowing engine combustion gases to escape past the piston rings and blow out the car tail pipe. When engine cylinders become worn, the piston rings lose their ability to effectively seal the engine cylinders, which allows engine combustion gases to blow past the piston rings and exit the tail pipe as bluish-gray smoke.
-
