Smoke | Madison Auto Repair

The Madison auto repair technicians at Madison Auto Care's seven NAPA service centers can help if your car has smoke coming from the exhaust.

You were returning home from a round of golf when you looked into your rear view mirror and saw it – smoke billowing out of the back end of your car.

Exhaust smoke can have many causes. You can start diagnosing the source of the problem by looking at the color of the smoke, according to becaraware.ca.

“Excessive exhaust smoke means you have an engine issue on your hands, which could be as simple as changing the air filter, or as big as a crack in the engine block itself,” becaraware.ca explains. “Before you go into panic mode, narrow down the problem according to the color of the smoke.”

The likely colors are black, white and blue. Becaraware.ca explains:

Black smoke – “Black smoke is an indication that your air-fuel mixture is running rich. … There are a number of things that could cause this: leaking injectors would introduce too much fuel into the combustion chamber or a dirty/clogged air filter might not be letting enough air in. Improper ignition timing could mean getting the right amounts of everything, but at the wrong time. You might also have a faulty sensor or bad fuel pressure switch over-pressurizing the fuel system. If this is the case, you might notice the engine running rough, along with poor mileage.”

White smoke – “Not to be confused with the normal white vapor that disappears quickly under normal conditions due to condensation or on cool morning start ups, heavy white smoke is cause for concern. This means that coolant has made its way into the combustion chamber, and coolant only gets there if you’ve got a bigger problem that should be addressed immediately or you risk overheating and major engine damage. Best case scenario is a blown head gasket, and while that’s not exactly fun, it doesn’t require major overhaul. Other possible culprits may be a damaged cylinder head (overhaul) or cracked engine block (engine replacement). In any case, if you notice persistent, thick, white smoke out of the tailpipe, stop driving the vehicle and call a mechanic.”

Blue smoke – “Blue or grayish smoke means you’re burning oil. … Aside from problems like poor mileage, acceleration, starting and rough idle, burning oil means you’re losing it, which is never a good thing.”

It’s time to find a trusted Madison auto repair pro. You can find a reliable Madison auto repair technician at any of Madison Auto Care's seven, conveniently located NAPA service centers - Clausen Auto, Handel Auto, Genin’s Auto, Capitol Tire, Odana Tire, Hansen’s Auto, or Aeschbach Auto.

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