Guaranteed Auto Air & Repair is serious when we say that you shouldn’t see a ton of smoke coming out of your tailpipe. If you think about it, your exhaust is invisible. This is the way it should be. Unfortunately, a serious fluid leak in the engine can cause your tailpipe to turn into a smokestack. We recommend that you avoid driving your automobile if it is releasing a ton of exhaust. Continuing to operate the vehicle could be dangerous and cause irreparable damage to the engine. Let’s talk more about engine fluid leaks below and the color of the exhaust that they cause.
Black
Your engine is leaking fuel if the exhaust color is black. Unfortunately, the engine is burning away the fuel that is leaking. This can make driving your automobile dangerous because you may start an engine fire. It’s better to have your vehicle towed to our shop than risk the danger of fire. Fuel can leak severely out of cracked fuel injectors and leaking fuel hoses. You may also have an excess fuel burn due to a clogged air filter, a malfunctioning oxygen sensor, or a problem with the fuel pump.
Blue
As we mentioned above, continuing to drive your automobile with excess exhaust can damage the engine irreparably. This is the case if you see blue exhaust flowing out of the tailpipe. This generally means that you have blown the head gasket and oil is leaking into the combustion chamber. When this happens, the oil is burned away. This burning creates the blue exhaust. As you can imagine, if the oil is leaking into the chamber, it is leaking out of the engine. Consequently, you will be driving your automobile with little to no motor oil in the engine and this can damage it severely.
White
Another sign that you have cracked the head gasket is white exhaust. In this case, the engine is burning the coolant that makes its way into the combustion chamber. In addition, the coolant will spray throughout the engine and burn on contact. This can create white steam that will waft from underneath the hood. You never want to drive your automobile if it is hemorrhaging coolant because the engine will start to overheat. As with driving the vehicle without any oil, driving an overheating engine will damage it further. It could even crack the engine block or exhaust manifold.
Guaranteed Auto Air & Repair in Rockledge, FL, is here to help, so ring us up today to set up a service appointment for your automobile if your engine is leaking fluid.
