Caring for You Car: An Auto Service Website

Nobody wants their car to break down. To keep your vehicle running well, you need to provide it with regular service. Have the oil changed a few times per year, rotate the tires, and check and replace the brakes as needed. A good auto care service will take care of all these maintenance tasks for you. However, you may still want to know more about the processes they follow, when service is needed, and what other types of services may help your car last longer. We've build this website for people like you — responsible car owners who just want to learn more. Enjoy!

Why Is Thick Smoking Coming Out From Your Tailpipe?

Blog

Have noticed that smoke is coming out of your vehicle's tailpipe and you are unsure why? If so, it helps to know why your vehicle has this problem so you can diagnose it.

Your Vehicle Has Too Much Oil

Did you recently add oil to your vehicle and notice that the car is producing more smoke from the tailpipe soon after? It is worth checking the oil to make sure that you did not overfill it. Having too much oil in the vehicle is going to cause the oil to get past the oil ring and piston ring and eventually get into the engine's cylinders and combustion chambers where it then comes out as smoke through the tailpipe. Try draining the oil until it is at the proper levels and see if that fixes the problem.

Your Engine Is Receiving Improper Levels Of Air

Your vehicle's engine requires a proper ratio of air to fuel going into it for the engine to run properly. This ratio can easily be disturbed if you have a very dirty air filter that is limiting the amount of air that goes into the engine. Try changing the air filter and see if that solves the problem with black smoke. 

However, the issue can also be due to having too much air in the air-to-fuel ratio. This could be due to a bad O2 sensor, which is causing the vehicle to have problems with not adding enough fuel to keep up with the air going into the engine. You may have a service engine light on your dashboard with a code related to your O2 sensor, which should make this problem an easy part swap.

Your Engine Is Burning Oil

If you have a very old engine with a lot of miles on it, that black smoke could be due to an engine that is burning oil. This happens when you have bad piston rings and oil rings that wear out, and they are unable to scrape off the oil on the cylinder walls of the engine. That oil eventually gets to the combustion chamber and causes smoke to come out the tailpipe. 

Your Engine Is Burning Coolant

Your vehicle may have a problem with the cylinder head gasket, and if it goes bad, it can cause coolant to leak into the combustion chamber. The coolant will then burn up and go out of your tailpipe, creating the smoke that identifies that you have a problem. You'll need a mechanic to repair the cylinder head gasket to prevent this from happening. 

Reach out to a professional who provides auto repair services for more information.

Share  

17 August 2020