You know that you shouldn’t see a ton of exhaust spewing out of your tailpipe. If you do, there’s a serious problem happening inside the engine. Demore’s Automotive explains that the color of the exhaust helps pinpoint the problem. The bottom line is that your engine is leaking a ton of automotive fluid, and the color of the exhaust helps us identify which fluid is hemorrhaging. It’s important to have this problem looked into right away because continuing to drive your automobile will seriously damage the engine and it may even put you in danger.
Black
One way that continuing to drive your automobile can put you in danger is if your vehicle is spewing a ton of black exhaust. What is happening underneath the hood is that you have fuel hemorrhaging into the engine and the engine is burning the excess fuel away. As you can imagine, where there is fuel there could be fire. It’s important that you stop driving your automobile and call for a tow truck, especially if you see sparks or flames coming out of the tailpipe. We aren’t kidding. In severe cases, drivers have reported seeing sparks or flames mixed with the black exhaust that is coming out of the tailpipes.
Blue
Continuing to drive your automobile if you have blue exhaust pouring out of the tailpipe will seriously damage the engine. Blue exhaust is caused by oil burning inside the engine. Most likely, your engine gasket has ruptured and you have oil flowing into the cylinders. This can cause serious engine damage if you keep driving your automobile. In fact, excess blue exhaust often indicates a need to have a new engine put into your automobile. If your vehicle has special meaning to you, you may want to do this rather than get rid of it and buy a new car.
White
White exhaust is usually accompanied by your engine overheating. The reason why is that white exhaust means that your engine is burning coolant. If you have a coolant leak serious enough to cause white exhaust, the engine is hemorrhaging coolant and it is not being circulated through the system. Your engine will not only overheat, but you may also end up with white steam coming out from underneath the hood. If you continue to drive your automobile in this condition, you will cause serious engine damage; you may even crack the engine block.
Demore’s Automotive in Palmer, MA, can help, so don’t worry. We’d be happy to inspect your engine to find out why your tailpipe is spewing exhaust. Once we find the problem, we can fix it.
