Why is My Car Smoking – Causes & Solutions with Guide Line
There is a saying running there for a while that if there is smoke, there will be fire but if your car is smoking under the hood then it is not fire that is causing the smoke rather some other problems like “Oil spillage” or “Components causing malfunction”. But sometimes people take it wrong by thinking that maybe overheating could cause this problem.
But if smoking is coming out of the hood of your car then it is not a good sign. There must something wrong going in the car. But the problem can be sometimes determined by the smoke color. If the smoke color is white or black the reason could be very different from one another.
But there can be vapor which has nothing to with this problem because this very normal for a hot engine to be acting like this.
And also the combustion system which basically does the mixing of air and fuel cause a certain amount of black smoke but for a diesel-powered vehicle this is very normal because the combustion system can cause this because of the fuel and air ratio.
Why is my car smoking under the hood
If vapor or steam gets out under the hood of the car then you should not take it as smoke. This is basically vaporized water coming out like steam but you should not worry at all because there is nothing wrong with your car and this type of behaviour is very normal for it.
This happens if any kind of condensation builds regarding the exhaust system. But again you should not worry about steam or vapor getting out of your vehicle.
Why is my car smoking white
White smoke actually indicates that might be some problem inside of your engine. Still, there are several problems that can be the reasons like if a coolant enters the combustion system, having a crack on the engine block or cylinder head or even if there is any leakage in the gasket. All these problems can cause white smoke under the hood of the vehicle.
If you see white smoke then on of your detecting the problem is important and your nose and the sense of smell will come very handy in that. If the smell is bit sweet and the smoke color is white then it can be said that the coolant is causing all this problem.
But if the smoke has a fuel smell and with the color white then there something wrong with the fuel system and you should pay attention on the fuel system.
Why Black Smoke Getting Out from my Car
If black smoke is getting out of the vehicle then be sure that there’s something wrong with the fuel system. Sometimes burning too much fuel can be cause getting black smoke out of the vehicle. A faulty or leaking fuel injector can be another that may cause black smoke to get out of your vehicle.
There are also other reasons like a broken pressure regulator or even a damaged carburetor which has a lot to do with the signal of black smoke. The fuel system is very much connected with the black smoke thing is that a simple clogged intake filter has a lot to do with it.
But the thing is that modern vehicles are very advanced regarding detecting fuel related problems. In modern cars, there is an engine light which can be very handy regarding this.
For example, if there is any leakage in the fuel tank or if the fuel system is burning too much fuel then engine light will give the hint by which you can easily detect the problem and fix it very quickly and also easily.
Why is my car smoking but not overheating
This part will basically go deep regarding the reasons behind smoking under the hood. Going deep this main focus on the facts that these causes are not particularly for overheating or anything but has a lot to do with other reasons.
These reasons might not be very serious but still are not acceptable because if you do not take proper care these problems can turn out be something more critical. So, here are the reasons :
Smoking and Oil Spillage:
This is basically a very big reason for smoking under the hood. If you see your car is smoking and it is not overheating then be a bit sure that your car has something to do with oil spillage. Oil spillage is basically the presence of oil in the engine place where it does not belong.
As a result, if there is any oil outside the oil tank then smoking is very possible. This is very much possible if you are not careful while filling the fuel tank or even adding oil in the crankcase is very much responsible for this kind of incident.
Oil spillage is not a very critical of a problem as it does not cause a lot of harm. An oil spillage does nothing rather burns off quickly giving a harsh and oily smell. But if you do not feel free to take proper steps for that then this could lead to a big problems like burning all the plastic and rubber parts of the engine.
Leaky Components Can Cause Smoking:
Oil spillage has another type which has a bit different way of addressing itself. For this type, the oil oozes sitting up high on the engine. V-configured engine types have always something to do with as they have a common record of a valve cover gasket leakage.
For this reason, you also should not roam carefree as this can lead to some critical problem. You can easily get rid of this problem only by replacing valve cover gasket. It is very cheap and also easy to replace.
White Smoke and Oil Filler Cap:
If white smoke is coming under the hood you should be sure that it not because of the overheating rather the engine is old.
As we know older engines have a tendency of releasing whiffing smoke. This is because of the oil filler cap they have. Older engines also produce hot spots that are also responsible for white smoke.
Older engines contain piston ring which are worn out and PVC tube which has clogging issues and these stuffs create more or less an abnormal situation which ends up creating the smoke that gets out under the hood.
This happens when the worn-out piston rings function and the smoke is created but the crankcase ventilation ends up failing in the process to block the smoke as PVC tube is faulty and thus the smoke gets out under the hood.
Electric Wires but not Overheating:
An electric wire can cause smoke but you can identify it by the smell of the smoke. If the smoke seems pungent and has some similarities with ozone or hot metal burning then the cause definitely is a hot wire. But the fact is that you will only get the odor if the alternator is completely burnt.
A Leak in the Coolant:
If your coolant is faulty and there is some leakage then you can see the coolant to cause overflow in the tank and this will give an occasional release of steam which will come under the hood.
You should keep in mind that this may also be connected with the transmission fluid system as burn-in there can also cause that smoke but the fun fact is that you can easily identify that by the smell. As this smoke will have a very different smell.
Wrap Up
Keeping and car and driving need a lot of care and maintenance. There can lot of reasons that can cause smoke from your car. But the good part is you don’t need to worry that much because this does not has anything to do with any serious problem but the bad part you need to take proper steps or it will lead into some serious problem.
