# Black Smoke



## Sleeper180sx (May 31, 2003)

It comes out when i get on it hard, is this oil burning or just from exhaust manifold


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## vsp3c (May 15, 2003)

white smoke = oil burning
black smoke = you're running rich. the air/fuel ratio is unbalanced..you got too much fuel and not enough air..


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## 93blackSER (Feb 1, 2003)

actually blue smoke means he's burning oil. trust me, i know. i saw lots of it when my 240 decided it wanted to break a rod and run on 3 cylinders


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## vsp3c (May 15, 2003)

white, blue, they all look the same to me  maybe i'm colorblind..hmm..


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## quiksilvia (Aug 5, 2003)

white smoke is coolant, black is too rich, do u have any mods on ur car sleeper? usually this can be fixed with a new o2 sensor


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## Roy (Jul 10, 2003)

Black = fuel / air ratio improper, dirty injectors, air cleaner etc etc

Bluish = Oil burning, usually sign of worn oil control rings or other oil leak internally into combustion chamber, valve quides etc will normally show up bluish smoke on cold start or after setting for a bit.

White = Water vapors possible coolant getting into combustin chambers or a PCV system thats not working correctly to draw out any condensation.

These are the colors I associate with symptoms, and they have been reliable so far. But they are just a small part in a bigger picture on troubleshooting a problem, but it will give you a clue or an idea where to start digging.


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## megaseth (May 18, 2003)

Roys right with that. it sounds like you have fuel problems. clean the throttle body, pour in some injector cleaner, and some fuel cleaner stuff that cleans out the fuel system. maybe see if you are running rich at higher RPMs. when i was tuning the carb on my old truck, we set it really rich and had black smoke coming out when we reved it, then we leaned it out. you might wanna do something like that.


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## Sleeper180sx (May 31, 2003)

white smoke on my brothers car the mechanic said he had antifreeze or someother coolant leaking into the combustion chamber making white smoke how do u stop it


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## 93blackSER (Feb 1, 2003)

check your oil stick. it'll be kind of white if you have antifreeze leaking into the combustion chamber as well. that's an easier way to figure that part out. i would also suggest a new O2 sensor and checking all spark plugs.


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## Roy (Jul 10, 2003)

Sleeper180sx said:


> *white smoke on my brothers car the mechanic said he had antifreeze or someother coolant leaking into the combustion chamber making white smoke how do u stop it *


Usually when coolant does leak into the combustion chamber it has to come from places like an intake leak, or head. Could be something simple and cheap to fix like a leaking gasket or seal or big money with a cracked head. 

Its easy to confirm if you have coolant vapors coming out your exhaust pipe, as any decent shop will have an analyizer that will pick it up. I know Ford dealerships do as they had notorious problems with their 3.8 ltr Tarus and Sable motors leaking antifreeze, which one time I was an owner of. Its easy to check and find out if its an intake problem or head problem etc and worth the diagnostics charge associated in finding out, instead of just haphazzardly tearing things apart and replacing items that are still good in the process. Around here it runs about $30 to $40 for this service.

Anti freeze even in small amonts can lead to your main bearings getting eroded, and cause all kinds of bad problems down the road, no matter how small amount of vapor is coming from the tail pipe, so it should be looked into as soon as possible. Wter vapor condenses when the engine is cold, and gets circulated around in the lube system, and in the process this water or coolant displaces lube oil, and causes normally lubed parts to be under lubed or no lube, and once it starts, it just gets worse with time. Sometimes once the car is warmed up and at operating temps this vapor may dissapear all together, but the problem is still there. A properly sealed and running motor should not collect enough vaapor inside the engine to make it blow white colored stuff out the til pipe. Now water in gasoline is common and all gas has some in it no matter what, but usually in small enough quantities not to hurt anything. Its introduced just by filling up. A lot of white stuff on start up can also be collected moisture in the muffler, but usually you see water dripping from the tail pipe as well during initial heating up of system. This is normal. Usually seen in higher humidity areas and in colder seasons. Car may run just fine, so a lot of folks put it off as its easy to top off the coolant and not spend $$, but its just gopnna make things worse the longer its left go.


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