What color should your exhaust be?

Light or Thin White Exhaust Smoke

It is considered normal when the exhaust coming from your vehicle is light or thin white.

What does the color of exhaust mean?

Green means “go.” Yellow means “caution.” Red means “stop.” Traffic lights are supposed to change color, but what does it mean if your car's exhaust starts swapping shades? It could mean nothing, or it could be a sign that there's a problem you need to have checked out.

What does normal exhaust look like?

Your exhaust, generally, should be white in color. If it seems that your car is producing more exhaust than usual, you may have some normal condensation in your exhaust system. If this is the case, the smoke will dissipate fairly quickly.

Is white exhaust smoke normal?

White smoke can be nothing to be concerned about if it's thin, like vapor. This is probably the result of normal condensation buildup inside the exhaust system. This kind of smoke disappears quickly. However, thicker smoke is a big problem and can be caused by the engine burning coolant.

What does grey exhaust smoke mean?

Blue or Grey Smoke

If the smoke from the exhaust pipe is either grey or bluish-tinged, it generally means that your engine is burning oil inside the combustion chamber. Burning oil could be due to a number of causes, from leaky valve seals to bad piston rings.

Car Exhaust Advice - Good Smoke vs Bad Smoke

What does rich exhaust look like?

Black Smoke

When there is more fuel than is optimal, it is called rich.

What does white exhaust mean?

Thick white exhaust smoke usually indicates a coolant leak, which could cause overheating and put your engine at a serious risk of damage.

What does blown head gasket smoke look like?

Blue Exhaust smoke & White Material in Your Oil

If your car looks like a rocket ship with blue smoke streaming out of your exhaust, chances are this is a head gasket problem. Oil is probably leaking into the cylinders and burning there.

What makes a car run rich?

If car exhaust contains more CO than normal it is an indication of the car running rich. Running rich means that too much fuel is getting into the car engine cylinders, causing carbon buildup and possible damage to the engine. It can happen if air intake passages and vacuum lines become restricted.

Can low oil cause white smoke?

So Can Low Oil Cause White Smoke? A. No, it cannot. Unrelated to the fluid's level, if oil does make it into the combustion chamber, you could see blue-tinted smoke coming from your exhaust.

Should you be able to see your car exhaust?

Most of the time, your car's exhaust should barely even be noticeable, quietly pumping out spent gasses from the combustion process at the back end of your vehicle. But if a problem were to arise, then blue, white or black smoke could start to appear from the exhaust pipe.

Why is my tailpipe black?

If you consistently drive short trips, where the engine doesn't have a chance to warm up completely, or if this is a condition during winter weather when the engine intentionally runs with a richer fuel mixture, some black soot will accumulate on the tailpipe.

What causes white exhaust smoke?

White Smoke Coming From Exhaust: Explained

White smoke from your exhaust means coolant is exposed to your engine's combustion process. In most cases, this is the result of a blown head gasket, but a cracked engine block or cylinder head could also be the cause.

What does blue exhaust smoke indicate?

Blue smoke can often look like grey smoke at first. But if you notice a distinctive bluish tint, it may signal that the engine is burning lots of oil. This could be due to worn engine components like piston rings, valve seals, or PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valves.

How do I fix blue exhaust smoke?

What does blue smoke mean?

What Does Blue Smoke Mean? Blue smoke means oil has mixed with your gas in the combustion cycle, and that oil is being burned up and sent out your exhaust pipe with the rest of the partially burned fuel.

What should exhaust smell like?

Regular Exhaust Smell

Normally, exhaust has a sort of smoky, musty smell. It's hard to describe, but relatively easy to identify by smell. If your exhaust smells like exhaust normally does, you may not have anything to worry about . . . depending on where you can smell it.

Is it better to run lean or rich?

TLDR – running just a little lean could improve fuel economy and give extra power. However, run too lean and you risk engine failure because the engine runs too hot. Whereas running rich can waste fuel and increase pollution but will not damage the engine. You ideally want to run at the perfect ratio of 14.7:1.

How do cars spit flames?

In vehicles where exhaust pipes are not so restrictive, the unburnt fuel utilizes the heat of the exhaust to combust within the exhaust, instead of in the engine. This results in explosive sounds and sometimes, even flames emanating from the exhaust.

What color is head gasket smoke?

The most common sign of a blown head gasket is exhaust smoke. White smoke indicates that your car is burning coolant that is leaking into the cylinders. A similar problem is indicated by blue exhaust smoke, though this is a sign of oil leaking from the gasket.

What color is the exhaust smoke from a blown head gasket?

One of the telltale symptoms of a blown head gasket is white smoke from the exhaust. It's important that the smoke is white because blue or black smoke can indicate a rich running engine or an engine that is burning oil.

What does coolant smoke look like?

A blown radiator hose spraying coolant onto a hot engine will also produce wispy white smoke that looks like steam. Smoking coolant has a sweet pungent odor and can feel oily if rubbed between your fingers. Blue or gray smoke and a pungent, bitter odor from the tailpipe signal the engine is burning oil.

What does black smoke mean?

Though most smoke is dangerous, black smoke is an indicator of heavy fuel burning or manmade materials on fire. These materials produce black smoke that is even more toxic and full of harmful chemicals.

Can I drive my car with white smoke?

White Smoke

It could be overheating, and if it is, you need to stop driving as soon as you can. You could end up seriously damaging your vehicle if you choose to just ignore it. If the smoke smells sweet, then there is an issue with your coolant.

Why does my car smoke white when I first start it up?

But white smoke usually is caused by vaporized coolant, which often is the result of a blown head gasket. At the middle of the engine, you have the cylinders, which combust gasoline and air. All around those cylinders are passages for coolant, to keep the cylinders from overheating.