Your car’s exhaust shouldn’t have any color to it at all. In cold weather, you can see white puffs of smoke coming out of your tailpipe. This is normal. In the daytime or during warm weather, you won’t see anything at all coming out of the tailpipe even though your vehicle is releasing exhaust. Clark’s Car Care advises that if you see exhaust that is black, blue, or white flowing out of the tailpipe, you have a serious fluid leak in the engine that will make driving your automobile dangerous. Let’s talk more about this below.
Black
Driving your automobile with a fuel leak can start an engine fire, and if you see black exhaust pouring out of the tailpipe, the engine has a fuel leak. In severe cases, you might not believe it but you may also see sparks or flames. Do not drive your automobile if it is leaking fuel. This opens you up to a dangerous and unnecessary situation. Have your vehicle towed to our shop so we can find the fuel leak and fix it.
Blue
You also shouldn’t drive your automobile if you see blue or gray exhaust flowing out of the tailpipe. This is an indication that the engine is leaking a ton of oil into the combustion chamber where it is being burned. This not only starves the engine of the oil that it needs to protect it but also creates the possibility of an oil fire. It’s important to protect your engine by, again, calling for a tow to our shop.
White
We mentioned that you can see white puffs of smoke when it is cold outside. Again, this is normal. If you see white exhaust pouring out of the tailpipe and coming out from underneath the hood, your engine is hemorrhaging coolant. You will not only see the exhaust but notice that your engine is overheating. If you continue to drive your automobile with an overheating engine, you could crack the engine block.
Clear
Finally, as we mentioned above, you shouldn’t see your exhaust at all. It should be clear. Even if you drive a diesel automobile, you should only see a tiny amount of black exhaust coming out of the tailpipe when you accelerate. The rest of the time, the exhaust should be clear and invisible.
Call Clark’s Car Care in Naperville, IL, today if you can see a ton of exhaust flowing out of your vehicle’s tailpipe. Again, this is a sign your engine is hemorrhaging fuel, oil, or coolant.