Car Engine Condition Diagnosis

Did you know, by looking at the exhaust smoke, you are able to diagnose the condition of an engine? Ability to diagnose not only allows you to determine the level of 'health' engine, but also can be used when buying a used car. Colour of the exhaust smoke will describe how the burning in your engine. Thus, the internal components of your engine's condition can be predicted based on the combustion conditions.

White smoke / water vapour / water from the exhaust pipe when the morning or cold. If this is the result of burning your engine, congratulations. You have a very healthy engine. Valves and piston rings are still in a state seal, fuel injection system (EFI) works perfectly and carburettor (if using a carburettor) are in the most perfect tuning. Petrol has an element Carbon (C) and hydrogen (H), while the air had the element oxygen (O). So if all the internal components of the engine seals, carburettor or EFI system gets tuned mixture of air and fuel ratio of 14.7:1, it will produce perfect combustion. So after gasoline and burns oxygen and react properly, the combustion products will be water (H20) after was mixed with the surrounding cold air has more oxygen.

Black smoke

Black smoke is caused by tuning the ratio of air and fuel mixture is too rich, 'which is the ratio of petrol more than usual. Usually black smoke will come once the problem of increased fuel consumption. Gasoline smell in the exhaust is also quite strong. If you use an electronic fuel injection system, it must be checked at an authorized service centre using a computer scanner to detect problems or components that are not functioning properly. Unlike a carburettor, electronic fuel injection system memory has been set and tuning will not be wrong if all components are functioning properly. And if you use a carburettor, it requires tuning to correct the ratio of air and fuel mixture according to proper specifications. Bring your car to an experienced mechanic, because the carburettor is a very sensitive component. If the wrong tune, your car may be more intense use petrol or may lose power!

Bluish grey smoke

When the exhaust emits smoke blue or grey, this means that there is leakage of engine oil into the combustion chamber causing the engine oil burning gasoline and air mix together. This problem will come together with the common problem of decreasing engine oil and needs to be added. This leakage caused either from the cylinder head valve seal was leaking or worse may be due to a leak on the piston rings. What is certain, top overhaul needs to be done on your engine to replace a leaky valve seal. And may also need a major overhaul if the process found the piston rings are not sealing any more.

White smoke continued

If white smoke out of the exhaust blunt, this means the water from the water jacket around the engine block is entering the combustion chamber. This problem will be coming along with engine temperature problem spike than normal temperatures. Ingress of water may be due to the cylinder head gasket is leaking or is damaged, causing water released into the combustion chamber. Worst case scenario, water will be mixed with engine oil and you can detect it after opening the engine oil cap. Your engine oil will change colour to colour-like milk tea. The solution is of course to do top overhaul on the engine.