What normal situations can cause the car to smoke?
- Exhaust mods - The OEM exhaust is specifically designed to get rid of smoke and exhaust smells. The more restrictions you remove from the OEM exhaust, the more the car will smoke and the more it will smell.
- Cold Ambient Temps - Water, leftover fuel, oil and black soot are all byproducts of combustion in an engine. The colder the temp, the more moisture vapor there will be in the exhaust. The moisture builds up in the exhaust and mixes with the oil and fuel vapors and puddles into an oily watery mix at the bottom of the exhaust tubing or in resonators and mufflers, then the water/oil/fuel mixture heats up and begins burning off. This is why it can smell like oil, smell like gas and have a color mixture between the two.
- Long Idle Times - and Both of these scenarios create the same basic conditions inside the exhaust, which is moisture build up. Water is a byproduct of combustion. But when it's cold or you idle for a long time, the moisture builds up in the exhaust, the moisture collects any oil and fuel vapors and puddles them at the bottom of the exhaust tubing or in resonators and mufflers, then the water/oil/fuel mixture heats up and begins burning off. This is why it can smell like oil, smell like gas and have a color mixture between the two.
The colder the temp, the more your car will smoke. The longer you idle, the more your car will smoke.
