Smoke from exhaust

What am I doing asking question like this on cprogramming, well you guys are the best source for some real good advice and comments, plus I've been here long enough to know how some members of the board react to certain threads.

On with the question... My 1993 Taurus 3.8L smokes. I checked coolant level and it was fine, then I looked under my mufler and found a whole which I found out also caused my car to have a bit louder than normal sound out of the mufler.
I was wondering if anyone knows what can cause this? I was thinking it could be water getting into the whole and then evaporating when engine gets hot enough, but that is just my theory.
The car itself is in perfect condition, it just recently got a major tune up and all fluids were flushed, plus a resealed intake.

Any help is appreciated!

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Originally Posted by Liger86

I looked under my mufler and found a whole which I found out also caused my car to have a bit louder than normal sound out of the mufler.
I was wondering if anyone knows what can cause this?

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Driving over big rocks. ;)

Quzah.

Nah i got a hole in my muffler too and not from driving over rocks just buy a new muffler I got a semi-preformence one for only 40 bucks. And for your other problem. What color is the smoke? black or white?

It was a joke. -_-;

Quzah.

Smoke in the exhaust is often a sign of oil getting into the cylinders. The smoke has a charecteristic smell, which smells like, well, burning oil from a worn engine! It is usual on cars as they get older, the piston rings/cylinder bores wear and some oil gets into the combustion chamber.

It is possible to rebore the cylinders slightly larger, and fit appropriately sized piston rings. Here it would cost a fortune. In the states, it is probably almost free.

The smoke is white and only small amount is visible (1-2 feet high or longat still), lots are visible in cold weather, and it only smokes when the engine is warm rather than cold.

Car is at 90,000miles

Some people told me that is normal, but I think it is caused by that whole in the mufler.

How do I determine the smell of the smoke? I checked and smelled the dipstick and it was ok and not burnt. Can anyone tell me what a regular exhaust smoke should smell like? I know there is lots of water coming out of exhaust, that is for sure, but I can't detect any wierd places water could enter cylinders.

Again no evidence of faulty head gasket because oil and coolant fluid don't mix, but then again that is the only case I know, so it could be head gasket.

Engine does not everheat and the heater kicks in at normal warm-up rate. Everything seams to run normal.

Also my Taurus makes noise out of power steering area at exeleration, but no damage was found during the inspection of the steering rack or the power stearing pump.

Maybe it's the vapor build-up caused by broken mufler.

I'll start the car again in a few hours and check everything again and let you gues know.

If there something you want to know in particular about the car just ask, because I don't want to get the car to the condition where repairs are over my budget.

Thank you all!

There's a reason it's called exhaust...white smoke is normal, especially in the amounts you described it. I'd get the muffler replaced, but I doubt that the smoke is anything to worry about, I have 180k miles on my 95 pontiac. Sure it has some problems, but nothing major. At 90k miles your car shouldn't have anything majorly wrong with it (even if it is a ford ;)).

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even if it is a ford

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you mean American made ;)

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Originally Posted by B0bDole

you mean American made ;)

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Do you mean that? Ford does not make cars anywhere else! Correct me if I'm wrong!

There is a big difference between SMOKE in the exhaust and the normal fumes that come out of the exhaust pipe!

If it is white and more apparent in cold weather, you are seeing normal exhaust. Smoke is black.

>>> Ford does not make cars anywhere else! Correct me if I'm wrong!

Ford makes cars in many countries. Here is a list of Ford plants in Europe and what they make at each. There are plants in other parts of the world as well.

i was playing on the fact that he has a pontiac.
To make sense of my joke, i was stating all american made cars suck.

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Originally Posted by adrianxw

It is possible to rebore the cylinders slightly larger, and fit appropriately sized piston rings. Here it would cost a fortune. In the states, it is probably almost free.

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No, this would cost a small fortune in the states too...just because we have a ton of mechanics everywhere doesn't mean they work for peanuts. Plus, reboring the cylinders isn't a fix for bad rings. Just replace the rings and be done with it. Even that costs a small fortune. The rings are like $10USD each, and the labor is a $1000USD (I'm pulling figures out my .........., but you get the idea).

If your wondering why your muffler has a hole, it could be any number of reasons. Those things rust, and they are on the underside of the car so they get all kinds of grime and splashback and small rocks and other crap thats all over the roads. Just a spot of bad luck.

And just because the smoke is white doesn't mean its normal. Its more the way it looks and smells. Anything that smells stringly burnt is bad, and if its thinck and doesn't dissipate (thick in the air instead of disappearing like your breath on a cold day), then chances are its oil. It happens to older cars...90K might not sound like a lot of miles, but Tauruses ain't exactly "built ford tough" :)

A hole in the muffler will cause more smoke to be visible from the tail end. The muffler also traps particulates (smoke) in it as well as muffling the sound. But since you have a hole in the muffler, chances are the engine is fine and a new muffler will make you feel right as rain.

white smoke may not be normal. If it makes you eyes water and burn, you have a leaking head gasket. Go to your local parts store (i work in advance auto) and get Bars smoke away. Run that for a bit and see if it goes away.

Also, start the car up cold with the radiator cap off. Take care as coolant CAN fly, but shouldnt. Watch the coolant for about five minutes, if its bubbling more than say, a bubble a minute, this is also another sign of a cracked head or leaking head gasket.

You cant fix that "waahhhh wahhhh" from your power steering. Thats every ford ever made : )

I'm going to go study now, ASE test next week.

>>You cant fix that "waahhhh wahhhh" from your power steering. Thats every ford ever made : )

he speaks the truth, every one of my friends with tauruses have this problem.

but its not a joke, people come in everyday wanting the part to fix it LOL

speaking of Ford. I hear that Ford makes some models in Europe that are not sold in US - not sure about the names.

The English side of Ford is actually quite good. We had a Ford Sierra station wagon that ran great for years in some pretty bad conditions, and we never had a problem with it. Really durable. Then we get to the States and hear the acronym, "Found On Road, Dead". I don't think it's fair to include all of them as a rule, but in general I've found that bad transmissions are common on a lot of American cars. Chrysler-Dodge and Ford in particular.

I'm gonna have to watch my tranny now!? Darn.

Not really, theres only two trannies ford has a problem with:

AODE
AOLDE

AOD is the most common, the other two tend to last around 90k. Do transmission filter/fluid changes everytime u do your oil change, and make sure to add Lucas trans and Lucas oil stabilizers and you will be fine.

Chrysler trannies, hah, they go to the junk yard with the 360 oil pumps : )

ah good times, kinda on topic just got done putting a new power steering pump in and alternator :)

Just finished a engine swap in our jeep. Had a 4cyl chrysler engine, now has a chevy 454 and a 700R4 tranny. Lunati cams and lifters, holley EFI programmable FI unit, and an external waterpump. Engine mods arent much, but boy does she have some power hehe.

I was driving Taurus again a few hours ago and stupid airbag light started blinking, I went streight home because I thought the damn thing was gonna pop open on me while I'm driving. I'm gonna have to check it later in the day light. Probably a faulty sensor.

How would I find out what tranny I got? AODE or AOLDE, or something different? Duh... the car manual. :rolleyes: .. I'll go read that!

Except that if your Ford transmission is already making noises or slipping you are better off leaving the fluid in it. Changing the fluid in those often causes the entire tranny to go to crapola in a heartbeat.

Problem is this. Ford got a great idea that they would start using aluminum pistons in the tranny instead of steel. Well this worked until the darn thing got hot one time. The heat causes the aluminum pistons to crack, thus limiting their ability to push fluid, thus causing lots of shifting problems. The only way to fix it is to rebuild the entire tranny. I once had a Mercury (no diff from Ford) Topaz that started having problems with the tranny (and the power steering rack - leaked horribly). I was advised not to change the fluid as several tranny places stated the tranny might actually start to fail quicker with new fluid. It sounded stupid at the time, but they were right. Once the tranny goes it's going to fail - changing fluid isn't going to help a broken tranny.

Also I concur with the fact that white smoke is probably not normal in this case. It sounds like antifreeze/water is getting into the cylinder's at some point and being burned in the combustion. You have all the signs of a blown or failed head gasket and/or cracked head.
Usually more smoke is noticeable at startup. This is because fluid leaks into the cylinders constantly and the fluid hasn't been moving so more has leaked into the cylinder. There is fluid in the system at all time, another reason that you should winterize your car unless you want a cracked block - there is fluid/water in the system running or not running. So when you start the car that initial smoke is the built up antifreeze/water mixture being burnt in the first few cycles of the engine.

Do a compression check on the engine or do remove the cap and watch for bubbling in the overflow. Blown heads do not always leak compression nor do they always exhibit white smoke. However, they normally DO exhibit one of these symptoms. Also check your oil for gooey white crap at the bottom of the dipstick. This would indicate that antifreeze/water is leaking into the oil also pointing to a blown head gasket.

And yeah, the power steering on Ford's are/were extremely loud. I'm not an expert on Ford's so I don't know if they have fixed this. My Mits does the same thing when the weather turns very cold.

Nice explanation on the trannies, i dont have the patience to type all that LOL. The reason new fluid can sometimes off a ford trans thats having problems is because the viscosity of the new fluid is higher, causing the pump to push more pressure, making the seals blow out.

You have to get under the car and read the stamp on the trans, manuals, vin's, dont matter with ford. Take it to a tranny place and ask him to check, they'll tell u for free 9/10

Here is another thing... It makes absolutelly no smoke at start-up, it's only when engine gets warm.

I'll do a copression check soon!

warm when the coolant heats up and pushes into the head.

Do that bubble check i told u about, its sounding like a head gasket. Any check engine lights coming on?

Could be coolant, but like I said in one of my previous posts absolutely no evidence of water in the cylinders is visible. Coolant level is where it suposed to be and oil level and color is also fine.

No lights STAY on or FLASH while the car is running except airbag as of few hours ago.

could be a clogged catalytic converter or an 02 sensor also. When i talk to my dad in the morn ill ask him, 99.9% of the time his first guess is right. dunno why lol

What year is your jeep rod. I have 98 4.0 :)

88 wrangler

were in agreement. Hole in muffler was caused by moisture in the system due to a leaky or failing head gasket : )

noooooooo!

Darn!? Did you just make a thesis statement!? If you did I'm gonna be very paranoid about it now!

dude just go to advance auto, go about halfway down the chemical wall, and on the third shelf from the bottom grab this silver bottle that says "head gasket repair". I think bar's makes this also, 9/10 it works awsome. Fixed a crack in my buddies honda prelude right in the head, for like 10 months. It never failed again, we just finally got around to putting on a new one.

I refuse to believe it's a head gasket failure, antifreeze level is fine and I really really (really) think it's exhaust.

ill hope for u since its cheaper but dude lol

Let me reiterate this that a simple hole in the muffler is not going to cause white smoke. The muffler simply muffles the noise via the baffles in its interior. Saying that water is getting into the hole and then evaporating due to the heat is reaching a bit I'm afraid. I'm not saying it's not possible, but it is very unlikely.

Other signs of a possible blown head gasket.

1. Rough idle,starts, and stops - caused by loss in compression in one or more cylinders.
2. Computer cannot maintain correct RPM at idle causing a rev-up/rev-down cycle to start as the computer attempts to adjust for the loss in compression.
3. Bad gas mileage - antifreeze isn't exactly high octane fuel. Low compression will also cause this because the engine will need more gas to make up for the lack of compression in the cylinder.
4. Temperature hotter than normal - caused by coolant level dropping due to antifreeze being burned in the cylinder(s).
5. Hard to start car after its been sitting for a bit. - another result of both loss of compression and attempting to burn antifreeze as fuel.
6. Clogged catalytic converter and/or bad O2 sensor. These might have failed due to the head gasket problem. Antifreeze being burned will certainly clog the cat and will also foul the O2 sensors.


Water dripping from the exhaust is more likely due to condensation being built up in the exhaust system (reason why trips of 30 minutes or more are best during wet and/or wintery conditions) OR bad fuel. Bad gas or gas that has a lot of water in it can literally cause the tail pipe to leak water. I've experienced this a lot with Amoco brand gasoline. If you notice you will also go through that tank of Amoco gas like it's water.

My advice is to get it checked out. Don't assume your muffler is causing all of that. With 90K on an American made vehicle, anything could be wrong with it.