And what is it? Always assumed it was just water but now I’m pretty sure it’s not. Also do all cars do this?

  • TheInsane42@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yep, as stated, it’s water and all internal combustion cars do that when the exhaust isn’t heated up yet. (when it is it’ll leave the exhaust as steam)

    This is the main reason that cars that are only used for short distances or aren’t used regularly use up their exhaust pretty fast. The condensated water in the exhaust stays there to long and isn’t ‘boiled out’, which will result in rust, eating away at the exhaust. (with the mufflers, cat and bends being the 1st to rust trough.

    When the engine and exhaust is at temprature, you shouldn’t see anything coming from the exhaust at regular outside thempratures. White smoke indicates there is a (huge) coolant leak, blue smoke indicates an oil leak. Belching black smoke is caused by diesel engines being revved up to fast. This is caused by how the engine accelerates. Petrol and LPG engines add air to the mixture when you accelerate, with the injection system (or carburator) adding more fuel a fraction later. (making the mixture a tad lean for a short period) Diesel engines dump in more fuel, which results in a (very) rich running engine for a short time, until more air is sucked in. The extra diesel isn’t combusted correctly, resulting in the black plumes.