Now, this can be quite frightening if you have never seen smoke coming from your vehicle ever before. Especially if you have ever had a car caught on fire from the engine as I have. So the real question that comes to mind if the vehicle is not on fire then why is my Ford Taurus smoking?
Here is what I found out from my research. It depends on the color of smoke that is coming from your exhaust. This will decide why your vehicle is smoking. Gray smoke is coolant, black smoke is fuel, and blue smoke is oil. Let’s look further into this so you can understand this problem better.
What would cause my Ford Taurus to smoke?
Most of the time, when your vehicle starts to smoke it is because a liquid has come in contact with your engine. Many people will see this when their vehicle overheats and they see steam come out from under the hood. Your vehicle overheats because your engine heat has become so immense that there is not enough coolant in the system so your engine is now evaporating water from inside the cooling system and this makes the steam you see now.
Please remember not to open the radiator cap when your vehicle has steam coming out. There is pressure behind that cap that can spray boiling water and coolant on you if you do. So if you want to add coolant to your system while the engine is still hot, make sure you add it through the coolant reservoir.
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When would my Ford Taurus smoke?
Depending on what is wrong with your vehicle will decide when your Ford Taurus is going to start smoking. If the color of the smoke is bluish-gray, then this means that there is oil in your combustion chamber and now the engine is burning it off.
This can be oil sneaking past your valve seals while the engine was not running. It can also be that the oil has got by your piston rings and now it is getting burnt off by the combustion chamber. This can usually be seen in older vehicles or those that have high mileage.
Black smoke, one of the most popular colors of smoke, when it comes to auto repair and modifications. Not that I am a fan of the engine burning excessive fuel but when I see a big lifted truck. You know who I am talking about, the person that has a turbo-diesel that they have added modifications to and when they hit the gas hard they “roll coal” by leaving a massive plume of black smoke behind them.
Yes, I am sure it looks cool, but this is a sign of fuel being burnt off at an excessive rate, and your engine is burning rich. When someone says their vehicle is burning rich, it means it is receiving too much fuel in the combustion chamber, and their engine has not increased the amount of air, so the air to fuel ratio is rich in fuel. So if rich means too much, then lean must mean not enough fuel.
The reasons without modifications to your vehicle of the cause of your black smoke problem would be a few things. This indication could mean that your fuel regulator could be stuck closed, your fuel injectors are leaking or dripping, or your fuel return is restricted.
This is an excellent reason why you need to make sure you change your fuel filter on an interval basis, so you do not get any debris and dirt in your fuel lines increasing the chance of a costly fuel situation.
Next, if you have white smoke, which is the coolant is now getting burnt off by the engine. Remember that your cooling system filled with Antifreeze/coolant that passes through your engine in hoses and cooling ducts that are put there on purpose to cool your engine down. So make sure you have a proper 50/50 water to coolant mixture when filling your coolant reservoir.
Using just water will not help the engine cool down to the temperature it needs to be. That is because water evaporates at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. So by mixing the water with some coolant will increase its evaporation temperature to 223 degrees Fahrenheit. The waterless coolants that are for sale at many automotive stores have an evaporation temperature of 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
So making sure your vehicle has the proper mixture can keep more significant problems at bay with your car by staying up to date on the maintenance interval. This problem can be caused by a crack in the cylinder head, a break in the engine block, or a blown head gasket. All three things are vehicle owners’ nightmare but will need to be replaced sometime in your vehicle’s lifetime.
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Where would my Ford Taurus smoke?
Depending on what the problem is, your vehicle can smoke when it is sitting still and idling. Then there is the chance that your Ford Taurus will smoke when the car gets to operating temperature. It all depends on what the problem is, and that will decide when your vehicle will start smoking.
Is my Ford Taurus smoking bad for my car?
Yes, smoking is bad for your vehicle. Think about it like this when your car is smoking that is the indication that something is wrong. Just like if you had a runny nose that would be an indicator saying that your health is not perfect.
The same goes for your vehicle, find out why your car is smoking as soon as
possible. This is a problem, but it is not a big problem yet. If you catch it early enough, you will have a better chance of not having a major repair needed.
So make sure you never ignore that the vehicle in smoking even if it is a little extra black smoke out of your exhaust.
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How do I prevent my Ford Taurus from smoking in the future?
How to prevent your vehicle from smoking in the future it all comes down to maintenance interval schedule. You need to keep a clear record of the maintenance that you have done on the vehicle and maintenance that needs to be done in the car. This will make it easier to understand the health record of your car and where the mechanic should be looking for the problem.
Remember also to keep your fluids in your vehicle at the proper level at all times. Not only keeping the fluids at the appropriate level but the adequate ratio as well as the coolant it needs to be a 50/50 ratio with water. If that ratio is off, it can change the boiling temperature of the liquid, which will cause problems with your vehicle.
Preventive maintenance is a key player in keeping your vehicle operational and safe to drive on any road. The hard part is remembering to do it even though we feel that the car is running great, we always need to remember to do the scheduled maintenance or being repairs will be required in the near future.
I hope you enjoyed reading my article! I know I enjoyed writing it for you and I hope it helped as well. Catch you in the next piece!
