Smoke is synonymous with fire, just look at the incineration of garbage, the smoke is sure to soar. But what if this smoke comes out of the vital parts of the car, namely the hood? Does that indicate our car engine is burning? but don’t over-speculate, because there are a number of trivial to serious causes that cause smoke in the engine room.Therefore in this article, we will discuss the causes of the smoking hood.

Cause Of The Smoky Hood

The smoke or white matter is the result of the combustion of a material which is not completely carried out. This means that this combustion produces a lot of carbon monoxide and sulfur, so it’s a slightly gray color. For inside the hood, is it possible to emit smoke? If the question is like that, it’s probably because the engine works by burning a mixture of air and fuel. But the engine has an exhaust system that regulates exhaust gas to come out of the exhaust. So, for this smoky hood problem there must be something wrong. At least, there are three things that can be concluded when we see a puff of smoke from inside the hood. Namely;

1. Thin blue smoke due to burnt oil

If you see thin blue smoke from inside your hood, it’s a sign that the engine oil is burning by the heat of the engine. But the engine oil is in a tightly closed engine, how can the oil burn and the smoke comes out? Apparently, this case only happened because there was oil spilled on the outside of the engine. Usually after replacing the oil filter there will be oil spills near the oil filter housing. If the oil spills on the hot part of the engine such as the exhaust manifold, when the engine is turned on, the oil will burn by the heat of the exhaust manifold. So that there will be thin blue smoke coming out of the hood.

This problem is still relatively trivial because when the oil spills all burn, the smoke from the engine room will disappear. But if it turns out that up to two or three hours the engine is running, the smoke from the engine room doesn’t go away, that is a sign that oil is leaking. This oil leak can occur because the oil filter installation is not tight, or there is a damaged oil seal. To check it, you need to see your car directly. Use the help of a flashlight to see if there is an oil leak, or not. This oil leak is characterized by seepage and usually a lot of dust stuck to the seepage.

2.Smoke gray / black due to damaged exhaust packing

If the smoke that comes out is gray or tends to be black, it is a sign of smoke from the engine combustion. Normally, the smoke from the combustion of this engine will be channeled completely to the catalytic converter and to the exhaust. But if black smoke is rising from inside the hood, it means that there is a leak in the exhaust channel of your car. Generally, it is the packing part of each exhaust system connection that is the problem. You can pack the exhaust manifold, packing the catalytic converter, or packing the exhaust connection. In addition, if the car exhaust channel leaks, a rough sound will appear from the engine because the engine combustion sound also leaks (not fully channeled to the mufler). The solution, it’s easy if the packing is damaged, replace it, but if the exhaust connection is not tight enough, just tighten it.

3. White smoke due to engine overheating

Overheat is a condition where the engine temperature exceeds its working temperature for a relatively long time. This overheating can be caused by many things, but if your car engine is overheating, there are usually several symptoms. Like the cabin temperature that goes up, and if you leave it there will be white smoke coming from inside the hood. This smoke comes from coolant or cooling water that is burned by the heat of the engine. Unlike the two types of smoke above, white smoke due to overheating has a large enough quantity so that when you open the hood, smoke immediately rises from inside the engine. For this problem, you need to turn off the engine of the vehicle and wait for an expert to check the condition of your car.

4. Radiator water leak

Apart from engine oil, radiator water that leaks and hits the hot parts of the engine can also emit smoke. This is like water vapor, in boiling water there will be steam which is slightly gray in color. If the volume of water from the radiator that is leaking is small, like droplets, the vapor may not be visible. But if the leak is bigger, the smoke will be visible. For this problem, the engine temperature will increase drastically so that the engine temperature indicator will turn on, and the engine temperature level is also at its highest level.

If you experience this problem, immediately put your car aside and open the hood to cool the engine. One more thing, smoke from inside the hood can also appear because there is a short circuit. This short circuit will cause heat around the short circuit, and if there is a plastic component it will burn and emit smoke with a distinctive odor (burning plastic smell). This is a little difficult to detect because the smoke due to this short circuit is very minimal but the effect is quite large. So if you smell burning plastic while driving, immediately put the vehicle aside and do a check. That’s just a short article about the causes of smoke coming out of the hood, hopefully it can add to our insight.