Black Smoke Billowing black smoke is generally a sign that the fuel-air ratio in your engine is too rich. This means that the fuel injectors are either adding too much fuel or that the intake valves aren't letting enough air in.
Black smoke is an indication that your air-fuel mixture is running rich. Gas engines are designed to run with just the right combination of fuel and air to create the most efficient conditions for combustion when spark is introduced.
Black Smoke consists of fine particulate matter. These particles can be hazardous to health especially in combination with other pollutants which can adhere to the particulate surfaces. Black Smoke is emitted mainly from fuel combustion.
If your exhaust pipe is emitting black smoke, it's likely because the fuel/air mixture is too rich. In order to combust properly, your engine needs a precise mixture of fuel and air. The mixture is "rich" when it has too much fuel or too little air.
White smoke may indicate a coolant leak into the combustion chambers, which typically would mean a failed head gasket. Something is restricting the air supply for the engine. Running rich is the same as not enough air getting to the engine to burn the fuel well. When we start a vehicle, exhaust smoke appears white.
1. Black Smoke. Billowing black smoke is generally a sign that the fuel-air ratio in your engine is too rich. This means that the fuel injectors are either adding too much fuel or that the intake valves aren't letting enough air in.
Thick, black smoke indicates heavy fuels that are not being fully consumed. At times, black smoke can be an indicator that a manmade material is burning such as tires, vehicles or a structure. As a general rule, the darker the smoke, the more volatile the fire is.
Whether a flame is light yellow, orange-yellow, or reddish depends on the temperature of the flame. The hotter the flame, the lighter the color. White or light gray smoke is usually associated with paper, straw, leaves, or wood.
Lean means your vehicle is fuel-starved. If you have too much gasoline in the air/fuel mixture, this is what is called a “rich” air/fuel mixture. Strangely, one of the problems in the fuel system that causes a lean mixture can also cause a rich mixture.
Black or dark exhaust smoke is more common in diesel engine vehicles. White Smoke: If you see white smoke that is hazy and thin, it is most likely a natural occurrence from condensation. However, if it is a thick white or light gray cloud, you may be dealing with something more serious.
Soot, which appears as black smoke.
The black smoke is composed primarily of elemental carbon from incomplete combustion of diesel fuel and traces of engine lubricant. The exhaust of a typical diesel engine contains elemental carbon (soot), semi-volatile organic hydrocarbons, sulfates (primarily sulfuric acid), and water vapor.
Smoke from wood or charcoal for cooking can range from bluish, to white, to gray, to yellow, brown, and even black. The most desirable smoke is almost invisible with a pale blue tint. You can see it below. Blue smoke is the holy grail of low and slow pitmasters, especially for long cooks.
Thin, black, fast smoke indicates a well-ventilated fire is nearby. Slow, white, dissipating smoke (first thick but thinning quickly) is a sign of steam, and indicates early stage heating. Brown smoke indicates unfinished wood burning.
Blue smoke can often look like grey smoke at first. But if you notice a distinctive bluish tint, it may signal that the engine is burning lots of oil. This could be due to worn engine components like piston rings, valve seals, or PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valves.
Smoke can symbolise our contact with the spiritual world, and is often used as a conduit to communicate and invoke spirits. We can find the symbolic use of smoke in many cultures. The use of smoke has been used amongst many primitive cultures as a way of releasing a dead body's soul on its journey.
Smoke against a dark background appears blue. Against a light sky the same smoke will appear orange. Sometimes an observer will see smoke passing upward from a dark forest background to a light sky background, and it will actually appear to to shift from one color to another.
The color smoky black with hexadecimal color code #100c08 is a very dark shade of brown. In the RGB color model #100c08 is comprised of 6.27% red, 4.71% green and 3.14% blue.
The primary cause of black smoke is an overly long wick. When a candle burns, the wax near the flame melts and the liquid wax is pulled up the wick to feed the flame. If the wick is too long, the balance of heat and fuel will be off. This throws off the chemical reaction and can produce excess soot and smoke.
If the pilot circuit is rich, the engine will have a rough idle or may not return to idle without "blipping" the throttle. You may also notice a distinct smell of raw fuel and some eye irritation from the exhaust.
Most people say without any mechanical issues, a hanging idle usually means you're running lean in your idle, or even partial throttle circuit. Found a few sources claiming a hanging idle can also occur when you're too rich, because of excess unburnt fuel.
A Gasoline Smell in the Exhaust
If the exhaust coming from your vehicle smells like gasoline, it's often due to an overly rich air/fuel ratio. This means that either too much fuel or too little air is getting into your vehicle's combustion chambers.
Engine Running Rich Symptoms
Low gas mileage. A strong smell of gasoline, especially when idling. Check engine light warning. Engine performance problems.
Hydrocarbons are the molecules in fossil and biofuels that combust and burn. In doing so, they release heat, energy. But, if an engine is incapable of burning all the hydrocarbons fed into it, it simply blows them out the exhaust. In other words, black smoke is simply wasted hydrocarbons, wasted energy.