Is The Smoke Coming From Your BMW Hood? Here is What Could it Mean Introduction
Smoking of the any vehicle is not a good sign for its health. Now a days, vehicles are made more and more eco-friendly by minimizing the emission to even zero. So if the smoke is coming out of the vehicles now a days then it needs an immediate action. Mostly we find in cars, the smoke comes out from the exhaust or the hood. In this article, I’m gonna discuss about the smoke coming from the hood of BMW and what does it actually mean.
Smoke from the hood
Smoke is a product of combustion. A car gets heated while operating but sometimes, excess heating of direct contact of some fluids with heat can cause smoke. In cars there are not only solid components but also liquid or gaseous components which are very much essential for better running of the car. These fluids include engine oil, coolant, fuel, transmission fluid, steering fluid, brake fluid, etc. Smoking is a great problem not only in BMW but in other cars too. The smoke from the hood is also of different types. They are differentiated on the basis of their color and their smell. Generally these smokes which are generated from cars are usually toxic. So it is not only harmful for environment, but also harmful for our respiratory system too. They also have different causes, that is, burning of different fluids cause different type of smokes. The obvious reason for generation of smoke is wearing of different parts and leakage of fluid.
Sometimes people mistaken by considering steam as smoke. This happens at rainy season when water comes in contact with the radiator and get heated to produce steam and comes out of the hood. This is completely a normal sign and this usually occurs. From exhaust too a little white puff of stem comes out of the tail pipe. You can know that the white gas coming out of the hood is smoke or not is that if it comes out suddenly while driving or it has a unique smell, different from the steam.
Here are different smokes from the hood-
White smoke - A white smoke smells sweet or sometimes it smells like fuel. Some faulty fuel system controls cause fuel to leak over heated areas of engine or into the combustion chamber leading to production of white smoke. Coolant leakage from reservoir or head gasket can lead to flow of coolant to the combustion chamber and produce a white smoke having a sweet odor.
Grey smoke- This smoke also appears blue and also called as blue smoke. This smoke has a pungent and bitter smell like that of a heated engine oil. The oil sometimes get leaked out of some gaskets and hoses and falls on the heated engine or combustion chamber, burns up to produce a grey smoke. Sometimes, even having no leakage, if the oil is contaminated or old for a long time in your engine, then it would lead to overheating of engine. Once the engine gets overheated, it begins to burn the contaminated oil
Black smoke - A black smoke is mainly produced due to incomplete combustion and burning of electrical components due to short circuit. Due to incomplete combustion, the exhaust gasses from engine carry the unburnt fuel through them which makes it appear black in color. There are also other harmful pollutants in it. Any short circuit can make the electrical
circuit components like wires to catch fire and produces a black smoke. So a black smoke usually smells like gasoline or a burned plastic.
Conclusion
If you are driving and suddenly smoke comes out from hood then check the dashboard lights and gauges. This would help you to know the exact cause and easier for you to decide whether to continue driving or to stop. Call your dealer or contact a garage mechanic nearby and get the engine inspected properly. They would easily find the root cause and take necessary steps.