Re: Black smoke arrives

[harrison <hsapir@multiverse.com>]

Burning oil should be white or blue smoke. Black "smoke" from the exhaust
sounds like you are dumping unused fuel for some reason or another

harrison

Preston Brown wrote:

> After she got to work this morning, my fiancee called me at home to report
> that our 86 5KCST had been blowing "a lot of black smoke" out of it's
> tailpipe on the highway.  She said it wasn't constant; it came in bursts.
> She also said it wasn't a problem at lower speeds.
>
> She has been complaining as well of a small oil leak for a few weeks.  I
> suggested earlier she take it into the shop to have it checked out, and
> now (since she really freaked out) I know she will.
>
> The poor audi has been quite expensive to maintain over the last 2 years,
> but until this point it has had no engine trouble.  The odometer is at
> 130K.  Does anyone have ideas about what the problem might be (I assume it
> involves burning oil) and if so, is it going to be feasible to fix from an
> economic point of view, or should I start looking for another car?
>
> soon to be much poorer, one way or another,
>
> Preston
>
> ---
>  -Preston Brown
>   preston.brown@yale.edu