Will exhaust leaks at manifold gaskets cause the engine to misfire?
I'm going to address the issue that has so far been overlooked. Most gasoline passenger and light duty trucks on the road today utilize electronically controlled fuel injection. Exhaust manifold leaks have the effect of “fooling” the oxygen sensor. Exhaust gas travels in pulses with high and low pressure zones. Exhaust gas leaks out during the high pressure event. Outside air is drawn INTO the leaking area during the low pressure event. The result is an oxygen sensor that reports a lean condition. (Too much air in relation to fuel). The Powertrain Control Module (PCM) will then increase fuel delivery to compensate. With a leak of sufficient magnitude, the PCM can end up substantially increasing fuel delivery in an attempt to “correct” the perceived lean condition. The engine (or that half of the engine) actually ends up running quite over- rich (Too much fuel in relation to air). Spark plug fouling can result, which in turn may lead to a MISFIRE. If this situation occurred on , for instance, a 98 Ford F150 with a V8, the following may be present. Lean exhaust code and misfire codes set on the bank with the exhaust leak present. The exhaust leak did not cause an immediate misfire. But it is the root cause of the resulting mayhem.
What are the effects of driving a car with a misfiring cylinder?
OK. I am a gear head who loves working on cars and has done so since the 1960’s.If a cylinder is misfiring because of an ignition problem you will, in the short term, just experience a loss of power increase your fuel consumption. In the longer term, continuing to drive it that way could destroy a coil and cost you more money.If, however, the misfire is caused by an injector problem, you could seriously damage your engine. Running that cylinder too lean will cause it to overheat and potentially damage the valve or the piston. If it is running excessively rich the unburned fuel could be washing the lubrication off of the cylinder walls leading to severe wear. In either case, repairing the damage will be expensive.NEVER drive a car that has a problem. NEVER drive a car in which the Check Engine light is on. If the Check Engine light begins to flash, SHUT OFF THE ENGINE, NOW! A problem that to you seems small, if not repaired, can cause a lot of damage that will be very expensive to fix.Read your car’s manual. Do exactly what it recommends. Find a mechanic you trust. Doing preventive maintenance will cost you a lot less than repairing the damage caused by neglecting to keep your car serviced.
What happens if your car runs out of engine coolant?
If you run out of coolant, and continue to operate the engine for a significant period of time, it will cause serious harm to the engine.Among the first things damaged is typically the heads and head gaskets. If you really push it, you could damage the block, seize the engine, or melt a hole in a piston.Before you get to the catastrophic damage point, there are some tell tale signs that you've run out of coolant. 1) the heater stops working2) the temperature gauge drops from hot to cold (because it's no longer immersed in hot coolant)3) as the engine heat soaks without the cooling system doing its job, the heat gauge eventually rises into the hot zone and keeps going. 4)At this point the engine is/has exceeded its designed operating temperature, and the check engine light may come on. At this point you may have already damaged the heads/gaskets.At any point past warning #2, turn off the engine and let it cool. Adding cool water while the engine is hot could cause warping/cracking. Not to mention you may get burned when opening the cap.
Why is my car shaking and the check engine light flashing?
A shaking vehicle AND flashing MIL ("check engine light") sound like the vehicle is misfiring on at least one cylinder. As @Anna Nguyen, @Brendan Sinclair, @Antoun Nabhan and others have said, it could be an ignition related problem. It could also be fuel-related. If one or more fuel injectors are clogged or dead, that would also cause a misfire in the affected cylinder(s). These are relatively cheap/easy things to check and fix.Other causes (which could be more complicated and more expensive) to fix include contaminated fuel, a bent intake or exhaust valve, a broken valve spring, a damaged piston/connecting rod, and on and on.I recommend getting a scan tool and checking the codes which are causing the MIL to light/flash and I also strongly recommend NOT driving the vehicle until the problem is fixed. If you continue to drive the vehicle as is, you will exacerbate the problem. Dumping unburned fuel into the exhaust due to a misfire will overheat and kill your catalytic converter. A more serious problem like a bent valve can eventually cause you to crater your engine (i.e.: completely destroy the engine).
What car engine oils can cause burning with white smoke when they are leaking?
OK, I have fifty years of experience as a gear head working on cars and building high performance engines.In the past, it was possible to quickly diagnose engine problems by looking at the color of the exhaust. Black tailpipe emissions indicated that the engine was running rich, i.e. that the fuel/air mixture had too much gas in it relative to the proportion of air. Blue tailpipe emissions indicated that lubricating oil was getting in to the engine, most likely past worn piston rings or through the valve guides. And white tailpipe emissions indicated water in the exhaust gases, which ordinarily gets there because of a bad intake manifold gasket, damaged cylinder head gasket, or a cracked cylinder head.These, especially the latter two, are serious problems. Oil in the exhaust means that the engine is already worn out and has to be either completely rebuilt or replaced. Water (coolant) in the exhaust gases can very quickly lead to extreme engine wear or catastrophic engine failure. If you think that there may be coolant leaking into the engine you should STOP DRIVING THE CAR and have it checked out by a qualified shop.But I said “in the past”. Today the catalyst in the exhaust system operates at such a high heat that contaminants in the exhaust will be burned, vaporized. If you see a car today spewing fumes from the exhaust pipe it means that the condition of the engine was so bad that the initial problem managed to destroy the catalytic converter as well.A reasonable amount of water vapor coming from the tailpipe either before the engine has completely warmed up or when the car is driven on extremely humid days is completely normal and does not indicate any problem.