Q. What does it mean when black smoke comes out of your exhaust pipe?
A. Black smoke means that your car is running too rich. No, unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it’s blinged out, it means that the air/fuel mixture has too much gas in it and not all of the gas is being burned when it should be.
Your car is an internal combustion engine. That means it runs because of little controlled explosions in the cylinders. Air and gas mix in the cylinder and are ignited by your spark plug. These explosions, like a cannon firing, release energy. That energy is converted into power that’s delivered to your wheels and away you go. When the mixture of air and gas isn’t right (when there’s too much gas), it’s considered running rich. The extra gas isn’t burned off completely, and the carbon in it makes the smoke black.
That extra gas might be the result of a faulty fuel injection system, a carburetor that needs adjusting, a badly clogged air filter, a bad fuel pump or even something wrong with one of your car’s computer sensors. You’ll probably notice that your car is bogging down and lacks power. It’s also seriously lacking fuel efficiency. For your sake and the car’s, it’s time to get it checked out by a professional.