smoke from engine

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Tom Staresinic - 22 Jan 2006 23:58 GMT

Hello, I have 1992 Mazda Protégé with 140,000km (88k miles). Haven't yet
replaced timing belt nor automatic transmission fluid.

Car has run fine, smoothly and quietly. Although it began shaming at stops
about 5 years ago. Never found a mechanic who would try to fix it. Recently
it has lost a bit of power; i;e;need to be bit more heavy-footed on the gas
pedal sometimes to get it to accelerate it quickly. And the exhaust has
sprung a leak immediately after the engines but upstream of the (new month
ld) catalytic converter. It's releasing visible dark fumes with a cigarette
smoke smell. Before the leak, little visible fumes were emitted at the tail
pipe but the smell was of gas fumes.

Anyhow, my question is, if the engine is properly tuned and healthy, should
there be no visible fumes coming out of the engine (upstream of the
catalytic converter). Is this an opportunity for me to get a mechanic to
first tune the engine properly then seal the exhaust pipe-- i.e. if no more
visible fumes?

Besides the classic "tune-up" which I understand just means replacing spark
plugs and checking the timing, what else should I expect the mechanics to
try and tweak?

Note: my experience in about 15 years of dealing with mechanics is that they
only want to easy stuff like replace exhaust pipes, tires, brakes, spark
plugs. How do I find a real mechanic?

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Tom Staresinic - 22 Jan 2006 23:58 GMT

typo fix:
...began shaking at stops...

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Nate Nagel - 23 Jan 2006 00:04 GMT

> Hello, I have 1992 Mazda Protégé with 140,000km (88k miles). Haven't yet
> replaced timing belt nor automatic transmission fluid.
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> only want to easy stuff like replace exhaust pipes, tires, brakes, spark
> plugs. How do I find a real mechanic?

The exhaust should still be fairly clean upstream of the cat. Only
explanation I can think of is that the break is before the O2 sensor and
it's forcing the car to run rich? otherwise you are either running rich
for some reason that needs to be investigated, and/or the engine is
burning oil. Either of those two possibilities would explain why you
had to have the cat replaced, and should be addressed before your new
cat dies too.

nate

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Tom Staresinic - 23 Jan 2006 01:19 GMT

> The exhaust should still be fairly clean upstream of the cat. Only
> explanation I can think of is that the break is before the O2 sensor and
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> had to have the cat replaced, and should be addressed before your new
> cat dies too.

Thnx. But it ran rich before the break. Btw where is the O2 sensor? In the
exhaust between the engine and the cat?
This month was the first time I ever had to top up the engine with a bit of
oil (1/2 litre).
Yes, I would like to keep the cat alive.

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Nate Nagel - 23 Jan 2006 01:29 GMT

>>The exhaust should still be fairly clean upstream of the cat. Only
>>explanation I can think of is that the break is before the O2 sensor and
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Thnx. But it ran rich before the break. Btw where is the O2 sensor? In the
> exhaust between the engine and the cat?

yup, where, I don't know, it could be anywhere from the manifold to the
inlet of the cat depending on the design of your car

nate

> This month was the first time I ever had to top up the engine with a bit of
> oil (1/2 litre).
> Yes, I would like to keep the cat alive.

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