While driving my 1997 cavalier on the interstate last week, I was going uphill and I felt less power than usual. Then I saw a cloud of black smoke behind me. This has happened 3 times. I do not lose power or notice smoke unless I am going up a steep incline. Could it be a cracked head or a bad water pump?????

Could be a weak head gasket. White smoke is usually coolant burning.

it`s the oxygen sensor
thats why the car is mix fuel/air in wrong ratio generating unburned fuel in form of black smoke and check lights on
you got to change that sensor
i hope my answer was helpful and convince sir .

If it were a TPS or throttle position sensor, then a service engine soon light would go on if the TPS was bad or out of specifications.

Check the transmission oil level and if that's ok, have the transmission flushed and filled (about $100 or so) if it hasn't been done regularly every 30,000 mi.

If that doesn't solve the problem, then the transmission should be rebuilt or replaced with another with low miles that won't give you that jolt on start ups from a complete stop while in drive.

Good luck on this repair.

black smoke when driving.(not slowing down)is an indication that the rings are shot.(engine rebuild)exhaust will smell of oil.black smoke on deceleration indicates valves stems worn.(head rebuild)

your engine needs to be compression tested

you probably busted a transmision line...not a big deal if you have the proper tools you can tackle it yourself if not take it to the shop it will be about$100 for the line $100 shop labour and aboul $40 in trans fluid

Hi. these symptoms are leading me to believe that you are having some serious ware that is located in the cylinder region due to the deprecating factor of the piston rings. The blue smoke is evidence of massive oil consumption due to the passage of oil into the piston chamber. the bad rings will let the oil in the combustion chamber and it will burn at an accelerated rate in this manner. You are also having valve issues as well. the seals are bad and the valve timing is off as well. This Will only get worse and you will continue to lose engine compression as well. i would schedule check up at the local mechanic shop soon. the engine will die soon. its due for a complete rebuild.

Please rate and god bless:)

Hi All.

I am a BMW technician and i see this problem daily. There is a filter on the top of your rockercover. it is called an oil separater or a breather filter. you can only get the filter at a BMW garage so if you go to stores and ask them for this filter they will know what you are talking about if you tell them you are after having your turbo replaced. Fit this filter and you will notice the smoke will get better if it does not go away completely you might wait another 3-4 weeks and replace it again. hope this helps.

Regards,
Shaun

I'm assuming that that smoke was more previlant while going uphill because that's when the turbo would be really spolling up to max psi. I would guess that if you really got on the gas hard and got the turbo going even on a flat surface, that you would notice the smoke too. The loss of power and the white/grey smoke are tell tale signs that your turbo is bad or starting to fail. Good luck!

its normal it just a moisture in your piping which causing to smoke that way...but if the smoke still when normal driving you might check the reservoir for cloudy water instead of coolant in that case you may have a blown head gasket if you got luck but if no cylinder or head are crack..anyways do not worry about white smoke you must worry if you have black smoke