Loud pop and smoke

RENEE1990

MEMBER
2002 PONTIAC GRAND AM
120,000 MILES

My mom was on the way to work when she heard the car make a loud pop and smoke blew out of the exhaust pipe on the left/drivers side. The car recently had work done at Boyd Chevrolet of South Hill. Now it won't crank until it sits for a while but it'll shut down after driving for so long and it doesn't take very long for it to shut down. The battery light does come on when it shuts down but the battery is new and was just put in the car about 2-3 months ago. I need to know whats wrong with it. I'd like to get it fixed

1 Reply

ERNEST CLARK

MECHANIC
1,730 POSTS

I need to know what work was done on the car, and did it seem fine when leaving the dealership? What color was the smoke coming out of the tailpipe? Also, is the check engine light on? If so, begin there by having the computer scanned for codes.

The pop sounds like a backfire, but there's no way I can be 100% sure on that. If for some reason the car was running rich (Leaking fuel injectors), enough fuel could've built up until it ignited inside the exhaust system and converter. But that wouldn't explain the smoke, because that would only smoke for a second or two until the unburned fuel cleared out. The causes of continuous smoke out of the tailpipe are oil, coolant and vary rarely transmission fluid. (Some tranny coolers are integrated with the cooling system and sometimes the fluid leaks into the coolant, then a blown head gasket will allow both to blow out the exhaust)
If you can supply me with more detail, I can help you narrow down a possible cause.
Finally, if this is a problem caused by the dealer's work, you may want to take the car back and have them look it over.