Expert: Robert Summers - 10/7/2008

Question
my cousin let me borrow his 1980 Chevy Luv truck, the past 2 weeks it has been backfiring, my son used it to go to work this morning and had to be picked up from the side of the freeway, he said it backfired twice and then started smoking any ideas of what it could be? We brought it back home and have it parked now there is no major oil leak.

Answer
Hi Robert.... back fire could be caused by several things... check that cat converter is not plugged, check for bad ign wires shorting to ground,bad ign module or cap and rotor...a bad backfire could cause a seal to blow out causing your oil leak. also check for exhaust leaks another cause of backfires...check timing chain/belt see if engine has jumped time.... hope this helps