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black smoke/soot on tail pipe

21K views 24 replies 9 participants last post by  Padraigs 
#1 ·
so ive searched and not too many on ball answers to my question. I just started up my car, last night there was a huge snow storm... There was a bit of snow in my tail pipe, so i decied to start my car up and see what it sounded like...
Perfectly fine, but i noticed that the fumes that were coming out of the tail pipe were black under high RPMs and black soot would come out. Now I am assuming this would be carbon build up and its normal but the black smoke part of it what is it? I changed oil about 1000KMs ago with Castrol GTX 10w-30 with a VW dealer filter (rated for 10, 000 KMs
)
I have not checked my oil levels lately as its been so damn cold, i know i could be low but not low enough where theres no oil and i hear my lifters, and i did not over fill it as well....
95 2.0L ABA with chip 2.25" exhaust and intake. Its swapped into an 85 mk2. Should i be worried?
 
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#4 ·
Sounds like you are running rich. When I had misfiring due to a bad coil, I had a sooty tailpipe. Right now, there is nothing there.
I paid attention to this because my Jeep has a sooty ring around the end of it. Some on the Jeep board suggested it is normal, but I'm not buying it...
 
#7 ·
it was like start up and rev and i looked out it wasnt a constant black cloud it was just a puff never noticed that or seen it when it was warm. I know i'm running rich as my o2 wasn't hooked up after my swap for a while and my plugs are a bit dirty and i need to change them or i'll continue to run rich
and no, theres nothing changed in the way the car drives. pulls strong and hauls ass


Modified by zeroman at 10:06 PM 2-7-2008
 
#8 ·
Re: black smoke/soot on tail pipe (89VWdieselGolf)

Quote, originally posted by 89VWdieselGolf »

black smoke is fuel bud

white is coolant (head gasket)
blue is oil
Jeff
(btw, your "hydroplaining" signature is retarded)

Modified by 89VWdieselGolf at 3:20 PM 2-7-2008


its jay-z!
 
#12 ·
Re: (zeroman)

Quote, originally posted by zeroman »
it was like start up and rev and i looked out it wasnt a constant black cloud it was just a puff never noticed that or seen it when it was warm. I know i'm running rich as my o2 wasn't hooked up after my swap for a while and my plugs are a bit dirty and i need to change them or i'll continue to run rich
and no, theres nothing changed in the way the car drives. pulls strong and hauls ass

Modified by zeroman at 10:06 PM 2-7-2008

That's why.


Modified by FL 2.0L at 5:47 PM 2-8-2008
 
#13 ·
Re: (FL 2.0L)

Another possibility is that your PCV hoses are cracked and or leaking. Check the rigid plastic pipe that connects into the engine block, and the elbow pipe that connect into the pcv valve. Believe it or not if this is leaking the car will apparantly burn some oil. As soon as I discovered this I sealed any cracks and voila the oil burning is gone. like Dan Reed says those pipes/hoses only last till about 95 k or so. replace all and don't forget to replace the o ring that goes into the rigid plastic pipe to the block.
 
#14 ·
Re: (cricketchirp)

I'm 100% stock, 18000 miles, and my friends driving behind me yesterday called me on my cell phone going down the interstate to tell me my car was putting out very black smoke when accelerating. I was at normal operating temperature.
:X
 
#16 ·
i had a crack in the PCV hard plastic pipe at one ponit in time. i fixed that along with a new crankcase breather. It was determined it was running rich due to the car not being fully warm.
My next pet peve is the search blows for figuring out how to run a breather filter...I've got a thread for that thought trying to figure out info. I will change my plugs tomorrow to solve the rich running issue.
 
#20 ·
Re: (FL 2.0L)

TbH it does sound like you need to :
A hook up that O2
B check your fuel mixture..
Yes the car runs rich at start up until warm but it sounds like under throttle your over fueling which is supposed to be compensated by the O2 and also maybe you need to replace the temp sensor that tells the engine ecm the coolant temp.. if it has failed it reads cold all the time it will always run rich.. my o2 went and my fuel mileage dropped badly and I also found a bad temp sensor too.. plugs started to foul quickly too.. have ya checked your plug gap.. maybe it's too big and that could also cause unburnt fuel too under throttle..
Yes mine is MKIII but the issues like this are the same on the MKIV 's.. get someone to hok up a a/f gaugeand see if you are running rich all the time.. also I'd check the air filter.. if it's dirty it can choke the engine making it run rich too
 
#24 ·
Re: (FL 2.0L)

TbH it does sound like you need to :
A hook up that O2
B check your fuel mixture..
Yes the car runs rich at start up until warm but it sounds like under throttle your over fueling which is supposed to be compensated by the O2 and also maybe you need to replace the temp sensor that tells the engine ecm the coolant temp.. if it has failed it reads cold all the time it will always run rich.. my o2 went and my fuel mileage dropped badly and I also found a bad temp sensor too.. plugs started to foul quickly too.. have ya checked your plug gap.. maybe it's too big and that could also cause unburnt fuel too under throttle..
Yes mine is MKIII but the issues like this are the same on the MKIV 's.. get someone to hok up a a/f gaugeand see if you are running rich all the time.. also I'd check the air filter.. if it's dirty it can choke the engine making it run rich too
Ca a poor air filter cause the blackon the tail pipe? will a por air filter cause a rich burn?
 
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