buzlink

I think that my car may be running rich.

If I drive it for 30 minutes or more in warmer weather, the idle and engine firing starts to act funny. If you turn the car off and come back to within a short period the car seems as it doesn't want to run in lower gearing and at idle. Also driving at 20MPH in 1st and 2nd the car misfires really badly. Also in 5th at highway speeds the car will misfire slightly if traveling up a hill. The car never has up and down idling. The ideling acts as the car doesn’t want to run, or the engine is not firing as normal.

I have pitch-black exhaust residue on my tailpipe and back bumper.

How does one diagnose a car running rich? What causes the car to run rich?
What needs fixing? Do the above symptoms sound like another problem I should look into?

Thanks

Civicse

are you throwing any codes? i would have the timing checked as well. an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator like AEM will allow you lean out the mixture, thats one way to fix it.

20civic00

pull the plugs... dark/grey/burnt=rich, white powder=lean. do you have aftermarket ECU? also dark smoke from exhaust and maybe residue on your rear bumper

Civicse

also running rish could be caused by a bad fuel pump putting out to much pressure or bad injectors

buzlink

No codes
I haven't seen what the plugs look like. I'll have to check that.
How do you know if you have a bad fuel pump or bad injectors?
No aftermarket items are installed.

Also sometime when the temperature outside is greater that 70F after driving for 30 minutes or more and after shutting the car off, and turning the car back on, my check electrical system light does not illuminate. (This has happened before the odd idle problem, and has not happened yet since I’ve had the idle problem, as it has not been 70F for a while.)

Thanks for the input.

buzlink

My dad is thining it is the O2 or MAP sensor.

MSBDX

i had somewhat of the same problem, i had misfires in 1st and 2nd, i took it to a autolab and they recamended a tune up, so i got one and the misfiring is gone. So i would suggest a tuneup.