Gen info
I drive a 01 prelude sh with 18,500 miles. It’s pretty much stock besides the intake. I pump 91 octane from Sunoco.

Is it normal for 01 preludes to accumulate black soot on the back?







My mechanic that used to work for Honda told me that preludes naturally run rich from the factory. He also told me to try using 87 octane gas. Which I have not done yet.

Since my car is running rich will this reduce the lift of it? if so what should I do?

My 97 accord does not have this problem but then again it’s not the same car.

Thank you for your time in advance

Btw, is clutch fluid the same as transmission fluid or do they have two separate compartments on the car?

 

it could be because you have carbon build up in the pipes and its best if you get it flushed, remeber its a sports car and if you baby it all the time its not going to get cleaned out, so mabye just go out for a country drive in 3rd or 4th the whole way just to blow it out, and if that does not work get it flushed.

 

Kudos on an '01 with 18k miles, that's pretty awesome!

It's normal for soot to accumulate on the bumper of a prelude.

There will be visible smoke under full acceleration, but it should be see-through and not billowy black. An easy way to tell is by monitoring your oil consumption for a few thousand miles. About 1 quart per 1,000 miles is the average for a 5th. gen. prelude.

I wouldn't recommend 87 octane, and I'm pretty surprised that a mechanic recommended that. Perhaps he didn't understand what kind of engine the 5th. gen. prelude has.

Your 5th. gen. accord should have very little if any smoke coming out from the exhaust under full acceleration.

clutch and tranny fluid are different and are stored in different places.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it could be because you have carbon build up in the pipes and its best if you get it flushed </TD></TR></TABLE>

what exact pipes are you taking about the entire exhaust system or one pipe specifically. how would i flush it?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
There will be visible smoke under full acceleration, but it should be see-through and not billowy black. An easy way to tell is by monitoring your oil consumption for a few thousand miles. About 1 quart per 1,000 miles is the average for a 5th. gen. prelude.</TD></TR></TABLE>

so it normally burns a quart of oil every 1000. that's kind of messed up.

 

Yeah its normal. Preludes do run a bit rich from factory.
Preludes that are normal do not burn a quart of oil every thousand miles.
Somthing is wrong with ur lude if u burn that much oil. Maybe if u drove it everywhere in VTEC it would do that, but who does that?

no worries OP


Modified by roller3804 at 10:05 PM 10/6/2006

 

Mine dosen't accumulate any black soot.

 

IF YOU RUN ON 87 OCTANE, YOUR MOTOR WILL PING! Premium fuel only!!! 91 and above. I run on 93; 94 when I can find it.

 

Yes some preludes do that. In fact mine used to but it stopped suddenly atound 55k miles. I do not know why. Fuel quality may bave something to do with it?

But I would not use 87, that will not help. Also Preludes do run rich from the factory as well as many other Hondas

 

my buddy has a 2001 and his has done this from day one. Its just the small black smoke from when the VTEC is running. You'll notice it more on the lighter cars. Make sure you keep your car clean and don't let it stand for more then a day or so. It will start to stain your paint.

his is stained but then again his is also pearl.

 

My `97 Prelude (which I only put 93 octane in) did this the whole time I owned it.

 

My 99 always has soot all over the back, it sucks but oh well. It's just from the car running rich.

 

my 01 prelude does the same thing....yea just dont baby it all the time and there wont be as much back there

 

hey, mine does the same thing. i get a LOT of smoke out of the back under full acceleration too. i'm pretty fed up with all the carbon. i've done about everything except change my piston rings, so i might do that. either way it sucks

 

[QUOTE=businessmanph]what exact pipes are you taking about the entire exhaust system or one pipe specifically. how would i flush it?


the whole pipe will get it from the header to the exaust, and to get it flushed you just go to your dealer and they will do it good luck with the problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr.Touchdown &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">[QUOTE=businessmanph]what exact pipes are you taking about the entire exhaust system or one pipe specifically. how would i flush it?


the whole pipe will get it from the header to the exaust, and to get it flushed you just go to your dealer and they will do it good luck with the problem.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have never heard of anyone doing this...sounds awfully strange & out there to me

 

its the design of the car's body and exhaust.. the way the 5th gen prelude body is shaped it causes air to go UP back towards the middle of the rear windsheidl.. ive personally seen a prelude driving in the rain.. and see water being pushed up the middle the car. while the left and right side of the rear shield the water is pushed down.. add that with a rich running car.. (stock) you`ll get soot stuck to the back

 

my friend told me to get an AFC to lean it out. i've also heard about crome.

how much would an afc cost and how much to install and tune?

where should i buy one?

 

get vafc2 i think they are 300 something dollars. get it dyno tune and they're worth it. i know they're piggyback and not a stand alone management.

you could get it from prostreetonline.com

 

could always dump sand into the intake pipe to flush the system...

 

At WOT above 5500rpm the engine ecm does not rely on the knock sensor and some other sensors and changes fuel curve(full rich) when in VTEC. This is why there is black soot coming out of the exhaust which then, as MyKizism explained, is pulled up along the back bumper and up to the spoiler. Should happen to all 5th gens. Wj

 

perfectly normal, you just gotta live with it. I know it sucks.

 

my does the same thing when hit vtec but my 4 gen didnt see anything yet, but my car after it runs for a while in one place my exhaust will start spitting out black drops i think its oil do any clues? its on my 5 gen it has 104.XXX miles on it

 

so how much is normal oil consumption? I add a little less than a quart of oil every 3,000 miles and I always leave it topped off.

 

do you think i should put seafoam in my gas tank? how much seafoam would you put in with what amount of gas in the tank? i'm almost due for an oil change anyways.

 

this is also normal for a 4th gen too right?