I got black soot building up on my bumper and carbon comming out of my exaust. Any idea of what the problem could be. I know my oil goes missing often, but i don't think its from leaks, well maybe, i dunno. Does this sound like i'm burning oil and thats what is causing the soot buildup or could it be something else worth fixing. Still getting about 13km/L (aprox).

Thanks

 

black smoke = fuel. I wouldnt really worry to much about it if your cars running right. Maybe a bad o2 senor? Do you have a CEL?

 

I wouldn't exactly say black smoke. sometimes blue/grey when cold when shifting. wouldn't an 02 sensor give a check engine light or something. so the soot would not be from me burning oil, it would be from running rich?

Thanks (if its o2 sensor then i could get possibly better gas millage right??)

 

well blue smoke would be oil. I have black sot on my crx's exhaust tips and i get excellent mpg. The sot is def from running rich not oil. How long does it take for the sot to build up? I mean i have it on my exhaust tips after not cleaning them for 20k miles.

The 02 should give you a check engine light but not always. I recommended this to another poster... its really important to keep your car tuned up. When is the last time you did the basic plugs, cap/rotor, wires... tune up?

 

i can have a sprinckle of soot on my bumber within 300km . tip is black. I replaced the spark plugs about 10 months ago, other than that no tune up. just oil change and also a new temp switch (fan was always on until i repalced it.) so an o2 sensor would help. thanks

 

and about 2L oil about every 1000km. i know thats not good.

 

i'd really tune it up first just incase.... its really a win win situation regardless to if it fixes the problem. If not then i'd start investigating an 02 sensor but youd really notice some other problems if that were the case. Does your car seem to run well though... aside from the soot / oil being burnt?

 

Yeah, you can tell when it needs oil, engine get louder and more "ticks" This car isn't in the best condition (rear brakes just blew on the weekend, if you want to help me with issue as well i did post for that as well).

What would be a typical tune-up?
Any idea of the cost of a new O2 sensor?

Thanks for your help, i always thaught it was running rich.

 

well for me i change


the spark plugs, wires, distributor cap / rotor.

First off though check your plugs again... see if maybe you need to clean them.

if the tune up dosent do it then go to the 02 sensor and maybe even the MAF.

But honestly it really sounds like symtoms of a bad o2 ie poor gas milleage and soot. The only other thing would be a low rpm shutter.

 

yeah my car idles around 500rpm sometimes lower. and yes the car does shutter at low idle. so thats o2 right??

Thanks, you are really helping me my unknown issues on my car
'

 

really sounds like an O2 sensor. I'm not sure how much they cost (for your car) i just changed the one on my accord and it was $85 for the parts. It was less ($60) if i wanted a generic one and just do some wiring but i'm lazy. FYI i had no CEL for this, i had a CEL and the code was for a temp sensor changed that and then still had some issues turned out it was an O2 sensor. Oh and no problem, i still recommend tuning your car up when you can for optimum performance / gas mileage.