chadaclysm

Well, my car is running rich anyway. I had a friend follow me while I went full throttle and he said it wasn't very much in first gear, but at the top of second I was definitely putting out some black smoke. The car is stock except for plugs/wires, gutted cats, and frost mail order tune. I realize that it will smell rich since I have no cats, but the smoke makes me pretty sure I'm running rich. Do I need to do anything, and if so, what?? Could it be my front o2 sensors? I've already cleaned the MAF.

twitchtwice

iTrader: (12)

if it was your front o2's the car would be running poorly all the time. what did you clean the maf with?

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

Pull a couple plugs and have a look if you can't get a tuner to look at it....

chadaclysm

MAF clean

Will do. Believe it or not, I think I'll opt for the front, or second to front driver side plug. Thanks.

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

I don't blame ya there......

FWIW Mine puffs black smoke too at WOT but my tune says I am a safe 12.5-1 WOT.....I would rather have a safe tune and give up a few ponies than worry about running lean and have a borderline safe tune..... If your drivability tune seems good I would not think twice about it unless your plug life is comprimised then you know you have a prob....

Post up some plug pics if you think you may have an isssue and I am sure you will get plenty of feedback....

chadaclysm

Yeah, I am mostly concerned about plug life and gas mileage since the car is my daily driver. It is running strong though, still able to spin the tires on a hard 1-2 shift so it can't be that bad, right?? lol. I prob won't be able to pull a plug til Monday but I'll post up pics. Worst case scenario I have an excellent tuners number and he is only 2 hours away. Thanks.


Oh, and I wanted to ask, besides plug life, will running rich do any other damage to my car?

shaun

black smoke is carbon in the valves and when you let her open up like in second and third gear the car is staying in the higher rpms for a lot longer than it will in first.
a well tuned car even with no cats wont smell that bad.
when i first got my headers and ory on the car i drove it for a few days before the tune was done and it would smell real bad like gas then after the tune the car had a different exhaust smell it sound wierd but it was noticable then one of my 02's wet out and about a month before the light came on it started smelling bad again and the car seemed to loose a little power.
i then replaced both front 02's and after about a 100 or so miles it was back to normal and the car feels stronger.

you should try a seafoam or a good top end cleaner.

Arctic2002ss

These cars to run rich at WOT(Wide Open Throttle) so I think a little black smoke is normal. I can run an HPDE track event, which involves a lot of WOT, and the inside of my Corsa tips can be polished when I get there and completely black when done.

cowboysfan

as mentioned.. these lsx motors run rich @ WOT. only way to tell if it is safe is by checking AFR (Air Fuel Ratio) at WOT. if smoke is realy dark then that could be an isue.. a rich notor can be bad due to too much fuel in the cylinder which can wash/burn the oil film off the cylinder walls. have it checked properly if your concerned about the smoke.

chadaclysm

Hmmmmm, well I think it is probably rich enough that I need to do something about it. I want to get this done ASAP since the car is my DD and I can't afford to do any damage to it. Do you think I am better of just getting new front o2's, or should I just go to a tuner? Thanks.



Oh, and the Frost tune was done to my car back in the late fall if that makes a difference. It seems like that the tune shouldn't be off after that short of time. So is it probably the o2's??

chadaclysm

OK, finally got around to pulling a plug and snapping some pics:
The plugs have been in for less than a year, they are NGK TR55's.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

IMO, thoes plugs look perfect....but that doesnt mean its not running rich at WOT. i wouldnt worry too much about it.

chadaclysm

I only pulled one, I know I should have pulled more but I didn't have time. That is just multiple angles. Should I pull a few more when I have more time?

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

Plugs look good to me... As mentioned at wot these cars go to open loop and don't use the o2's so I think you are fine. I was there for my cars new tune last month and at wot I put out a little black smoke but my AFR was a straight 12.5-1 through the whole pull. If your gas mileage is good I really think you are ok....

chadaclysm

Alright thanks guys. I might keep an eye on the plugs and if my MPG goes down any I'll get concerned again.