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Hey everyone. Hopefully it's ok to be asking this here.....as I'm new to the Corvette game.
Literally just arrived home with my new toy. A 1992 C4 with a 6 speed manual. The car only has 48000km's on the clocks, but was a little neglected over the last few years.
The back bumper....as you can see in the below pic, on the one bank is getting very....very sooty?
Previous owner has changed oil recently and has never noticed any oil leaks. He did mention to me I should check the plugs as he has never touched these. On the way home, my brother was following me and didn't notice any smoking. If you rev it up etc.....no noticeable smoke. The car is stock and still has it's original cats.
I noticed the car does seem to have a little stutter at low rpm, so perhaps could it just be a new set of spark plugs and the problem is sorted?
I thought to just check with the forum experts ;-) if there's anything else I should be checking before I start freaking out about valve stem seals....engines blowing up etc....as to why this could be happening?
Clean off the bumper, throw new plugs in it (and whatever other maintenance parts)and drive it like you stole it. The soot might be from starting it and not driving it. The exhaust pipes don't have a chance to burn out the deposits due to not getting up to temp. Either way wouldn't loose sleep over it, thats what gas prices are for.
Who doesnt want a black/gold TA thats just classic car guy stuff. Nice!!
Missed out on a same yr TA it was Gold, original owner, low miles. Bad timing..
Buddy in HS had one just like yours it had the Olds...we put headers, a tunnel ram with 2 600s on it.
Factory 4 spd...couldnt figure out why it wasnt a fire breathing monster (rest was stock)
Good times.
Who doesnt want a black/gold TA thats just classic car guy stuff. Nice!!
Missed out on a same yr TA it was Gold, original owner, low miles. Bad timing..
Buddy in HS had one just like yours it had the Olds...we put headers, a tunnel ram with 2 600s on it.
Factory 4 spd...couldnt figure out why it wasnt a fire breathing monster (rest was stock)
Good times.
Interesting about your buddies TA, Olds 403 engine would make it a '79, but if it was a factory 4spd car it should have had the Pontiac 400. Anyway, it is funny how we did things, what we thought was cool or important when we were younger and knew everything👍
Thought to also quickly provide an update here. Been learning alot about the Vette thanks to these forums.
Managed to resolve the issue of the black soot by replacing the Oxygen sensors. Seems someone had replaced one of them with a random oxygen sensor and it was throwing up codes.
Since I've replaced them....no more gunk on the back bumper.
As you have taken care of the emission problem you probably took care of the staining, but a mis aligned exhaust a little tweaked from a back into or drooling can cause a similar staining since the car has a common Resonater they pass through so keep an eye on it and Enjoy.
The 301 powered 79 T/A could have a 4 speed as well . A kid in my senior high school class had one . It was a special edition his dad bought . I preferred the Pontiac 400 . Both my 77's had the L78 and I replaced one with a 69 Ram Air III .
Black Soot
