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[Z06] Black soot in tail pipe!

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Old Aug 18, 2003 | 06:29 PM
  #1  
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Default Black soot in tail pipe!

After I drive the car for any extended period of time (not just down to the store and back) I get this black soot all on the inside of my chrome tail pipes. It is real dry and will blacken a rag that I ream it out with. Normal????? :confused: :cheers:
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Old Aug 18, 2003 | 06:40 PM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (kgrif)

Yeah baby - that means you've been using WOT liberally!!! Nothing wrong with that. The only way to prevent it is to never use more than 10% throttle opening. Not gonna happen, right? All is well, and you're enjoying your vette!! :cheers: :seeya
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Old Aug 18, 2003 | 09:46 PM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (kgrif)

Yeah, that's just carbon. Almost all cars (and engines in general) produce that. Perfectly normal.

What you don't want is for that black carbon to be wet looking or oily.
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Old Aug 19, 2003 | 11:38 AM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (stingray454)

Yeah, that's just carbon. Almost all cars (and engines in general) produce that. Perfectly normal.

What you don't want is for that black carbon to be wet looking or oily.

:iagree:
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Old Aug 20, 2003 | 01:31 PM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (kgrif)

Before I looked at your sig I knew you were driving an 01. I had the same thing on my 01 and it was not due to WOT, it was due to excessive oil burning. My 03 Z06 never looks like that so I know the difference. My guess is you also have black specks on the rear fascia. This is also due to the oil burning. If it's still under warranty, get it fixed.
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Old Aug 20, 2003 | 08:43 PM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (CorvetteSS)

I had dry black soot in my pipes on my 2001 coupe because it was burning a qt of oil every 1000 miles. After the re-ring, it is burning a qt every 3500 miles and there is dry hard GRAY color in the pipes. This is with heads and cam added at the same time. Better check your oil comsumption.
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Old Aug 20, 2003 | 11:10 PM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (CJS)

I tend to agree with the above 2 posts. Doesn't sound normal to me. I've tracked my car 2 days in a row (about 3 hours total track time) and sure, there is a little soot, but not much and sounds like a lot less than what you are describing.
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Old Aug 21, 2003 | 01:25 AM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (smwalsh)

Every car I've ever owned had black soot in the tailpipe. Most of them didn't burn any oil or not much.

Black soot doesn't necessarily mean its an oil burner. Anytime there's incomplete combustion of fuel, you'll get black soot. When is there incomplete combustion in a normal engine? During startup and warmup, at WOT, during initial acceleration followed by an abrupt closing of the throttle, etc.

Oil burners will have black oily or wet looking soot, while healthy engines will have dry looking black soot in the tailpipe.

Don't believe me? Then take a look at the tailpipes of a bunch of cars in a parking lot. I'll bet 90% of them have black soot inside their tailpipes.
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 03:22 AM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (stingray454)

I'll bet ALL of them do!
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Old Aug 22, 2003 | 09:45 AM
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Default Re: Black soot in tail pipe! (stingray454)

Every car I've ever owned had black soot in the tailpipe. Most of them didn't burn any oil or not much.

Black soot doesn't necessarily mean its an oil burner. Anytime there's incomplete combustion of fuel, you'll get black soot. When is there incomplete combustion in a normal engine? During startup and warmup, at WOT, during initial acceleration followed by an abrupt closing of the throttle, etc.

Oil burners will have black oily or wet looking soot, while healthy engines will have dry looking black soot in the tailpipe.

Don't believe me? Then take a look at the tailpipes of a bunch of cars in a parking lot. I'll bet 90% of them have black soot inside their tailpipes.
:iagree:

I have much more carbon in my tail pipes after a track event or going on a "spirited" romp, every vette I have had
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