Sooty Deposits
Sooty Deposits
Author
Discussion

gozzy

Original Poster:

239 posts

229 months

Thursday 23rd August 2007
quotequote all
Guys
Got the car back at last, all gaskets done, but we now have sooty deposits coming from the exhaust when revved, nothing on tickover. I know this could be anything from piston rings, manifold or just running rich. Any thoughts? A new airfilter is needed and is ordered but I doubt this is anything to do with it.
Mark

tvrgit

8,489 posts

281 months

Thursday 23rd August 2007
quotequote all
what do you mean by "when revved"?

Do you mean, after a period of idling and giving it a blip, or steady high revs? If the former, it could be oils being sucked past valve guides - if the latter, could be mixture. Is it dry dusty soot or thicker wet blobs?


gozzy

Original Poster:

239 posts

229 months

Thursday 23rd August 2007
quotequote all
After reversing into garage at idling revs then giving it a couple of decent blips (cos it sounds good). Seems to be dry deposits

tvrgit

8,489 posts

281 months

Thursday 23rd August 2007
quotequote all
If it's doing that with the engine cold is probably nothing to worry about.

If the engine is hot, there are 2 or 3 possibilities:

1. sucking oil pas valve guides at high vacuum (ie idle) - test for this by getting somebody to follow you down a hill on the overrun and then watch for a puff of white smoke when reapplying the accelerator.

2. Oil past the rings - generally the engine will smoke all the time. Does the exhaust smell of oil?

3. Mixture - does the exhaust smell of petrol?

How much did your head gasket work end up costing you, if you don't mind me asking (if you do, tell me to mind my own...).

gozzy

Original Poster:

239 posts

229 months

Thursday 23rd August 2007
quotequote all
tvrgit said:
If it's doing that with the engine cold is probably nothing to worry about.

If the engine is hot, there are 2 or 3 possibilities:

1. sucking oil pas valve guides at high vacuum (ie idle) - test for this by getting somebody to follow you down a hill on the overrun and then watch for a puff of white smoke when reapplying the accelerator.

2. Oil past the rings - generally the engine will smoke all the time. Does the exhaust smell of oil?

3. Mixture - does the exhaust smell of petrol?

How much did your head gasket work end up costing you, if you don't mind me asking (if you do, tell me to mind my own...).
The engine isnt smoking at all, now you mention it, it does smell of petrol. I will check tomorrow, if it smells of oil I assume that means piston rings?

Head gasket was bloody expensive, head needed skimming and water pump needed sorting (this was the problem as it was completly blocked. The radiator wasnt getting hot so the fan wasnt cutting in and so on...)

Barkychoc

7,848 posts

233 months

Friday 24th August 2007
quotequote all
If your old air filter is choked I would have thought that will enrich the mixture, despite all the electronic trickery it will only work within certain limits.

Also if it hasn't been used a great deal before you bought it (I think you said this before, prob also borne out by water pump) then its pretty likely the exhaust will be full of soot & rubbish.

You could try removing the air filters just to see if it makes any diference, though I don't think its a great idea to leave them off permanently, I think the innards of the ford ones are a bit delicate.

Might be worth getting the CO level checked - it may be running rich - if you can hangon for a bit I'm thinking of getting a cheap CO meter.

My V8 stinks like hell, especially when cold, I wouldn't dream of reversing it in the garage with the amount of crap that comes out the back - we are talking 80's technology here thats been fiddled with by TVR - the fuelling isn't the most precise system in the world and its always safer to overfuel than underfuel.

Let the head gaskets bed in for a bit then take it out for a John Cleese damn good thrashing to blow the cobwebs away !

Glad its fixed, we still need to catch up for that beer.

Chris

gozzy

Original Poster:

239 posts

229 months

Saturday 25th August 2007
quotequote all
Thanks Chris, now I've got the car I realise just how much fun it is, just keep worrying something else will go wrong. We could do that beer towards the end of next week, are you going to the rutland rumble?
Mark

Barkychoc

7,848 posts

233 months

Saturday 25th August 2007
quotequote all
Not sure about the Rutland Rumble, when is it exactly ?
Beer should be fine sometime next week, did you have a venue in mind ?

I'll email you my mobile number.

Chris