black exhaust tailpipe

black exhaust tailpipe

Author
Discussion

smithyl23

Original Poster:

357 posts

219 months

Wednesday 13th June 2007
quotequote all
Ever since i fitted the power tail pipes, the right tailpipe gets soot on it but the left one is always clean as a whistle. I just assumed that due to the pops n spits from the sports exhaust it was a bit of un burnt fuel landing on the pipe but then always wondered why only on the right tail pipe.

Can anyone advise please. Its ready for it's 6k service, i had the top end checked 5.5k ago and all was well no tappets needed adjusting either.

Would a bit too much oil in the engine cause the soot?


thanks

Edited by smithyl23 on Thursday 14th June 17:47

T40ORA

5,177 posts

224 months

Wednesday 13th June 2007
quotequote all
Some of the cylinders are doing things that the others aren't?

Jay Ayegees

773 posts

209 months

Wednesday 13th June 2007
quotequote all
New pope?

Basil Brush

5,197 posts

268 months

Wednesday 13th June 2007
quotequote all
Mine is doing the same thing (again) at the moment. Last time it was a dodgy lambda sensor so I´m assuming the same thing again. The lambdas only seem to last about 2 years on mine.

andyoleary

1,713 posts

218 months

Wednesday 13th June 2007
quotequote all
Isn't the SP6 effectively 2 banks of 3 cylinders controlled together by the ECU etc? One bank exhausts out of 1 side and the other, out of the other side. If one side is showing sooty deposits sooner than the other side then it might mean something is out of kilter with one of the cylinders for that particular bank or that the lambda sensor on that side is on its way out. Pretty much what has already been said really..

Don't help you much, I know, but I think that might explain the reason for the one-sided sooty stuff....

Andy

smithyl23

Original Poster:

357 posts

219 months

Wednesday 13th June 2007
quotequote all
I will get it all checked out at its next 6k service which is bout 400 miles away and report back. Just hope it isn't anything serious. cheers

andyoleary

1,713 posts

218 months

Wednesday 13th June 2007
quotequote all
Jay Ayegees said:
New pope?
rofl

FOG

16 posts

223 months

Thursday 14th June 2007
quotequote all
Not entirely relevant to your problem but....both of my tailpipes have always had black deposits on the inside right from new. For a while I had a sports exhaust and this was the same. Having the car tuned makes no difference and the TVR garage says the black exhaust is normal. Looking at all cars in their yard seemed to support this. Maybe these engines are designed to run slightly rich. (->mpg)

Edited by FOG on Thursday 14th June 15:09

dvs_dave

8,972 posts

230 months

Saturday 16th June 2007
quotequote all
Both my pipes are sooty. How's your oil consumption? Mine uses more oil than it used to because the valve guides are getting a bit worn.

FOG

16 posts

223 months

Saturday 16th June 2007
quotequote all
It does use a bit of oil but not excessively so and there's no blue smoke on a trailing throttle so I decided it couldn't be that. Apparently, it gives a puff of black smoke occasionally when taking off hard after standing. Doesn't seem to effect the performance though.

nelly1

5,634 posts

236 months

Saturday 16th June 2007
quotequote all
dvs_dave said:
Both my pipes are sooty....
The term 'Sooty' is now considered offensive.
Please use the preffered term 'Carbon contaminated' from now on.

...the above is - of course - b*llox....or is it?

smile

yzf1070

814 posts

236 months

Sunday 17th June 2007
quotequote all
nelly1 said:
dvs_dave said:
Both my pipes are sooty....
The term 'Sooty' is now considered offensive.
Please use the preffered term 'Carbon contaminated' from now on.

...the above is - of course - b*llox....or is it?

smile
I think Sweep will have something to say about that....

Jay Ayegees

773 posts

209 months

Sunday 17th June 2007
quotequote all
Well squeak about only.

Wasn't Sue the only one that could talk?

mcspreader

328 posts

266 months

Friday 22nd June 2007
quotequote all
If one is sooty and the other is not then the most likely answer is that one of the lambda sensors is not working properly. Alternative is poor alignment of throttle pots.
The front and back three cylinders are run from different O2 sensors. A slow sensor will lead to over fueling and therefore soot on the relevent exhaust. The ECU should overfuel by default to avoid engine damage from lean running and possible pinking/detonation BUT it is a TVR so....

In theory too much oil in a dry sump system should not be a problem unless it is way far too much. In my experience it is hard to over oil a SP6 unless you put oil in with the engine running, but why would anyone do that? In any case oil problems would be expected to effect both exhausts.

If the engine is used in town a lot (or you are a throttle wimp)* then throttle position is crucial. Position sensor inaccuracy has its largest effect when the throttle is closed. At full throttle 5 degrees is noise in the background unless you are running marginal mapping in a modified ECU. At closed throttle (idle) it will be a pig and hunt about especially when cold. It may be susceptible to stalling after start up.

Leftfeild problems (more expesive) could be a worn valve oil seal or cylinder rings or more likely but still not that common despite what you hear a worn cam/follower on a single cylinder. The latter would be immediatlely apparent at a valvle clearence check.

Many owners have spent thousands of pounds rebuilding an engine that uses oil when the simple solution is to check regularly and top it up. If it passes an MOT it is not broken, do not fix it, oil, even Mobil 1 is cheap.

If excessice oil consumption begins to kill the cat then you have to sort it out.

  • many TVRs are run mainly on low throttle because only nutters drive a 350+HP car on full chat on the public highway suffieciently often to make a difference. I have measured my throttle position with a data logger and I rarely go over 30 degrees (pi throttle angle = 0.5) and I do not have a reputation for mechanical sympathy.
Edited by mcspreader on Friday 22 June 01:35


Edited by mcspreader on Friday 22 June 01:36


Edited by mcspreader on Friday 22 June 01:40

smithyl23

Original Poster:

357 posts

219 months

Friday 22nd June 2007
quotequote all
cheers, thanks for info, I got a full top end check done at my last service 5k ago (As it was my first service with the car) and all was well no signs of wear. So i think/hope it is the lambda sensor.

thanks again

Nick