Soot From Arnage Exhaust Under Heavy Acceleration

Soot From Arnage Exhaust Under Heavy Acceleration

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MarsellusWallace

Original Poster:

1,180 posts

202 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
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Dont know how many Arnage owners are on here(could probably apply to Turbo owners too),but I have a Red Label and although I normally drive tickling it along,there are times when I put my foot to the floor and when I do this I notice that sometimes I can leave a cloud of soot behind me.It is definately soot and not smoke,and the car has recently been serviced by a renowned specialist,and they didnt notice anything untoward.
Does anyone else notice this and is there something wrong or is this quite normal.My car always has sooty exhaust pipes(as did the Shadow I had years ago).Looking at other Arnages they are exactly the same???

Balmoral Green

40,929 posts

249 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
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How does it do on C02 at MOT time? It could be running very rich, but running rich is unlikely to create much smoke though, and they actually like to run rich anyway.

More likely it could be worn valve stem seals. If you get up to speed, lift off and coast, then boot it and if you get the soot/smoke, it's probably that. If you're getting it under load all the time, it could be even worse, piston/ring/cylinder wear, have a compression test done.

Do you drive it hard? If not, an Italian tune up from time to time may do the trick. If it's an almost reddish, sandy like smoke, it could be it just needs a thrashing to clear it out. You usually see this with low mileage and very gently driven cars.

How many miles has it done? Mine is on 107,000 miles, and 60,000 of those have been me thrashing the arse off it. I have a slightly sooty tail pipe because I run it on the rich side, but no smoke or anything like that when driving around.

Do you get smoke at start up, and any tappet rattle for more than a few seconds?









Edited by Balmoral Green on Wednesday 30th June 19:24

MarsellusWallace

Original Poster:

1,180 posts

202 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Balmoral Green said:
How does it do on C02 at MOT time? It could be running very rich, but running rich is unlikely to create much smoke though, and they actually like to run rich anyway.

More likely it could be worn valve stem seals. If you get up to speed, lift off and coast, then boot it and if you get the soot/smoke, it's probably that. If you're getting it under load all the time, it could be even worse, piston/ring/cylinder wear, have a compression test done.

Do you drive it hard? If not, an Italian tune up from time to time may do the trick. If it's an almost reddish, sandy like smoke, it could be it just needs a thrashing to clear it out. You usually see this with low mileage and very gently driven cars.

How many miles has it done? Mine is on 107,000 miles, and 60,000 of those have been me thrashing the arse off it. I have a slightly sooty tail pipe because I run it on the rich side, but no smoke or anything like that when driving around.

Do you get smoke at start up, and any tappet rattle for more than a few seconds?









Edited by Balmoral Green on Wednesday 30th June 19:24
It passed the MOT no problem last week.I dont think it is the valve stem seals as there is no smoke on startup,or any tappet rattle etc.

I should have pointed out that I only get soot for a split second as the car drops a gear,it does not continue all the time when my foot is to the floor.I normally drive as economically as possible(I generally average nearly 20mpg),however I do have the odd mad moment,the most recent one-a VERY high speed thrash I estimate the car was doing about 6mpg-it used a third of a (100 litre) tank very quickly indeed(2 motorway junctions).Its done about 1500 miles since its service and the oil is still at the top of the MAX mark on the dipstick so I dont think engine wear is an issue here.

Its a 2001 car and has covered 52000 miles with 10 services completed,9 by Bentley and 1 specialist.The specialist roadtested the car and declared it a good'un.

Balmoral Green

40,929 posts

249 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Sounds like it's nothing to worry about then, just a slight cough as it clears it's throat on kickdown?

20mpg is very good smile

MarsellusWallace

Original Poster:

1,180 posts

202 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Do you think it would run cleaner/better on vpower?

Balmoral Green

40,929 posts

249 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
It would run better for sure, especially under power/developing maximum boost as the knock sensor won't have to cut in so soon and tell the ECU to reign it all back in.

If you are burning a bit of oil as suspected though, no, it shouldn't make any difference to the puff of smoke, so it won't run cleaner in that respect.


Edited by Balmoral Green on Wednesday 30th June 22:36

2708420018

339 posts

200 months

Thursday 1st July 2010
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My Continental R Mulliner does exactly the same thing. It happens when I boot it down so it is either the change down or the tubo coming in. Those coming behind have been quite impressed and say it looks like the Torrey Canyon in full flow. Mine too has been fully serviced so I don't worry about it

Paul