running rich

[trevor stern]

Seem to get a lot of black liquid out of the exhaust when I rev at stand still.
seems to smell strongly of petrol.
Anything I can do to check the mixture?

[blitzracing]

Is it running catalysts?

[trevor stern]

I dont know.How would I check?

[blitzracing]

Any car post August 1992 will have catalysts. As a test take out a couple of plugs and see if they are black- that shows rich running. Most common failure is the AFM, its voltage goes higher that it should be so it over fuels the engine.

My bit:

http://www.g33.co.uk/fuel_injection.htm

[Colin RedGriff]

Is that all the time or just when it's cold?

It might just be the cold start which enriches the mix until the car warms up

[EGB]

trevor stern said:

Seem to get a lot of black liquid out of the exhaust when I rev at stand still.
seems to smell strongly of petrol.
Anything I can do to check the mixture?

Trevor. If starting from cold with a cold engine in cold weather. Petrol smelly exhaust and condensation and black splutter on garage door is a common feature of many engines, Fords, BMs etc, etc. If it doesen't do this when engine and exhaust is hot, then no worries, hopefully. Once off the cold start choke and engine temp is 75-90, hopefully the fuelling should be OK. Mark's post thread is excellent.

Colin. You just beat me to it. Great.

Edited by EGB on Sunday 22 January 13:14

[trevor stern]

Took it for a run up the a30 on saturday.God these cars are fast when you blow away the cobwebs!
Back home later I asked the wife to stand behind and see what came out the exhaust when revved.No black liquid so I presume running ok.
Thanks for your posts everyone.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Black liquid is almost certainly water in the exhaust plus carbon, tis normal when starting from cold.