Vanishing in a cloud of smoke...?

[BigJL]

Hi all!

Last night having a spirited drive home, I noticed that on two occasions as I accelerated hard in 2nd gear to about 5,500+ revs, when I looked in the rear mirror I could see I left behind a whole load of smoke from the exhausts.

I haven't noticed this before.. it's kind of hard to see what colour it is but maybe kind of blackish. Could it just be unburnt fuel being dumped on hard acceleration on something more serious?

It doesn't happen every time and there's no smoke at any other time. Idle is fine, no strange noises, oil and water levels are fine. Just a bit strange I thought!

Cheers.

Edited by BigJL on Thursday 7th August 09:47

[krisles]

It the lambda sensor is not working you will get black smoke under hard acceleration - unburned fuel. The same happens if the the throttle bodies are not adjusted right or potentiometer is giving a wrong info to the ECU. You will also be able to see black residue on the exhaust pipes and also on the back of the car. If the smoke is light blue color that is a sign that the engine burns oil. Connect the ECU to the diagnostic software and you will be able to check some of the parameters and at least take some of the possible causes of the list.

[Whitey]

Great answer Krisles! I reckon you will be very helpful on this forum!

[BigJL]

Hey Krisles,

Thanks for the info! I have a feeling it could be the throttle bodies need readjusting as I was getting some very lumpy idle a couple of weeks ago. I just raised the idle revs without adjusting the adaptives or resetting the ECU, so that might be the problem!

Would you mind if I add your answer as an item onto the FAQ website?

Cheers!
J

[TuscSam]

My Tuscan has similar problems. Black residue on the exhaust pipes but not the smoke under acceleration. I use an Indie in Cheshire but after changing 1 of the lambdas, HT Leads, Tappits Adjusted, 12k service, idle speed changed, and also connected to the ECU to the diagnostic software and reset the adaptives and mappings etc.. The problems still exists, the engine still does not run as sweetly as it should, its also lumpy at idle.
Should I keep going back and keep paying out or anyone got advise on somewhere for a second opinion.
Thanks

[Fume troll]

TuscSam said:

My Tuscan has similar problems. Black residue on the exhaust pipes but not the smoke under acceleration. I use an Indie in Cheshire but after changing 1 of the lambdas, HT Leads, Tappits Adjusted, 12k service, idle speed changed, and also connected to the ECU to the diagnostic software and reset the adaptives and mappings etc.. The problems still exists, the engine still does not run as sweetly as it should, its also lumpy at idle.
Should I keep going back and keep paying out or anyone got advise on somewhere for a second opinion.
Thanks

Could be the throttle spindles / bodies are worn, allowing the throttles to bounce around. Tuscan throttle bodies have no bush/bearing in the design, causing them to wear. I think this was sorted on later models (not sure) but some people have had to fix it themselves - machining out the bodies to take a bearing - quite expensive.


Cheers,

FT.

[Chequred Demon]

If the engine is running very rich, the petrol will wash the oil from the bores and you will get acceleated bore wear. It won't be doing the catalytic converters any good either. Best to get it checked out reasonably quickly!