Smoke or soot on occasional hard acceleration?

[Disco]

I have a 6-mile commute of nothing but stop lights, and I'm trying to get decent gas mileage, and I don't trust a single driver in this town, nor the cops, so I don't do a lot of hard acceleration.

On some occasions where I really put my foot in it, I think I see a cloud come out the back as the engine and turbos spool up. It is not immediately or predictably repeatable.

Is doing a lot of part-throttle, very low-rpm driving allowing deposits to build up? Is this something that could be fixed with the oil catch can mod? Is it smoke, or unburned fuel soot as the turbos spool up?

Anybody see anything like this?

 

[runner1]

They run really fat on fast heavy throttle applicators. Had the same questions a year ago. Heavy black/brown smoke on acceleration

 

[M'Kehyah]

Both. You build up a lot of carbon in stop and go driving. AND it is really rich on hard acceleration (for engine safety). So do more full throttle runs to keep 'er clean

 

[RedCal]

You need to do an "Italian tune up"

 

[Disco]

I recently ran an entire can of Sea Foam through the Mach 1's intake (145,000 miles), and put another can into the tank. Went out and did a few wide open pulls and thoroughly impacted the ozone layer, but it really made a difference in the car. I'm not getting any leakdown or puffs of smoke on startup anymore.

 

[Disco]

Both. You build up a lot of carbon in stop and go driving. AND it is really rich on hard acceleration (for engine safety). So do more full throttle runs to keep 'er clean

I haven't lived here very long, and the car is so fast that it is actually really hard to find a place to do a real full-throttle pull. I definitely can't do it in town, due to the aforementioned stop lights, terrible drivers, and law enforcement presence.

 

[Rynil2000]

I haven't lived here very long, and the car is so fast that it is actually really hard to find a place to do a real full-throttle pull. I definitely can't do it in town, due to the aforementioned stop lights, terrible drivers, and law enforcement presence.

This is where a nice quarter mile highway on ramp comes in handy. Luckily that’s not too hard to find near me.

 

[NismoDPB]

How many miles on the car? Also yes all of those factors you listed are contributing to it and yes catch cans will help.

 

[ghost_of_john_lennon]

Engineering Explained says that can be perfectly normal.

 

[Rynil2000]

Engineering Explained says that can be perfectly normal.

Not sure which video you are referencing, but this one is a good explanation of why you want a catch can with a direct injection engine.

 

[Disco]

How many miles on the car? Also yes all of those factors you listed are contributing to it and yes catch cans will help.

16k miles, no on-ramps near me, just ordered the Mishimoto catch can

 

[narsnail]

Will a seafoam treatment every so often help clean up the valves? Or is it mostly placebo?

In the same boat, lots of stop and go traffic, not much room to open it up but I do try for WOT once every drive if I can.

 

[RedCal]

I've used their product on my Seadoo (2stroke)... worked great at getting rid of the carbon - but I have never used it on a car, but I imagine the results would be somewhat similar, I am contemplating the same - a treatment once or twice a year

 

[General_Vodka]

Carbon buildup is not fun. There are a lot of commercial sprays that claim to work wonders. Question is that how will much of it will actually reach the valves? Also anything you put inside your fuel won't touch the intake valves. Like at all, and that is where your carbon buildup will be.

 

[General_Vodka]

This is at 18k miles.

 

[moinmoin]

This is at 18k miles.

Just a guess: that's the Pressertech tuned Stinger sitting in your yard ?!

 

[General_Vodka]

Just a guess: that's the Pressertech tuned Stinger sitting in your yard ?!

How did you know? Yep found out when I was investigating another issue with the coupler. Those valves need a good cleaning.

 

[cncBilly]

Will a seafoam treatment every so often help clean up the valves? Or is it mostly placebo?

In the same boat, lots of stop and go traffic, not much room to open it up but I do try for WOT once every drive if I can.

What part of the country are you in where you can do that?

 

[runner1]

Southern Ontario you can romp on it all the time, lots of open spaces.

 

[GenesisG70]

Same here, its normal.