help...black smoke problem

My brother was following me tonight and he said he noticed that when I got on it and shifted into 2nd a big puff of black smoke came out of my exhaust. He said this is the first time he has noticed this(first time I have too). Anyone know what the cause of the black smoke may be? Could it be that my car may have been running rich at the time or could it be something else? Thank you for any help.

Running rich will give you a bluish smoke (if it was night it may have looked black) Usually black is oil. Do you have any data logging?

Black smoke is incompleat air/fuel combustion
Blueish smoke is oil
White is fluid.

I really do wish i could tell you exactly what that is. Could be carbon build up, could be dirty injectors, plain old bad fuel. Try some cleaners.

Check your spark plugs. They may be old and worn to the point where they aren't working as they should.

Are you venting your bov? How old is the turbo? are you boosting fine?

If you're venting your BOV, you've found the problem :iagree:

The bov is the stock setup with the pos plastic bov. The turbo was replaced about 38,000 miles ago and boost and all is perfect. I have a a/f gauge in my A pillar to help monitor a/f and it is almost perfect all the time. I have a data logger but I can not get the palm pilot to connect and log. I'm thinking it may be the spark plugs because they are pretty old...I will check them tommarow. If it is the spark plugs does anyone have any recomendations for plugs? Thanks for the help everyone.

ngk bpre7's gapped to .28 while your at it replace wires and if you have not done it might as well replace the coil pack.

Hey I checked my plugs and they appear fine. The labeling on them was NGK R BPR7ES. Does anyone happen to know if the ES refers to what the gap was set at the factory? Oh and when I was looking at my plugs the only thing I did notice was that the bottom of the metal prong on the plugs was a little white. Does that mean anything?

Does anyone happen to know if the ES refers to what the gap was set at the factory?

Spark plugs are never gapped correctly when you buy them, you have to do that yourself. Gap for a turbo motor is between 0.028 and 0.030" .

Kevin (95GSXRacer) recommends that you lower that a little bit if you are running 20+ psi of boost. This keeps the spark from getting blown out during compression.

Thank you and could you explain to me how to gap a plug? Haha, I can't say I have ever done this before... I looked around on sites the other night to figure that out and didn't have any luck. Thank you for the help.

When you get your plug you will need to ask for a gapping tool. They are only about $1 - 3 depending on which type you get. I prefer the type with feeler gauges. Has 12 or 14 individual flat pieces of metal all having different thicknesses.

Anyway as far a gapping. Locate the appropriate gap on your gapping tool, let's say 0.028". You will now slide the gappiing tool between the electrode of the spark plug and the metal contact at the very end.

Is it too tight and won't fit.....Just bend it open a little bit. If it's too loose you will need to tap it shut a little. Do this until you feel a very small amount of resistance when you slide the feeler gauge in there.

When you have it right, go ahead and install the plugs.....Just make sure you don't drop them or wack them into anything as you will screw up your gap.

Alright cool. Thank you for all the help.

Oh and when I was looking at my plugs the only thing I did notice was that the bottom of the metal prong on the plugs was a little white. Does that mean anything?

You're running too lean.

Hmm I have safc and a a/f gauge and it seems to always be equal in a/f. I would adjust my safc to run a little more rich but I'm not that confident in using the safc yet.

You shouldn't be running lean if you have your SAFC-II zeroed out, as I see that you haven't installed your 650's yet. You A/F gauge is worthless, just make sure your SAFC-II is zeroed out and you will be on the stock fuel maps.

You don't want to install the injectors until you pick up a logger. You can pick up a palm/logger combination for about $150 from www.pocketlogger.com ($125 for the cable and software and about $20 for the Palm). If you wait a week or so, I can sell you my old m105 palm (I ordered a color one last week).

I checked the safc and I believe everything is zeroed out(Nothing is modified everything at zero except for LowThrottle 35% HighThrottle 70%). Also I do have a palm pilot logger that the previous owner included in the buy. But I can not get it to connect and log yet. It tries to connect but fails every time.

Is it the pocketlogger software?

You probably have the byte timing settings too low. Let me know what the software is and I can try and help you.