Hello all, I am new to this board. I wanted to see if you guys could help me out with my car because GM will not. First off my car and mods are at the bottom. I have black smoke coming out of my exhaust pipes when I get on it. Also when I try to turn the ignition on it wont start but the battery and radio will come on. The second time I turn it over it comes on fine. I have been told I am running rich. "The dealer"=dumbass. Says I should not use premium gas and that is most likely the problem I was like what! I have 13,469 miles on my car and have been using premium sense I got it. Could it be because I got bad gas? I change my oil every 3,000 miles. I had everything checked. Also checked to see if I was burning oil and he said no. I would really like some of you all to help me out because the dealers are just not honest.


2001 TA

SLP Loudmouth
SLP LID
SLP CAI
ported mafs
ported TB
holley power shot filter
EGR modification

 

I've heard that ported MAFS can cause that. You are running rich, or have a lot of unburnt fuel leaving the cylinder. These things can be caused by a bad spark, combustion chamber not hot enough, to much fuel/not enough air. Did any of this happen after any particular mod? Is it running rough? Is you SES light on? My uneducated guess would be the MAFS or the EGR.

 

Let's see Ported MAF, CAI, and black smoke your running rich, get a MAFT.

 

None of this happened after I got my mods. My SES light has never turned on. When they did an inspection they said my mafs and TB and EGR were all fine even though it was aftermarket stuff they looked at it.

 

so by a maft programmer? ok what about the ignition?

 

Before we go guessing on fuel mixtures let's get it on a dyno with a wideband O2 sensor. Or at the very least let's use Autotap and check out the O2 and KR readings.

Problem solving is not best done by guessing. That's a good way to waste alot of time, money, and frustration.

Porting a MAF sensor will LEAN the mixture, not enrichen it, btw.

You say it won't crank on first try but it does on the second try. Do you mean that it turns over but doesn't crank or do you mean that it doesn't turn over at all?

But, you want a guess for now? Ok. No codes at all? My guess is that you're getting some real KR (aka, detonation.) That'll cause you to throw black smoke even when you're lean (often caused by being lean in fact.)

 

What octane gasoline do you use??? I know a lot of guys may call this , and say they run higher (93/94 octane) gas without a problem, but our cars call for 91 octane, so honestly, what's the point of using higher octane??? I think it's a bit of a misconception (or marketing scam? ) that higher octane gas is "better" --- well it is, but it isn't. The octane of gas your engine requires basically depends upon the compression ratio, since higher compression creates higher heat, which in turn requires higher octane gas that does not ignite at as low a temperature as low(er) octane gas. Is that clear enough?? What I'm saying is, while the book (GM) "recommends" 91 octane fuel for LS1's, it also says that 87 octane is "acceptable". I normally run 87 octane gas right now because I'm simply driving back and forth to work everyday, so for the slight bit of "pre-detonation" / "pinging" / "knocking" / "whatever you'd like to refer to it as" that I notice occasionally under quick loads, I'm can't afford to spend ~$5.00 extra every time I fill my car up just to prevent to occasional pinging........................................... .............................anyways, back to my point (sorry! ):

If you use higher octane fuel than recommended, the engine does not actually generate enough heat to completely burn all of the fuel, and you will have more un-burnt fuel exiting your exhaust pipes in the form of nice black smoke. Try running no higher than the "recommended" 91 octane gas (if you use higher) and see if you still have the problem. Or, try running 87 --- while it may not burn as "clean", it will at least burn completely..................................BTW: sorry for the long post.

 

91 is "Minumum" recomended octane

NOT the max.. 93 in my car from day one

 

Thanks for all the threads guys, to anwser your questons

Capn Pete-I use 93 octane in my car sense I had it.

Colonel- When I try to start the car it turns all the way over but no crank just turns like the radio and crap on the battery basically. when I turn it over the the second time it it starts.

Also how would I go about fixing this problem?

 

Bump!

 

anyone?



bump

 

"When I try to start the car it turns all the way over but no crank just turns like the radio and crap on the battery basically. when I turn it over the the second time it it starts."

Ok, so you're saying that the starter spins the engine just fine. I don't mean it turns it over one time, I mean it spins it like a top just as it should. But it doesn't even try to fire unless you release the key and try again. The second time it fires right up.

Assuming this is correct, it sounds like a fuel pressure problem to me. Try this to confirm. Turn the key to the on position (not to start) and then back off. Do this three times. Now try to start the engine. If it worked then it's a fuel problem.