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Soot from Exhaust on cold start


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Afternoon all,

When I start my 6 from cold with the choke I get quite a bit of white smoke and very rich smelling fumes. This morning  I put my hand to the exhaust pipes immediately after starting, and I got two nice black sooty circles on my hand together with some condensation as per the pic below Not oily, and the soot seems to be dry. Is this normal, or do I have a problem that needs further investigation? The car is newly refurbished and has only done 1,500  miles since the engine rebuild. This included bores honed, new piston rings, hardened valve seats, reground crank, new bearings etc etc. Once warmed up enough to release the choke, the white smoke goes and it does not smoke when driving. My sense is that it is running a bit too rich but I don't have a clue really. The whole PI system including MU was refurbed by Neil Ferguson as part of the rebuild.

I would appreciate any thoughts on whether this is an issue or not. I am old enough to remember when every other garage door and wall in the country had a big black circle on :lol:

Cheers,

Sean

Exhaust Soot.jpg

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If its still on choke then its not surprising, how did you run it in? if youve been babying it then a good Italian service would probably do it the world of good.

Stuart.

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Put the choke in as soon as the car starts; like immediately ;-)  When I bought my 6 from TRGB about 6 years ago that was one thing that Gary kept reminding me - minimum choke and as soon as its fired push it in.  I've stopped starting mine in the internal garage as Mrs S is pissed with the smell; so now I push it out first.  To me the smell is wonderful - but each to their own.  My 6 is very sooty also on start, but then I also burn oil at rate of 1Lt/1200 miles because I have a ring issue on #5 (Comp is 20 psi down versus #4 and # 6).  One day I'll get around to fixing that - but it's not urgent - so until I have the dosh it is what it is.  

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When i bought mine the garage told me be carefull with the wall behind the car if any....you will have 2 big black circles very soon

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It's pretty normal for a car that's only used occasionally and shut down   with the often engine still cold. I'd also check the choke lever on the side of the MU is releasing when the knob is pushed in- especially if the fuel consumption is  high.

You may consider drilling 3mm holes in the low points of each muffler- I've always done that to prevent condensation build up after short runs.

Edited by Mike C
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18 hours ago, stuart said:

If its still on choke then its not surprising, how did you run it in? if youve been babying it then a good Italian service would probably do it the world of good.

Stuart.

 

18 hours ago, AarhusTr6 said:

Hi

Looks a bit like mine . . . are you burning oil?

Rich

Thank you all for your replies.

Stuart, I've tried to run it in as per the various discussions on here ie driving to the comfortable rev limit in each gear uphill etc and allowing it to decelerate using the gears. Have not been babying it to my knowledge. She generally drives really well but doesn't get driven enough though.

Rich, it's not burning a drop of oil. Have a little drip leak but even that do not affect the oil level.

Thanks again everyone. Good to know mine is the same as others.

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Just now, SeanF said:

 

Thank you all for your replies.

Stuart, I've tried to run it in as per the various discussions on here ie driving to the comfortable rev limit in each gear uphill etc and allowing it to decelerate using the gears. Have not been babying it to my knowledge. She generally drives really well but doesn't get driven enough though.

Rich, it's not burning a drop of oil. Have a little drip leak but even that do not affect the oil level.

Thanks again everyone. Good to know mine is the same as others.

Then I suggest an Italian service definitely, fresh fuel and red line in every gear  until youve used up half a tank. Then you can check timing and maybe try a fresh set of plugs.

Stuart.

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2 minutes ago, stuart said:

Then I suggest an Italian service definitely, fresh fuel and red line in every gear  until youve used up half a tank. Then you can check timing and maybe try a fresh set of plugs.

Stuart.

Thanks Stuart, will do. I discovered another "issue" yesterday and wondered if this is a common thing or what I should do. My dizzy was refurbished by Martin Jay, again 1500 miles ago. A few weeks ago I had a problem with a misfire and I discovered that the spring side of the points was riding upwards on the cam so that the points faces were not aligned properly. I thought I must have disturbed them, pushed the spring side back down on the pivot and all was good. Misfire gone. Yesterday I took the cap off and discovered the points riding up on the cam again see pic below. I haven't had the miss again, but they obviously haven't ridden up enough to affect the spark. I took the points out to check if the spring side was bent or something like that. The faces were pitted in an off centre way. I resurfaced the points and replaced . Couldn't find anything wrong. Started her up and ran for 5 minutes. Took the cap off and its riding up again. Obviously have some kind of problem. Seen this before?

Thanks

Points misaligned.jpg

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Hmm looks like the inner fixed button has started to turn downwards which may force the outer upwards. Not seen that before. Have a word with Martin and maybe fit a new set of points.

Stuart.

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On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 9:49 AM, stuart said:

Hmm looks like the inner fixed button has started to turn downwards which may force the outer upwards. Not seen that before. Have a word with Martin and maybe fit a new set of points.

Stuart.

Thanks Stuart. I'll change the points and see if it goes away.  Thanks to everyone else for their input to this also.

Sean

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PIs run rich anyway. This morning I was warming mine up to change the oil. It is raining heavily so it was in the garage and by the time I had got her warm the floor behind the car had lots of black unburnt sooty fuel on the floor. 

That is what they do.

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On 7/21/2020 at 9:42 AM, SeanF said:

Thanks Stuart, will do. I discovered another "issue" yesterday and wondered if this is a common thing or what I should do. My dizzy was refurbished by Martin Jay, again 1500 miles ago. A few weeks ago I had a problem with a misfire and I discovered that the spring side of the points was riding upwards on the cam so that the points faces were not aligned properly. I thought I must have disturbed them, pushed the spring side back down on the pivot and all was good. Misfire gone. Yesterday I took the cap off and discovered the points riding up on the cam again see pic below. I haven't had the miss again, but they obviously haven't ridden up enough to affect the spark. I took the points out to check if the spring side was bent or something like that. The faces were pitted in an off centre way. I resurfaced the points and replaced . Couldn't find anything wrong. Started her up and ran for 5 minutes. Took the cap off and its riding up again. Obviously have some kind of problem. Seen this before?

Thanks

Points misaligned.jpg

If you resurfaced them with anything harder than scotchbrite green or a tooth brush they will need replacing.

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2 hours ago, SpitFireSIX said:

If you resurfaced them with anything harder than scotchbrite green or a tooth brush they will need replacing.

Cobblers, proper points are made of platinum and they can be filed up no problem,thats how it was done on services for years and years before the introduction of electronic ignition.

Stuart.

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PIs can be tuned to run leaner but you need to know what you are doing and work with an air fuel ratio meter. Ideally one that does data-logging. My suspicion is that the standard calibration is a safe option and may not be 100% matched to current fuels and current car configurations. 

Cheers Tim 

 

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6 minutes ago, stuart said:

Cobblers, proper points are made of platinum and they can be filed up no problem,thats how it was done on services for years and years before the introduction of electronic ignition.

Stuart.

Elemental Pt. Really? Behave.
But thanks for the giggle.

 

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Just now, SpitFireSIX said:

Elemental Pt. Really? Behave.
But thanks for the giggle.

 

??? So what do you think theyre made of then? Cheese?

Stuart.

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