Black soot, watery exhaust, whats it mean?

[fireguy12117]

pretty much what the title says...

i am REALLY running into a wall on why i cant get this 4.0 running right...

in swapping some junk yard parts this morning i had a tube shoved into the tail pipe to get the exhaust out of the garage and notice a nice little puddle of black watery soot on the pavement and the same all inside the tube. apparently the fumes have time to condence inside the tube to cause this but what is putting this into the exhaust?

i am kind working backwards since i have no CEL light and every other conceivable thing has been checked within reason, or looked at to some degree and its all inconclusive.

 

[gw33gp]

Water is a combustion by-product of gas burning in the engine. Excessive black soot is an indication of the engine running rich but most exhausts pipes have a little black build up on the wall of the pipe.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

sounds pretty normal to me...as long as the soot isnt excessive.

you could back probe your O2 sensors and see what the fuel mixture is actually doing...

 

[fireguy12117]

its ridiculously excessive. i just notice today that the side of my house is splattered with soot where i had it idling once, one of my trash cans is covered from another spot idling, and there are two puddles on the pavement from the tube i had hanging off the tail pipe. one you could probably almost scrap off the soot with a pocket knife since the waters dried.

the sypmptoms accompanying this are the truck dying when i shift it into any gear. there was a CM code of 177 wich if i recall was bank 2 (rich or lean, i cant remember) and overall poor sounding when in gear- when i stays running.

i suppose its on to the O2 sensors...how does one back probe these things, when the trucks running or with truck off and key on the accessorys?

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

ya, id call that excessive.

its probably running rich, so theres not much need to back-probe the sensor now (you do it with the engine running). i would replace the sensor AFTER you resolve the rich running issue, since its probably not working very efficiently right now.

you may try cleaning your MAF sensor, checking your air filter, checking fuel pressure, AND checking the vacuum line to the fuel pressure regulator for fuel.

 

[fireguy12117]

what are the odds of the sensor itself being the culprit? i say that because ive basically already done all that you listed, and then some. what i havent done is really investigate the O2 sensors. i am totally stumped...i could type a novel on what ive tried so far, but i'll wait until A. more responses (and BTW thanks Wicked and others for all the replies you always post!) in the thread and B. i get some face time this week in the garage checking the O2's to see if they are carboned over and perhaps recheck the spark plugs, air filter, blah blah....go back to basics i suppose.

i was at a point where im swapping PCM's, coil packs, FPR's and nothings changing...thank goodness for cheap scores at the u-pull-it places.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i didnt realize you'd already checked all the usualy culprits.

your check engine light isnt on, so that means your computer hasnt reached its adaptive lean or rich limits. meaning whatever is causing the problem, the computer thinks it has it under control. the computer will usually pick up on a failed O2 sensor, so id still be looking elsewhere for now.

could be a coolant or air temp sensor sending a colder-than-actual reading.

 

[fireguy12117]

i had coolant temp issues with an identical ranger only a 94 instead of 93. i didnt exactly specify in the begining all the work i had done because i felt id just muddle down the specific question in the begining of the thread, but i have tried a lot and im just glad to hear someone sort of recap the same things so i know im doing the right things.

what i was wondering was way back in the begining of starting up this reman engine i had the firing order off and because of that did i possibly ruin or coat, or carbon over the bank 2 sensor? i had the firing order off for about 2 hours of idling time before i got my head outta my butt and rechecked the wires. the O2 should be easy enough to take off the Y pipe, and yes, as you mentioned, the coolant temp is important to the fuel trims so its worth spending time on.

what drives me nuts is actually not having a CEL. at least it'd be something to go with ya know...

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i dont think running it with the firing order off is your problem.

EEC-IV is kind of...erm...dumb. it actually takes quite a bit for something to trip the CEL most of the time.

you might have better luck shelling out the $80 for ford to datastream the PCM and see what exactly its seeing.

 

[fireguy12117]

im sorry, what?!?

you got a part number for this thing?? i had this exact thought almost this morning that i need something that can really show me whats going on with the sensors because i really beleive its something electrical. i thought these things were $300 and up in price to get some graphical representation on what im seeing, instead of continuity and a prayer.

would an actual O-scope do the same? i actually have an old school HP in the basement...could i drag that honker into the garage and actually probe sensors with that?

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

datastreaming isnt a thing, its a proceedure. your ford dealer can hook their computer up to the data port on the truck and see what the PCM is seeing. most dealerships charge an hour of labor to do this (about $80).

you can individually probe each sensor and accomplish sort of the same thing. ive never used one of those old oscilloscopes, so i dont know how well they work.

 

[fireguy12117]

i misread your post...

it is a good idea though, there is a stealership right close by, so it could be worth looking into.

well, old as in not a hand held digital. maybe it'll be something to experiment with, who knows.

anyhow....per the original posting, heavy soot is indication of rich conditions, so thats a guise ill be under when trying to isolate and troubleshoot since that is the most obvious symptom aside from stalling that i have.

 

[okietheranger]

let me know if u find the problem mine does the same thing it turned my drive way all speckeld black lol