black smoke !! is this bad !!

flipstylex

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Mazdaspeed 3, Cosmic Blue sport
I'm on my way to my friends party and i downshifted wrong.....5th to second :(.... my friend driving behind me said black smoke came out of my exhaust !!! wtf....

damn cellphone got me distracted.....well, is this bad >>>??? do u guys think i need to have mazda check it out...the car still runs.... but i didnt like the sound it made ..s***....
 
How is it running/driving now?

if its running fine now, you'll be alright.
When something like that happens, and it causes a problem, you'll know it.
 
are there any driving issues, CELs, other warning lights?

black smoke was either carbon buildup or unburnt fuel... I wouldnt worry about anything unless there are driving issues...
 
A puff of black smoke in and of itself is not a big deal. Especially on a richly tuned Mazda. Agree with the carbon/fuel theory. Forgetaboutit unless it does it at startup and then continuously.
 
i think its cool, i always get it when i first start driving the car hard after it's warmed out. kinda hard to see out of the back for a few seconds, haha
 
A friend has told me that he can see black smoke sometimes when I floor it driving in front of him. I thought it was just a side effect of our cars running so rich, and nothing concerning. Hopefully thats normal, I don't have any issues with my car and it only has 3k miles on it.
 
Black Smoke: Black smoke is caused by excess fuel that has entered the cylinder area and cannot be burned completely. Another term for excess fuel is "running rich." Poor fuel mileage is also a common complaint when black smoke comes out of the tailpipe. Black smoke out the tailpipe is the least cause for alarm. Excess fuel will usually effect engine performance, reduce fuel economy, and produce a fuel odor.

How did the fuel get into the cylinder in the first place? Some of the causes of excess fuel are a carburetor that is out of adjustment, a faulty fuel pump, a leaky fuel injector, or a faulty engine computer or computer sensor.
 
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I'm on my way to my friends party and i downshifted wrong.....5th to second :(.... my friend driving behind me said black smoke came out of my exhaust !!! wtf....

damn cellphone got me distracted.....well, is this bad >>>??? do u guys think i need to have mazda check it out...the car still runs.... but i didnt like the sound it made ..s***....

Running rich!

BTW, my MS3 had some serious smoke-screening issues going on when I first bought it, and only after the dealer reflashed the ECU did the smoke problem go away. It still does it every once in a while, and I imagine it is just like any other turbo car I've owned...running rich. FYI, its the smoke that comes out all the time, especially during idle...that you must worry about. That is the turbo seals going south in a hurry.
 
FYI, its the smoke that comes out all the time, especially during idle...that you must worry about. That is the turbo seals going south in a hurry.

but then that smoke wouldnt be black either... as its not carbon/fuel but rather oil thats smoking...
 
what do u guys mean when you say, "running rich".....

anyways, yea, the car still runs good, i was at 75mph when i downshifted to 2nd gear. it made this unusual noise, like when u miss a gear kind of noise...
 
Black Smoke: Black smoke is caused by excess fuel that has entered the cylinder area and cannot be burned completely. Another term for excess fuel is "running rich." Poor fuel mileage is also a common complaint when black smoke comes out of the tailpipe. Black smoke out the tailpipe is the least cause for alarm. Excess fuel will usually effect engine performance, reduce fuel economy, and produce a fuel odor.

How did the fuel get into the cylinder in the first place? Some of the causes of excess fuel are a carburetor that is out of adjustment, a faulty fuel pump, a leaky fuel injector, or a faulty engine computer or computer sensor.
what's a carburetor???
 
what do u guys mean when you say, "running rich".....

anyways, yea, the car still runs good, i was at 75mph when i downshifted to 2nd gear. it made this unusual noise, like when u miss a gear kind of noise...

running rich means that more fuel is being delivered than the combustion cycle can burn. the car should be fine
 
if it made a sound like u missed a gear..... then you didn't downshift 5th to 2nd, you attempted to downshift 5th to 2nd.

if all it did was make a grinding noise, you're ok.... not good for the tranny, but not necessarily bad either. Just don't make it a habit.

oh, and my $.02.... its been proven that messing with a phone while driving can be as bad as driving intoxicated, just FYI
 
you did nothing to hurt the motor, the other day i was doing like 65 and mistakenly went into 3rd rather than 5th and the engine cut out momentarily cuz the rpms jumped too high. these days theyre idiot proof or else i d be talking about my busted ms3.
 
ms3 are efi, theres no need to mention a carb lol hell i dont think a carb has been used since the way early 80s. but your right tho none the less
 

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