Black smoke/ping sound on hard acceleration

[taita25]

Hey guys,

I occasionally have a cloud of black smoke come out of my exhaust when I accelerate hard. Along with the smoke there is a sputter or ping that I can feel from the engine. It seems to only happen after I've driven the car easily (no hard acceleration) for a few days in a row or it has sat over a weekend. Once I've accelerated hard for the first time after this is kicks out this cloud, sputters a bit and then clears up. I can then drive it as hard as I want all day long without issue. Today it was fairly cold out and it was a huge cloud. I wouldn't worry much if it was just the black smoke, assuming it was a typical turbo car thing, but the sputter/ping sound worries me a bit. You guys have any ideas? I've let it sit at idle to test the PCV issue but it never smoked after about 10-15 minutes of this. I'm at about 38k so just outside of the bumper to bumper and the dealer wants $150 to diagnose and prove it'd be a drive train issue.

 

[onelsono]

what are your mods?

 

[8.5MS3]

Hey guys,

I occasionally have a cloud of black smoke come out of my exhaust when I accelerate hard. Along with the smoke there is a sputter or ping that I can feel from the engine. It seems to only happen after I've driven the car easily (no hard acceleration) for a few days in a row or it has sat over a weekend. Once I've accelerated hard for the first time after this is kicks out this cloud, sputters a bit and then clears up. I can then drive it as hard as I want all day long without issue. Today it was fairly cold out and it was a huge cloud. I wouldn't worry much if it was just the black smoke, assuming it was a typical turbo car thing, but the sputter/ping sound worries me a bit. You guys have any ideas? I've let it sit at idle to test the PCV issue but it never smoked after about 10-15 minutes of this. I'm at about 38k so just outside of the bumper to bumper and the dealer wants $150 to diagnose and prove it'd be a drive train issue.

you sir have engine knock.....dont do that, its bad. a pinging from the engine is a drivetrain issue. dealer is jerking you around.

 

[Darth Vader]

It is generally not recommended to pound on a turbo car after long periods of cruise. The timing has been retarded for a long time and the combustion chamber temps are sky-high. This makes the incidence of destructive knock pretty likely. Work up to it a bit first. A puff of black on sudden high load is pretty normal for this car under most conditions, as the factory map pretty fat.

 

[SPEED DEMON]

Anyone have a sound clip of this "ping"? My car makes so much noise it would be so hard to hear a small ping. My intake sounds like a Boing 747 and my exhaust sounds like a diesel truck.

 

[onelsono]

Anyone have a sound clip of this "ping"? My car makes so much noise it would be so hard to hear a small ping. My intake sounds like a Boing 747 and my exhaust sounds like a diesel truck.

just watch your afr and knock.

 

[taita25]

Sorry for the late reply but my only mod is a CAI and a aftermarket engine mount. Just wondering, what would cause knock in a vehicle like mine (i.e. fairly stock and running 91 fuel)?

 

[onelsono]

Sorry for the late reply but my only mod is a CAI and a aftermarket engine mount. Just wondering, what would cause knock in a vehicle like mine (i.e. fairly stock and running 91 fuel)?

do you have a monitering device. dashhawk, cobb ap, or gauges?

 

[Darth Vader]

Long periods of cruise and 91 fuel. I run 94 in my car exclusively, just a little further resistance to knock or preignition due to the high combustion chamber temps I believe the car sees.

 

[8.5MS3]

where does he say over long periods he gets it? "several days in a row" implies the car cools overnight. he also says it happens when he first drives it.

OP: how soon after startup do you get the ping? are you warming up the car properly. Remember coolant temp is not indicative of oil temp. Oil tends to take a bit longer to warm up. did you reset the ecu after the cai install? how long has it been on the car?

 

[taita25]

CAI has been on the car since about 500 miles were on the odometer. I can get the ping/sputter to happen whether the car is cold (just started) or if I've warmed it up and driven it for a few miles (temp gauge in car reads normal). For example yesterday I reported the smoke and sound. Today I can warm it up, drive it normally, ease into throttle and even go WOT without issue. If I were to drive it at normal intown speeds for the next couple of days or park it for those days I can almost guarantee the next time I hit the throttle (WOT or even moderately high) I will get the smoke and sound.

 

[mazdaspeed32007]

i run 93 octane shell fuel only and "knock on wood" havent seen knock while fully bolted past a 0.3. try a higher octane to help the kr situation. one more step to save your motor and if you do the math its not that much extra per fill up. better than 23,000 for another ms3.

 

[taita25]

Thank you all for the quick responses. I'll try the 93 octane and see what happens. The problem I run into around my area is that there are very few places that sell this grade of fuel. Most are 91 at the most. I'll let you all know how it turns out though and if there are any other suggestions please let me know.

 

[turbo23]

the smoke is normal. I dont have the knock, but if I dont jump on it for alittle, or when I first jump on it on any given day I will let loose a decent size cloud of black smoke. Only happens on the first hard accel, no more after that.

 

[taita25]

Sorry to revive an older thread but today I had the check engine light come on. I haven't had major issues with smoking or the pinging as of late but I'm not convinced that it's solved either. I went to Autozone to have them pull the code and they came up with P0401; Blocked or Faulty EGR valve. I'm going to try cleaning it first ($450 part if it needs replaced) but does anyone think that this could have been my problem? From one article I read it sounded like if it gets stuck closed it can cause excess carbon buildup and knock. Thanks for the input again guys.

 

[8.5MS3]

depending on where you live it will be covered in the 8yr/80k epa warranty as it is a smog related issue

 

[Sport6]

Sorry to revive an older thread but today I had the check engine light come on. I haven't had major issues with smoking or the pinging as of late but I'm not convinced that it's solved either. I went to Autozone to have them pull the code and they came up with P0401; Blocked or Faulty EGR valve. I'm going to try cleaning it first ($450 part if it needs replaced) but does anyone think that this could have been my problem? From one article I read it sounded like if it gets stuck closed it can cause excess carbon buildup and knock. Thanks for the input again guys.

I just had my EGR valve replaced and it did seem to improve the knock situation I was having. Drove better overall.

One thing I don't understand is that they will try to say its only covered under the bumper to bumper but isn't it an emissions thing, which I believe is 8yr/80k?

 

[GoFast]

Because only certain parts of the emissions are covered for that duration. The EGR is not one of those.

One thing I don't understand is that they will try to say its only covered under the bumper to bumper but isn't it an emissions thing, which I believe is 8yr/80k?