Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting black smoke coming out of my exhaust...

Well yesterday on my way home I was at a stop light and when the light turned green I accelerated pretty hard I was at about 4.5-5K in first when I noticed a sharp decrease in power ( it still accelerated just not with as much power) I look back right when I feel the power drop and notice some black smoke that had come out of my exhaust I then push my clutch in and start to shift normal but notice that the car is not making as much power as it was before my puff of black smoke. I get in today and everything seems fine but the power just doesn't seem there it might be all in my head but it doesn't seem as powerful as it was, but it does have more power then yesterday after my little incident happened.

Does anyone know what might have happened ? any suggestions ?? I don't know very much about engines but I might be leaning towards any of these things: bad spark plug or bad gasket or maybe a lost cylinder I'm not sure I just don't have much money to spend right now...I hope by driving it around as little as I can until I am sure what happened I don't hurt my car anymore, but money is kinda tight right now.

I know I should take it to Ford since I have an extended warranty on my car up to 100K (i'm at 33K now) but I can't afford to take it to ford then they say that it was something wrong with the exhaust or y-pipe or any other mods that I had put on that might have caused this since they will charge an arm and a leg.

I know this sounds rediculous but I actually hope that if something is wrong, that it is in the engine so ford will definetly cover it with only $50 out of my pocket. I know that if it is in the engine they will cover it since I haven't added anything to the engine except for a K&N Filter. Well below is a list of all my mods so any help would be appreciated

Thanks,
Louis

Hmmm... blue smoke is a sign of a significant amount of oil burning off. Black smoke a sign of too rich a mixture. Doesn't sound good...

-Lance

To be honest I am not 100% sure if it was blue or black but I am pretty sure it was a puff of black smoke that came out...I am just guess but could be a sign my coil pack my be going out ? I honestly don't know

Yeah either way I know it couldn't have been good whatever happened... I did get my oil changed on friday but that has been the same for almost 2 years now...6qts of Mobil 1 5w-30 and a K&N oil filter...Well actually this is the first time I used the K&N (usually use the Motorcraft filter) but I doubt that would have anything to do with it...I mean from all I read the K&N should be a little bit better than the motorcraft one.

Louis

  Is it possible that there's too much oil on that K&N filter?  I've never used a K&N filter myself, but I understand that one potential problem with them is that the oil used on them can foul the MAF sensor.  If the MAF sensor thought there was more air going through it than there really was, then the PCM might dump more fuel in to compensate, which would make the mixture too rich, which could produce black smoke, and perhaps your other symptoms as well.

could you explain a bit better ? I am not sure I understand what you mean by too much oil on the K&N filter...Do you mean that 6qts is too much or something else ?

Thanks,
Louis

Bob: FSU SVT was talking about the K&N OIL filter.
FSU SVT: For some reason, Bob was talking about the K&N AIR filter.

oh thanks AdrianCarrion, I was wondering what bob was talking about...I know that there isn't a problem with the K&N Air Filter. I've had that on the car since a day or 2 after i bought it and cleaned it a couple times since then with no problems...I am fairly sure it is something internal, but I know jack $hit about engines especially internal stuff.

Louis