there is a black soot on my bumber right around the exhaust area, could this be because my car is running rich>? i seem to be going through some oil. i am using 5-30 synthetic mobil one. also i am not running a cat converter.

 

uh yea, that is definitely running rich and spraying oil.

 

what do i do to see if its running rich>

 

You see what you said in the thread. Put your Catalitic back and its all good for your rear bumper and the earth

 

yeah put it back on. i wont deny to having had a gutted cat before, but seriously, a non-cat equipped car spews out emissions as much as 25 or more cat-equipped cars...

 

unless youre running slightly rich on purpose for whatever reason ur engine has, i personally would just leave my car alone h: oh of course i would clean the bumper tho :x

 

Too rich = black smoke
Burning oil = blue smoke
Coolant leak = white smoke

I forget what color the smoke is when they've picked a new pope.

Part of the purpose of the cat is to burn the excess fuel of running rich... the HC part of the emissions test. You aren't gaining much by running without one, and the fine for getting caught is pretty steep.

As for what's going on in the engine...
- Make sure all your emissions stuff is working right; an overactive EGR can make the car rich.
- Do the other tune-up stuff; air filter, plugs, etc.
- Consider replacing the oxygen sensor.
- Try some cleaners; fuel injectors, intake manifold, valves (seafoam)

 

I really don't see the point of running with no cat unless you have some sort of FI where backpressure is your enemy. On a N/A honda motor you MIGHT gain a very small amount of upper RPM horsepower but you will be losing some torque (oxymoron on a honda) down low.

 

After u install ur cat, jump up your Oil to 10w30 or 10w40, thicker oil will burn less (possibly stop buring all together)

 

yea i gutted the cat cuz it was clogged but i got a used one coming in the mail so it should be here soon. and i changed to 10w30 and it seems much better. how do i know if my o2 sensor needs to be replaced?