Excesive black exhaust residue

Might be me, something that the truck does but I have a lot of black exhaust residue on the tip of my exhaust. This is the first Toyota that i have owned and the reason for asking is that none of my previous vehicles had excesive black residue that i can remember. I use mid-grade fuel and get it maintenenced with the Toyota care plan since I first bought the truck. It is a 2011 4.0 dbl cab, if that helps any. Thanks.

 

Might it be "running rich" as I have recently read about, because of the mods that i have made to it?

 

It runs a tad bit rich I noticed too on my 13' until I added my CAI and exhaust. Less restrictive and lean the engine out a little. No pinging at all.

 

Run a can of Seafoam in your tank. See if it clears up a little.

 

i was recently doing some electrical work in my truck and so disconnected the battery
i noticed that my exhaust was very black after the next trip (actually, my friend did)

the ECU resets and runs default for a bit, after the battery has been disconnected
have you done this recently?

or is this on-going?

 

All cars run rich when the engine is cold This is a normal part of the warmup cycle. No aftermarket intake or exhaust system can change this. Until the O2 sensors are sufficiently hot for the system to enter closed-loop mode, the engine is running on a default fuel map that is hard-coded in the ECU. If you drive mostly short trips, the soot will accumulate in the exhaust system. It is harmless if you don't get it on your clothes. About 20 minutes at highway speed will blow some of it out.

Aside from the cold engine scenario, running slightly rich (as opposed to lean) helps to prevent detonation (pinging) that will damage the engine. If you are seriously concerned about it, your O2 sensors can be tested to verify correct operation. If they are very far off from normal, the ECU will store an error code to record the problem for future diagnosis and repair.

Mike

 

Having a heavy foot can also cause this

 

normal. and +1 on the heavy foot ^
i do a lot of highway driving, living in the NE driving the NJ turnpike and the GSP means you're doing 75-85mph most of your commute to 'keep up' even staying right. i have a fair amount of black soot on the lower part of my exhaust tip i noticed recently as well. doesnt bother me, truck runs fine otherwise. if something was wrong youd know it.

 

Loss of fuel economy? if not don't worry about it. Chance are there is nothing wrong at all and you'll waste money trying to fix some thing that's not broken.

 

Mine does it too.. After about two weeks without a wash it's all over the bedside.

 

You could be burning oil. My Rav4 has the well known oil consumption problem that affects the 2AZ-FE and the tail pipe is really sooty.

However the tail pipe of my Tacoma is pretty clean.

 

Just don't worry about it man it is nothing compared to a diesel tailpipe! I pressure washed one out one time and all that came out was black water

 

I have had close to a hundred people over the years ask about that same condition. It is a normal byproduct of proper combustion. Most of that "soot" is carbon, which is one of the byproducts of an internal combustion engine, and the process that takes place in the catalytic converter. It is 100% normal.

 

Thaks guys. I was just curious because I had never experienced so much from my previous vehicles.

 

Guys, this is what I was talking about. One swipe just on the inside of the chrome tailpipe. I might just be paraniod.

 

I was going to ask this very same question. My 04 is rusty as can be, but my 05 is black! Oh well, glad to hear it's normal.

 

Same on my '08.
Fuel economy is fine and it doesn't burn any oil.

 

Yeah, this is very weird to me. I have "owned" two fords, a chevy, and a 4runner and I have never experienced this much soot in the exhaust pipe. I enjoy taking care of my vehicles because they are too expensive to right out abuse. I am just being paranoid I am sure.