i have this stuff coming out of my exhaust. its fine and black and it leaves spots on my driveway (the driveway i am not concerned about). it does not have a gassy or oily smell to it or anything like that, and i think that it is slowly dripping out suspended in water. help would be greatly appreciated.

keep in mind that this is a 1987 carburated 305, all stock (including carb) except: it has no cat and no polution control gear.

 

Soot

Yes it's normal to get that when it's cold (in small amounts)

 

i live in florida and its not very cold, and i think that there is way more "soot" coming out than there should be. what would be causing all of this soot to come out of my exhaust?

 

Starting the engine.

Sorry, I can't do much about what you think... you're on your own there. Only you can change that. I don't have enough brains to "think", myself; so I leave that stuff to smarter people. I deal strictly in reality, and merely report what I observe.

 

Being very funny today, are we..
Impaled: what has been altered and when did it start sooting?
I mean, is the ECM connected and operative, is the carb a computer controlled one, is the distributor computer controlled, and exactly what has been removed?

 

i just got it like a month ago, and i am not exactly sure what the previous owner did to it. as far as i know the ecm is intact. it is the stock computer controlled carburator. the EGR pump/smog pump is missing, and so are several related vacuum lines. im not sure what is commonly done to remove all of that properly, and my guess is that in the process of doing so he messed it up. it also has the stock distributor, and i have no idea wether or not the distributor is computer controlled. also, if it helps, i get horrible gas milage (so horrible that i probably dont want to even calculate it lol) probably estimated around 8 to 10, and i know that that is not right. help with this is greatly appreciated.

 

Ah, yes, that figures.. Sounds like he removed a bit too much and that the computer is no longer controlling the carburetor so that it goes full rich. I expect the check engine light is on.. There are several things that needs to be checked. First you'll want to know if the computer gets power, there is a fuse or two for that. With power verified you could extract any fault codes from the check engine light, there is a connector near the steering column where you short two pins and then count blinks on the light. You'll have to search the net for a fault code list and a wiring diagram for your car. To begin with, you could just check that there are two connectors attached to the carb. and one four pin flat connector attached to the dist.

 

which pins am i supposed to short?

 

Top right two pins, there's a tech article here somewhere that has a diagram and a list of trouble codes, under FAQ, I think. With that kind of mileage you're likely running full rich or the Mixture Control Solenoid (MCS) is not working. Check your codes and make sure you've got a clicking noise coming from the carb. Should click for half a minute when the key is turned to run before engine starts (will click with engine running but harder to hear).

 

for some reason i cannot figure out how to get the codes off. i think my plug may be different than the one in the tech article. it is like 6 terminals across in two rows. i did as you said and the service engine soon light just stayed on. no flashing or pausing. the exact thing happened when i tried to get them off with and obd1 code reader. help is much appreciated.

 

xxxxx0
xxxxx0

0's are the ones to jump together
if that dosent work it may be this way
xxxx00
xxxxxx

it depend's on the year on which terminnals u jump

 

for some reason or another it is still not blinking or flashing. i dont really see how i could be doing anything wrong, i just used a piece of speaker wire between both combinations of the mentioned terminals.

 

The top right pin "A" is a ground and you should be grounding the "B" pin directly adjacent to it. I've heard before, but never witnessed, that the "A" pin will lose it's ground and you can ground the "B" pin to another chassis ground. Attached is an excerpt from a manual with a diagram.

I see where the light is staying lit, is this only when the terminals are grounded?

 

This is why I said to first check if the computer gets power.. If it doesn't then that lamp lights continously no matter what you do.. Getting codes from the computer requires it to be powered up, and the lamp is designed to light up if the computer loses power. Failsafe safety feature..

 

it runs well and i was wondering: can the car run decently without the computer? what does the computer control?

 

It may be easy to confuse a car that's running full-rich with one that's running "well", especially if you've never driven it when it ran "right". I had a Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) fail once, long ago, and my first indication was the drastic drop in mileage. The TPS failed and sent a continuous full-throttle signal to the ECM=full rich. I check my mileage at every fill-up and average around 21-23 with a stock LG4.

The computer controls the fuel-air mixture during part-throttle and cruise. It will also control lock up of the torque converter if you have an automatic. I suspect your ecm is not powered or not working, you're running horribly rich, getting crappy mileage and paying lots of money for gas that your car shouldn't need.

Check for a clicking noise at the carb, it's the Mixture Control Solenoid (MCS) and is the first thing that needs to work for the ECM to control the mixture.

 

i hear no clicking when the key is in the on position or when the car is running, and i listened closely with the air cleaner off.

 

Make sure the two wire connector is attached to the MCS plug on the top, front pass side of the carburetor. Then check the fuse panel under the driver's dash for a blown fuse, think it's a 20, maybe eng controls or something like that.

 

I don't know if this helps, but the power to the ECM on my 88 T/A comes directly off the positive terminal of the battery post.
The positive cable have smaller wire that goes to connectors there. the one with the org. wire is the power feed to the ECM. mine has two connectors one org. and one red.

 

the plug on the carb is there and the fuse for the ecm is intact. how can i test to see if the computer is getting power?