black smoke when cold?

[johnnyt03gt]

After I pulled out of driveway my brother called me said. He saw a little black smoke
What can this be? 03gt mostly stock engine also
What should I check. The car has 92k on odometer. If this helps
Thanks

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[wmburns]

Check for misfire/rich

Any mods? Any check engine lights? If so, will need the DTC codes.

Black smoke normally means rich or mis-fire. Blue smoke is oil. White smoke is anti-freeze.

For misfire, Check the spark plugs. Old=replace. Look for moisture in the spark plug holes. Moisture will ground out the spark causing misfire.

Has there been any tuning done? For example, mods to increase fuel pressure or increase the size of the fuel injectors? This will cause the motor to run rich.

Clean the Mass Airflow sensor (MAF). Use cleaner designed for MAFs.

Could be a number of things such as O2 sensors, leaking fuel injectors, or several other things.

Usually O2 sensors last 100k miles. However, it is too soon to be laying blame unless you just like changing things to be complete on all maintenance.

 

[patman0911]

How much smoke are we talking about and how long did it persist? If it's just a little puff on start up then it's probably not a big deal, just a little extra fuel on a cold start, something you never notice yourself 'cause you can't see it.

Was it on both sides or just one side? Do you still have cats on the car? It's more noticeable without cats to catch some of it. Are there any driveablity problems?

 

[johnnyt03gt]

How much smoke are we talking about and how long did it persist? If it's just a little puff on start up then it's probably not a big deal, just a little extra fuel on a cold start, something you never notice yourself 'cause you can't see it.

Was it on both sides or just one side? Do you still have cats on the car? It's more noticeable without cats to catch some of it. Are there any driveablity problems?

Thanks for the fast response guys.
As far as mods go I has an off road x pipe that was installed last month
No tune. Cel is on but its because of the x pipe
Plugs replaced 4 months ago. Maf has never been cleaned
It dose have a fuel sent to it. It probably has been puffing
Little smoke all along but I never noticed it

So let me see. If I got this right. Black smoke= rich
So its not my rings

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[patman0911]

Yep, basically. Black smoke = running rich or excess fuel that isn't getting burned in the combustion chamber otherwise. Blueish-white smoke is oil and it's more likely with a 4.6L is going to be bad valve seals long before you've got worn rings. White smoke is water but before you freak out when you see plumes of white smoke coming from the tail pipes in the morning, don't forget that the Mustang's exhaust has a lot of surface area for moisture to condense on so it takes fooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorever for it to all burn off.