Black tailpipe?
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Senior User
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 251
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Black tailpipe?
No I don't mean the outside. I've got about 1600km (1000mi) on it and the inside of the tailpipe is lightly coated with a black deposit. Looks pretty much like a diesel tailpipe.
The mileage works out to 15 per imperial gallon (this would be 12 per US gallon). Considering that I run no load other than me, the mileage isn't great. I find the 5.4 power is totally adequate for my needs; I have yet to exceed 3,000 RPM. My driving is a 70/30 split highway/city. I set the cruise at an indicated 110 kph (68 mph) with the tach reading 2000 RPM.
I'd have the dealer look at it, but the service engine light would need to be on before they would investigate. The only drivability issue is the annoying idle hang, but the FI is designed to operate that way.
Using 87 grade as per the owners manual. Trying different brands of gas hasn't made any difference so far. My normal drive takes about 25 minutes back and forth to work.
The mileage works out to 15 per imperial gallon (this would be 12 per US gallon). Considering that I run no load other than me, the mileage isn't great. I find the 5.4 power is totally adequate for my needs; I have yet to exceed 3,000 RPM. My driving is a 70/30 split highway/city. I set the cruise at an indicated 110 kph (68 mph) with the tach reading 2000 RPM.
I'd have the dealer look at it, but the service engine light would need to be on before they would investigate. The only drivability issue is the annoying idle hang, but the FI is designed to operate that way.
Using 87 grade as per the owners manual. Trying different brands of gas hasn't made any difference so far. My normal drive takes about 25 minutes back and forth to work.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,881
Likes: 84
From: Wake Forest, NC
It means when it is not running it has zero emissions. Meaning there are no evaporative emissions from the fuel system leaking into the atmosphere.
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Elder User
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 818
Likes: 0
From: Mobile, AL
Really? that seems kind of missleading. Oh, well I tried to be nice to the tree huggers. I guess it's time to start cutting on that exhaust too.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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From: Stephensville WI
My '07 5.4L has the same black coating on the inside of the tailpipe. I always attributed it to the factory PCM settings, which will start out a little rich (by default) until the PCM learns your driving habits and adjusts the fuel/timing map accordingly.
A little rich and a little less timing is far safer than a little lean and a little too much timing.
A little rich and a little less timing is far safer than a little lean and a little too much timing.
Hotshot
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 10,101
Likes: 40
From: Pa
Sounds like the OP truck is normal to me. Some blackish soot inside the pipe is perfectly normal. A CC is a heavy truck, your not doing the engine any favors by lugging it. Don't be afraid to go over 3k rpm even 4k rpm.
The minut fuel and timing changes of the stock tune will not affect the soot coming out the tailpipe. My truck is tuned to run around 12:1 A/F ratio at WOT for max power with an aftermarket converter and the soot is pretty much identical as stock tuning with the stock converter. Stock tuning runs stoich all the time under normal conditions.
The minut fuel and timing changes of the stock tune will not affect the soot coming out the tailpipe. My truck is tuned to run around 12:1 A/F ratio at WOT for max power with an aftermarket converter and the soot is pretty much identical as stock tuning with the stock converter. Stock tuning runs stoich all the time under normal conditions.
