Everytime i drive my S aggressively/ hit Vtec, i noticed that black smoke comes from the exhaust not alot but enough for me to notice, i also had it confirmed from my buddy who was behind me. Anyway i was told its just Carbon build-up and its harmless, but my car only has 14,xxxx , so i wouldnt think that was normal. So am i just paranoid or is there cause for concern? What could i do to get rid of the carbon build-up/ black smoke?

Thanks from a noob

 

ap1's like to smoke a bit in vtec, dont stress it

 

weird. my 02 has never, ever given off smoke in VTEC and i have 52,000 miles. exhaust/test pipe/intake (not that intake would matter)

 

same here i have an MY00 and NEVER shown smoke and i regularly drive it hard.

 

just about every ap1 i have ran across, including my old 03 have given of a bit of black smoke on WOT in vtec. its not noticeable from the drivers seat, but it is noticeable from behind the car.

 

compression test and leakdown test would be a good start

 

My buddy's NSX w/ 133k miles did the same thing.

Dan

 

This is normal.

 

you'll be fine.
could be a bit of oil burning (blue smoke, mistaken for black, smells different)
could be some carbon deposit along the exhaust path breaking off, or it could simply be the engine running rich at WOT, and disposing of unburned fuel.

 

no need to worry, black smoke is fuel and 00-01 (I believe they changed the computer a little bit in 02 to lean VTEC out but don't hold me to it) tend to run rich in VTEC. If you have a testpipe and/or exhaust you'll see it a little more.