Has anyone had a problem with the tail pipes getting sooted up or soot on the rear bumper? I washed my car today and noticed it. then after the car was clean and dried I drove about 4 miles on a nice back road to a friends house. When I got there the soot was back. It seems to be running ok but i've only had it for a few weeks now. Is this normal? Any help would be great

 

It's normal. I use a California duster when my car is really clean to whisk that stuff off...

 

I wouldn't call that normal. The only place where soot builds up on my s2000 is on the innerside of the exhaust tip and only when the car is driven for short distances and thus cannot warm up properly, nothing on the exterior of the exhaust or the bumper.

What could be happening is that the ECU is running the engine too rich because of a faulty sensor somewhere, although the CEL should have come on in that case.

 

Many others have experienced this...

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...?threadid=82959

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...?threadid=27367

There are other threads as well. I don't believe anyone has reported a CEL with the soot...

 

Are you SURE its soot? The reason I ask is that on my '94 NSX, I had the same situation. Turned out it wasn't soot at all, just the remaining rubber from a completely worn out set of os2 Poles...Just a thought...

 

There's another thread going on about this very topic and indeed - I'd be willing to bet that part of that stuff is rubber dust.

 

Sounds to me like you do a lot of short distance driving, so the exhaust is filling up with water and collecting unburned fuel. It takes quite a few miles to bring the entire exhaust up to temp.

 

I won't take that bet, 'cause I'm sure its tire rubber...its happened to me twice, both os2 pole tires