smoke at startup?

[Bewitchedfan]

Originally Posted by RedJewelSS

No I have never heard of an octane reducer. Unless your engine us knocking there is absolutely no gains from using higher octane fuel. Unless you like paying more for fuel and causing your engine stress.

thanks for the info... now should I be concerned about the black soot build-up? Its pretty thick inside the pipes, I wiped it clean the other day and its already black again.. I assume this is from the high octane fuel? I can't wait to fill her up with 87 octane.. im on half tank now...

[RedJewelSS]

Originally Posted by Bewitchedfan

thanks for the info... now should I be concerned about the black soot build-up? Its pretty thick inside the pipes, I wiped it clean the other day and its already black again.. I assume this is from the high octane fuel? I can't wait to fill her up with 87 octane.. im on half tank now...

see what happens when you switch to 87. a little build up is normal. dont expect the inside of the pipes to be metal. they will be black no matter what.

[ChrisBlair]

Some GM engines in the day had no valve stem scrapers. The one or two drops of oil that ended up in the combustion chambers overnight made a puff of smoke on start-up the next day. It had no effect on oil or engine life at all, and the oil loss was so small it didn't matter

I'm not saying an LS3 or L99 is designed that way, I'm just pointing out that oil can get into the combustion chambers by means other than damage or failure

Every car I've ever had has ended up with a lot of soot at the tail pipes. It will look odd to people watching, but if my car was making smoke like the one in question, I'd get out and put each hand over an exhaust tip for a second, and then take a whiff of whatever got on my hands and rub my hands together. If it smells like nothing, it's water. If it smells like oil and feels oily, then...it could be oil

[acamellis]

I think the build up of black soot is normal on all of these cars as my L99 has the black build up inside of the exhaust pipes. My L99 is running strong with no problems.
I think the humidity may be the culprit. I live on the Texas gulf coast so our climates are very similar. The 100+ degrees and 100+ humidity will make our cars do some odd things from time to time.
So if you're also seeing a lack of power as I did mine and are concerned about it. Remember our climate lol...

[Ronn]

Sounds like vapour to me. It's weird that it did it after driving, if it was burning oil it would do it all the time, or if it was getting into the combustion chamber you would notice it every time on startup. Have you checked to see if your muffler drain holes are plugged? As for your gas the manual says 87 with less than 10% ethanol, and black soot is normal. Unless it's so thick that it flakes off or something I wouldn't worry about it.

[Sterling]

These factory mufflers tend to collect water in them... I'll bet it's just water vapor you're seeing. As for the octane, if you do drop back down to the 87 you'll notice a drop in performance. I know that the manual says that it only needs 87 octane, but we have tested different fuels in the V6 and have shown that the engine is pulling timing when the lower octane fuel is being used. The higher octane won't hurt your engine... it will run better with it.

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by sterlingnotes

These factory mufflers tend to collect water in them... I'll bet it's just water vapor you're seeing. As for the octane, if you do drop back down to the 87 you'll notice a drop in performance. I know that the manual says that it only needs 87 octane, but we have tested different fuels in the V6 and have shown that the engine is pulling timing when the lower octane fuel is being used. The higher octane won't hurt your engine... it will run better with it.

I'm curious to know if the 2011 v6's manual recommends higher than 87. I see sterlingnotes point but if that particular engine doesn't require a fuel with a slower burn then why put it in. Having said that, it's not like anything bad would happen from running 89.

[2010 Bumblebee]

It's probably just water vapor.

[Sterling]

Originally Posted by Ronn

I'm curious to know if the 2011 v6's manual recommends higher than 87. I see sterlingnotes point but if that particular engine doesn't require a fuel with a slower burn then why put it in. Having said that, it's not like anything bad would happen from running 89.

The V8's don't require the 93 octane either... but it is recommended.
When using the DashHawk on the V6 you can see a lot of activity on the ping detector when using the lower octane.