Took a road trip yesterday to a lake in the middle part of VA - drove probably 250-300 miles. Was cleaning the car out this morning and notice a lot of black carbon all over the exhaust pipes. Vehicle has ~3500 miles and was washed about 3 weeks ago, so I'm pretty sure it kicked in yesterday. I cleaned it up and the wife went to the grocery store and after she got back, there was more.

Here in town we have to burn E10 and they are not required to sell it in South Hill where I filled up. (Exxon 93 - not like brand makes a difference in what is sitting in the tanks). I'm suspecting shitty gas, but does anyone else have a guess as to why I'm so sooty all of a sudden? Think it's doing me any harm?

FYI, I got about 2 mpg better mileage burning 'country' gas.

 

My exhaust tips always collect a lot of carbon. It comes off with degreaser. Maybe the gas here in Colorado is crappy too. Most gas here contains E10 in the winter and I notice decreased gas milage in the winter. Sorry I couldn't help with the cause though.

I suspect crappy gas killed the catalytic converter in my last car at 78000 miles.

 

My exhaust pipes are always covered with black soot also,I clean them
with stainless steel cleaner and protector when I wash the RDX,but
it still accumulates.I only use 91-93 octane and it still happens,oh well.love the RDX

 

your wife must be loving vtec =]

 

+1 in TX.

 

It's going to happen no matter what you do. It's normal. If you weren't getting any buildup you'd probably be running lean. As long as you're not losing oil at an excessive rate I wouldn't be too worried.

 

Exactly. Keep in mind the RDX runs at around 10.5:1 air/fuel ratio; that is surprisingly rich.

 

yeah, most all factory turbo'ed cars run rich. they tune to stay on the safe side, one reason is just in case you get bad gas.