After putting 2000 miles on the car, I noticed that the exhaust tips are becoming black and the rear bumber has a haze of black soot on the rear bumber. I took it to a car wash and the stain was still there. I asked the girl that was hand drying the car to see if she could get it off with the rag she was using. It was difficult but she manged to wipe it off. I did give her a better tip that usual for her efforts.

Has anyone else experienced this stain above the exhaust tips?

Is my RL running too lean on fuel?

Is there a fix for this?

 

I had the same problem with my '05RL. My dealer said it was caused by long idle times (which is easy to do while configuring and learning the use of the many nav/audio options). His suggestion was changing the brand of gasoline I use. He suggested that I try Sunoco 91 which he felt is a very clean burning fuel compared to the Mobil 93 which I have been using. The service manager told me he knew of no fix for the problem.

I sprayed some Spot Shot (carpet stain remover) onto a piece of towel paper and very easily removed the black stains from both the chrome tail pipes and bumper. While I saw no evidence of any paint damage as result of using this product, I'd suggest you try a little on a very small area of the underside of the bumper first just to be sure.

 

Thanks for the information. I will try a 91 octane fuel and limit my idle time although this seems a bit taxing to not get black stains on the bumper. I do not notice black soot stains on other vehicles except the old clunkers. It is a little disappointing that we have to deal with this concidering the cost of this vehicle.

I would like to know how many other 05 RL owners are having this problem. My veh VIN is in the 19000s, built in Aug 05. Are the 06 RLs having the same black bumper stains above the exhaust?

I plan to address this issue with the SA on my first service visit. I have 2300 miles with 70% oil life remaining, so I really don't know how long that will be.

On a good note, I love the car, it is a perfect fit for me. I would never concider trading it for anything else on the market today.

 

I have had this also, but clean my car often enough that it isn't a problem. A good coat of wax is a good idea.

 

I have it too, but it is easily cleaned off with regular car washing.

 

Yep.

And, I don't have long idle times, but notice that spirited driving and thrashing the car about (awwww, just a little bit) seem to dirty them up a bit more.

I've only seen a couple of other RL's since taking delivery of mine in June...they had sooty tips.

 

I too had the black soot and was concerned. I read in a thread that the engine was programmed to run a bit lean through 7,500 miles; so i did wait and for sure the problem subsided to almost gone upon reaching 9,000 miles.
Hang in there, just keep cleaning for now -Cool Running!

 

Well, I still have this problem and I have 13,000 miles on my car......and it seems to worse now than before. We went through a period of snow and rainy mess for over a week during which there were no car washings. My chrome exhaust tips are now yellowish after the soot has been removed, even though I have cleaned them by hand. I have always used either Marathon 93 or Shell 93, the two stations closest to me.

Anyone have any suggestions to remove the yellowing on the chrome?

 

Just bought a 2006 and I noticed the soot when I took delivery - with only 30 somemiles on it. After cleaning it a few times, I realized it came from the exhaust pipes. I have a habit of keeping my car really clean, and that includes the tail pipes. My BMW M3 stainless pipes never gather any minute amount of anything, let alone soot. This RL, while a great car otherwise, the exhaust pipes are like smoke stacks, can't believe it can even pass the emissions tests.

The engine is not running right, and cleaning it is not the issue, I am concerned about what might be building up in the cylinders.

I use Octane 93 gas. If it creates soot, that means imcomplete burning. Which is probably caused by low burning temerture and/or poor air/fuel mixture. in anycase, I am not buying that it is normal and Acura must do something about it.

Is there anyone out there with the 2006 RL that doesn't have this soot problem?

 

I am nol having any problem with soot. Non-issue here.

 

Well my TL doesn't have the problem, but our RL does. It does this as well. I noticed when I cleaned and zainoed the RL this past week, I had dirt above each tip and had to scrub a bit harder there to get it off. It came off, but I was like thats interesting. Zaino on it now, so it should come off pretty easy next time around.

Ours has 3k of miles as well.

 

I traded in my TL for this RL, and my TL did not have this soot problem.

I am quite disappointed with this problem and am indeed concerned that there may be engine problem, sure hope not.

Thinking may be the tornato air system may help the combustion but not sure if anyone has tried that route.

enjoyable car so far otherwise, I have about 300 miles on it.

Cleaning the soot is not a problem so far, I keep the car detailed with the quick detail spray I got from walmart.. In general I can just wipe it off with a towel.

 

My '06 with 2800 miles has this same soot problem, asked the dealer tech about same and was told a computer determines fuel mix, etc,,,in other words, a non answer!,,,

I will try again solving at dealer when I have first oil change. To me, there is no reason a dealer should not be able to address and fix this problem, but then again,,,

Looks like I have dual smoke stacks on this car!

RLT

 

I have an 06 with 7500 miles, with no soot problem.

 

Strange you 06'ers still have this problem. Have you compared your tips with the pictures on this thread (https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...highlight=tips)?

Our 05 rear bumper would be totally covered in soot, but was easily remedied with the addition of the 06 tips. Now dont get me wrong, after a long road trip or a couple weeks without washing, the rear bumper would get dirty as usual.

If anything, the rear bumper on my S2000 and LS430 get dirtier quicker than the RL does.

 

I note some soot on the tips, but none on my bumper at all, and I haven't washed the car in about ten days. I recall the thread about the 05s and their requirement for new tips, and what I see on my car is not nearly that bad.

 

I didn't notice the soot till I cleaned off the dirt itself and the black parts above each muffler were still there and I had to go back and clean it off harder.

 

I don't have any on my bumper either, just on the tips on my '06... Either way shouldn't be a problem once I get my 5zigen exhaust (uses slash tips).

 

I have an 05 and before the new tips I would get soot on the bumper and the tips. Now I have the 06 tips and the tips still get sooty but the bumper stays relatively clean. In any case it cleans off both very easily.

 

Same w/ my '06. Soot on the exhaust tips, only.

Soot/black deposits/black smoke is typically an indication of the car running RICH, not lean, as someone above opined.

 

I've noticed that cars which are driven hard typcially have black "burn" marks on their bumpers. Usually boy racers and police cars will have this. I have no soot on my '06 RL but it's still not broken-in and I've been going easy on it so far. My guess is that when you drive a car hard, the mixture is rich and you get a hotter/richer exhaust. Next time you see a car on the road flooring it, look at the exhaust. You can see the unburned gas coming out like a mist.

 

I had the modified tips installed on my '05RL. My experience is that these tips mostly eliminate the soot problem both on the tips and on the bumper with light to moderate driving. The new tips are a major improvement over the originals. However, I'm getting extremely dirty tips and soot on the rear bumper with recent heavy emphasis on high speed interstate driving...I typically drive above 80mph and with the heavy traffic, there's no leisurely cruising...lots of slowing down and speeding up.

I'm also toying with the notion that some gas may burn cleaner...I can't prove it...the Chevron-Texaco I'm getting in East Texas may be causing more soot...can't prove it...just a notion...if I have a choice, I've always leaned towards BP-Amoco. Also, the condition of the oil may have some effect. Can't prove it, but seems that soot is less after the last oil change with the filter change.

Always use premium gas from the major brands. Car is the tan color.

Fred (boy racer-not!)

 

Boy, I really hate to differ, but black exhaust emissions are a symptom of LEAN burning, while brownish or tannish emissions result from RICH mixtures.

The black "soot" you see emanating from diesel truck stacks is indeed from rich mixture, but it's different with gasoline engines.

The sooting we get on our RL's exhausts is apparently a result of Honda's lean-burn engine technology, which allows them to achieve ULEV II ratings for fuel efficiency.
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Interesting debates on the reasons for soot deposit. It has been a long time since I took my advanced engines for my Master in Aerospace, I have to give it some thoughts. Carbon deposit may be a result of imcomplete burning. It can be casued by fuel, fuel/air ratio, and combustion temperature, or may be timing. Can our fuel make this much difference? Not likely, assuming the gas we are getting are at least to a certain standard. Fuel/Air ratio? I will be surprised if Honda engineer does not know the right ratios but if they missed it, it would explan why harddriving may cause the soot, a result of incomplete burns. Low grade gas with high compression engine such as RL may cause pre ignition (knocks) which would give you foul deposits on more than just soot. Lean or Rich? Overly Rich and not enogh air would cause imcomplete burns, but Lean may do the same as too much cold air and not enough fuel would cause lower fuel/air mixture and therefore, incomplete burns and soot. What ever the reasons, hope someone has a solution. soot deposit is not normal especially for a car in this class.

 

switched to the 06 tips and no problem on the bumper or tips. btw i think the 06 tips look better, how bout you guys?

 

That's fine. We can agree to disagree. And the car qualifies as ULEV, it's true...but engines don't run completely lean or completely rich all the time. When you jump on the gas and go WOT, even a ULEV vehicle can run rich. Get yourself an AFR, if you'd like to verify that.

For example, one of my MR2s runs pig rich under heavy boost and I can tell you the smoke is black when I really romp on it. I also get heavy deposits on that car...to the point where I need to compound the rear bumper every few months...it's a white car). While cruising, she is constantly adjusting, trying to find stoich. Jump on the gas and that goes out the window.

ECUs aren't programmed to run the same way at all throttle conditions. Get into VTEC a lot and you're going to find that you use a LOT more gas...and it's not just because the engine is using more fuel to make proportionally more power. The mixture gets richer to prevent pre-detonation.

As has been mentioned, you are more likely to have (black) carbon deposits from running rich. How does a spark plug look when too rich a mixture is run? Black and sooty. What does a normal plug look like? Light tan or grey deposits on the tip. Click for examples.

 

Not trying to be disagreeable. You are of course right that cars go through rich and lean phases based on throttle and load, etc. And yes, I know how to read plugs.

One thing that admittedly makes my experience a little out-of-date is that I'm an old guy and I still think in terms of carbureted, pre-catalyst engine dynamics and motorcycle engines. I believe my statements are correct in the absence of converters. Today's high-temp catalytic converters, however, most probably WOULD turn that raw gas into carbon compounds that would show as black. So I stand corrected.

One thing worth mentioning, though, is that some of that black soot people see when they "get on it" is just old carbon deposits getting dislodged and blown out of the exhaust system.
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Maybe Honda has obtained their low emmissions by getting it to stick to the bumper instead of going in the atmosphere. Ha!

 

Good clarification especially the cat converter may turn the rich mixture into soot, and may be I do not have to worry about fouling plugs.

I see some of the tail pipe 3rd party sellers also sell an attachment called tonado or cyclone. It can be installed at the intake hose. Supposedly it will create a sprial whirl wind to the intake and perhaps it would help to burn off the rich mixture? Not sure if anyone has tried that gimmick and if it works? They said it would improve mileage. Hopefully Honda has the real fix that can update the software controlling the fuel/air mix better under all conditions.

 

Its called tornando and I put one on my 2003 MDX. Would I do it again" NO". I dont think it does a thing but put your $$$$ in their pockets

 

Snake oil. And before you ask, so are the +20HP performance "chips" selling on eBay for $20 or less. Don't waste your money.

 

Absolutely. One of the major testing org's (Consumer's or someone) did a bunch of tests and determined the Tornado did nothing except restrict intake flow a little.

And BTW, those things have been around for decades. I remember back in the sixties someone was selling a little propeller thingy in the back of Popular Mechanix that mounted on top of your carburetor and was supposed to do the same thing. It didn't work then and doesn't work now.

One thing to ask yourself is - if these things worked, why wouldn't the car companies put them on as standard equipment?
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I'm sootless

 

The back of my RL looks like one of the old Mercedes diesels.