Black Smoke on Hard Acceleration

14950 Views 20 Replies 11 Participants Last post by gene, Dec 30, 2015

Yooshaw

Discussion Starter · Oct 24, 2015 (Edited)

Anyone getting any black smoke on hard acceleration? I don't gun it much, but did today and was embarrassed by the black smoke I produced. Car behind me even switched lanes.

See video:

https://youtu.be/gJkx37bt2nU

I was able to replicate this on the same trip as the video, but the smoke was not as bad as the video (first time).

Assume this is just a GDI engine thing, but don't think it should be doing this. I generally use Top Tier Fuel (not always), but have used Techron at the prescribed intervals.

Anyone else's doing this?

1 - 20 of 21 Posts

Bike Effects

· #2 · Oct 24, 2015

Interesting. I'll check mine and let you know.

K7Rich

· #3 · Oct 25, 2015

I have noticed the same with my 2014 Cadenza. It doesn't always blow smoke but sometimes if I floor it I've noticed it.

K7Rich

· #4 · Oct 25, 2015

I just noticed you were pulling onto Bayshire Blvd....I live in Tampa too. Nice to see a fellow Cadenza driver in Tampa!

Yooshaw

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 25, 2015

K7Rich said:
I just noticed you were pulling onto Bayshire Blvd....I live in Tampa too. Nice to see a fellow Cadenza driver in Tampa!

Nice Rich! Although I moved here a couple of months ago from the DC area (I'm military), I was born and raised in Tampa, so it's great to be back home.

brandontaz2k2

· #6 · Oct 25, 2015

Yup can confirm, black smoke here as well.

Yooshaw

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 25, 2015

brandontaz2k2 said:
Yup can confirm, black smoke here as well.

Thanks for the confirmation, not happy about it at all, it's embarrassing to me, like I'm driving a hoopty.

brandontaz2k2

· #8 · Oct 26, 2015

Yooshaw said:
Thanks for the confirmation, not happy about it at all, it's embarrassing to me, like I'm driving a hoopty.

Yup very embarrassing, almost as bad as the rattle every start up :|

K5 Optima Store

· #9 · Oct 26, 2015

It is pretty normal on GDI engines as you suggested.

However you should not be able to duplicate it over and over again.

It usually happens when there is carbon build up and you have not floored it in awhile.

Once you've done it a couple of times back to back, it should not still continue to happen. At least not with the Optima anyways.

Bike Effects

· #10 · Oct 27, 2015

Yooshaw said:
Anyone getting any black smoke on hard acceleration?
Anyone else's doing this?

Well I tried mine out this afternoon and, yes, I got a nice black cloud. I got to thinking, in "the old days" (yes, I am older than dirt) we used to have a common expression like "It needs to have the carbon blown out of it". Now this was not a factor for me when I was driving my Oldsmobile 442, as it saw redline as often as possible. Well, I'm a little older and cars have changed. I look at the Tach on the Cadenza and it always seems to be 1500-2000 RPM. My wife would not "Punch it out" if you paid her! I guess what I'm saying is that for me, I'm going to "Blow the carbon out" with some form of frequency. I'm sure there is some design feature of the GDI engine that contributes to this but I don't know how you would find this out. Let me know if you have any ideas, hopefully ones with some science behind it.

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Yooshaw

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 27, 2015

Bike Effects said:
Well I tried mine out this afternoon and, yes, I got a nice black cloud. I got to thinking, in "the old days" (yes, I am older than dirt) we used to have a common expression like "It needs to have the carbon blown out of it". Now this was not a factor for me when I was driving my Oldsmobile 442, as it saw redline as often as possible. Well, I'm a little older and cars have changed. I look at the Tach on the Cadenza and it always seems to be 1500-2000 RPM. My wife would not "Punch it out" if you paid her! I guess what I'm saying is that for me, I'm going to "Blow the carbon out" with some form of frequency. I'm sure there is some design feature of the GDI engine that contributes to this but I don't know how you would find this out. Let me know if you have any ideas, hopefully ones with some science behind it.

Thanks for the feedback. My wife is the primary driver of the Cadenza and never really opens it up. Since I primarily drive it on the weekends, I'm going to make it a point to open it up at least once. Hopefully, over time, the amount of black smoke decreases.

If anyone else has any ideas, please offer them up.

Bike Effects

· #12 · Oct 27, 2015

Yooshaw said:
Thanks for the feedback. My wife is the primary driver of the Cadenza and never really opens it up. Since I primarily drive it on the weekends, I'm going to make it a point to open it up at least once. Hopefully, over time, the amount of black smoke decreases.

If anyone else has any ideas, please offer them up.

Same here. My wife is the primary driver. I made a huge tactical mistake!

MadMax

· #13 · Oct 27, 2015

I love how the following car slaloms to avoid your cloud...

I've seen this on my car very regular. Also seen it on many other cars, BMW, Chrysler, Hyundai, Honda...just to name a few, pretty much anyone that stomps on it in a newer vehicle there's a choke of black.

Scynthyace

· #14 · Oct 27, 2015

I guess when I drive mine, I drive like a madman all the time. I have never seen black exhaust like that from my car... I have struggled to keep the exhaust tips shiny and not all black and dusty.

I use Mystery Oil as my fuel additive, but with the wife driving the Cadenza more often now, I might give it a few weeks then hammer it and see what it does.

Why do we all let the ladies drive the car? We need to stand up and take the keys! Any volunteers?

Yooshaw

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 27, 2015

MadMax said:
I love how the following car slaloms to avoid your cloud...

I've seen this on my car very regular. Also seen it on many other cars, BMW, Chrysler, Hyundai, Honda...just to name a few, pretty much anyone that stomps on it in a newer vehicle there's a choke of black.

Looking back at it, it is comical. At the time though, I was thoroughly embarrassed. It was his swerve that caused me to look at my rear view, and just noticed the smoke.

Scynthyace said:
I guess when I drive mine, I drive like a madman all the time. I have never seen black exhaust like that from my car... I have struggled to keep the exhaust tips shiny and not all black and dusty.

I use Mystery Oil as my fuel additive, but with the wife driving the Cadenza more often now, I might give it a few weeks then hammer it and see what it does.

Why do we all let the ladies drive the car? We need to stand up and take the keys! Any volunteers?

We bought the Cadenza for my wife, but I chose the car because she trusts my decisions when it comes to cars. Next car we buy will be "mine." lol

Bike Effects

· #16 · Oct 28, 2015

Some more insight to the issue.

I found this article on Wikipedia about Direct Injection engines. I thought it was interesting.
See it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_direct_injection

The interesting part for me is in this paragraph, taken from the article.
Drawbacks
Although Direct Injection provides more power and efficiency, a carbon build-up occurs in the intake valves that over time reduces the airflow to the cylinders, and therefore reduces power. Fuel contains various detergents and can keep the intakes clean. When fuel is no longer being sprayed in the intake valves, small amounts of dirt from intake air cakes on the intake walls, even with air filters that prevent most of the dirt from entering the cylinder. This build-up can become severe enough that a piece can break off and has been known to burn holes in catalytic converters. It can also cause sporadic ignition failures. These problems have been known for some time and technologies have been improved to reduce the carbon build-up.

Lastly, I found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS8riAae_bM

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sh30469

· #17 · Oct 28, 2015

Hmm, I have seen it too. I have them put in Techron with every oil change I've done (next is coming in December) and it still happens. First time I noticed it was when I was running out of road quickly in my lane and had to punch it to get ahead of a guy next to me, accidentally puffed a nice cloud at him. It was a mixture of feelings. I'm usually pretty easy on my car but I have heard that every now and then it's good to open it up as it does clear some things out of the exhaust system. Don't know much about cars but it sounds like this has been a decent practice to follow

I'll usually do it every month or so, put it in manual and take off (taking care not to let the wheels slip).

Scynthyace

· #18 · Oct 28, 2015

When I drive the K7, its always in manual mode -- I don't feel right letting the car decide when its time to shift and have found at times when I need the power and to get going, the car struggles to downshift when I apply more pressure to the pedal. It's much more fun to downshift twice and hit that power-band!

I probably drive the K7 a lot harder than most people, but I'm always hard on my vehicles, but I do my own maintenance and keep an eye on things, going to pop the manifold off this weekend and take a peak inside, at 22k miles, the car shouldn't be too bad.

hansent

· #19 · Dec 29, 2015

Happens on mine too. I brought it in to the dealer to ask about it. They claimed they didn't see it when they drove it, so I took the service manager out for a spin. He said he saw it and would get back to me with an answer. After a day or two, he called and said that Kia NA technical says its normal. Better to be running rich thank lean. I said "interesting, nowhere in the brochure did it say I had a diesel engine" It's very embarrassing to rolling around in what was supposed to be a near luxury car and smoking like a turbo Cummings.

stodge

· #20 · Dec 30, 2015

Does this happen with all DI engines or only if carbon build up occurs?

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