Black soot on tailpipe?

- G
- Gregory Coats
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Jul 23, 2003 1:55 AM

My stock 71 Super Beetle runs great and gets between 20 and 22 mpg in town driving. Last weekend my brother in law from out of town stayed with us and while standing in the garage he made the statement that I had a bad sparkplug on the right side of my engine. He pointed out that the right side tailpipe had a small about of black soot on it and the left side did not. All four plugs were replaced by me less than a month ago during a tuneup. Any thoughts????????

- J
- J Stafford
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Jul 23, 2003 2:14 AM

Tell your brother-in-law to bugger off. What's a little soot?

- M
- MN AirHead
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Jul 23, 2003 3:39 AM

The exhaust bends a couple of ways... I'd be confident that he was trying to wield his intelligence. Unless you have 2 trumpet header/muffler type sytstems, the merged exhaust wouldn't separate.

Sounds like a bug to me.

T.

- A
- Anthony
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Jul 24, 2003 4:04 AM

Well, all the exhaust from all four cylinders is mixed in the muffler, before randomly coming out the tailpipes which are stuck in the muffler. Just becuase it's on the right tailpipe doesn't mean it's the right side of the engine. Actually, by the sounds of it, the engine is fine. Don't worry. Besides, a bad plug wouldn't cause soot in the tailpipe, it would cause a rough engine which you would notice WAY before the soot. Remember that he's your brother-IN-LAW. Those two words make a HUGE difference!