I have a 97 4.6 4x2 3.55ls SC leer cap,XLT.
since new the tail pipe has always been sooty.
On my old trucks with carbs this meant it was running rich. Anybody else got the same on their truck?
My m.p.g. hovers around 13, most trips 20 miles at a time, urban mainly.so it is warmed up and should be running right. Ford tested it and its "normal". My windstar has a light gray tailpipe, thats normal to me. Any comments?

 

uknigel. Sounds about right to me. Ever since unleaded fuels became the norm a light grey or tan deposit has been the sign of the right fuel mixture.

 

the f150 is black with soot is what I meant to say, the windstar is gray. I just wonder why the differance between the two.

 

I have a 4.2 v6 and have black soot comming out of the tale pipe. I have also had three engines put in it to. I am trying to find people with this same problem. Ford is calling this problem Soot fouling the engine and after a while the engine is worn out because so much gas is washing down the pistons.

 

I have a 4.2 v6 and have black soot comming out of the tale pipe. I have also had three engines put in it to. I am trying to find people with this same problem. Ford is calling this problem Soot fouling the engine and after a while the engine is worn out because so much gas is washing down the pistons.

 

Bill,

What year is your truck that you've had to have three engines put into it? This concerns me. I have a 99 4.2 v-6. The tail pipe tip is black but I just assumed that it ran dirty because it was geared for low grade gas. I added a superchip and switched to high octaine. Stillm I wonder if this is a problem and if this can cause very poor gas mileage.

Delgado

 

Bill Reed

I have a 98 4.2 auto. and it also has a sooty
tail pipe. I've always assumed that this was normal. But I am having the truck checked out for this and a problem with pinging when I run regular grade gas.
I am wondering if the two conditions are related.
My dealer told me that the 4.2 seems to be susceptible to carbon build up. This could cause the pinging that I have and the soot in the tail pipe.
Ford has recommended that the head be removed
and walnut blasted (similar to sand blasting) to remove the carbon build up.
They also think it may be a MAP sensor that may be giving false readings.

 

The "soot ring" was discussed on the mailing list. I think it was finally decided that it was normal. I get the soot ring but it runs good and I get decent MPG (for a truck). I'm still surprised to see soot, I'd think the cats would clean everything up and only clean air comes from the exhaust. Well, maybe not clean air, but I certainly wouldn't expect to see any signs of un-burned fuel.

By the by, I took a walk through the parking lot a while ago and noticed a soot ring on many vehicles.

Danny

 

Sam N
What was the outcome with your soot/pinging problem with the 4.2L. Did the dealer solve the problem? I'm curious because my 4.2L experiences the same problems you mentioned in your post. I think I'll take my truck into Ford in a couple of weeks for them to look at these potential problems. I'm betting my money on the MAP sensor being the problem.
One other note... My trucks engine was pinging from day 1 when I had just under 100 km on it. Carbon build-up could'nt of been a factor with the pinging this early in the engines life.

 

Nitro

I made a mistake in my last post, I meant to say Mass Airflow Sensor not MAP sensor.
Anyway I just got the truck back after they had changed that sensor and it still pings!!
Dealer says soot in the tailpipe is unrellated and completely normal.
Still working on the pinging though.

 

Sam N
Too bad the new mass air flow sensor did'nt do the trick. Anyways,I was flipping through the Ford manual today. According to Ford, "slight engine pinging is normal" for the 4.2L engine....Well, so much for any sensor trouble-shooting. Tomorrow, I will disconect the battery and see if this changes anything. I will post the results in a day or so.
Glad to hear that the soot issue is not a problem. Then again, according to Ford, pinging is not a problem either. Perhaps, we worry too much?

 

Fact is, the 4.2 is not a very good engine and Ford needs to get a pair and improve the base engine in the F-150.

My 1996 4-cylinder Ranger and the 1998 V-6 F-150 both sooted up the tailpipe. BAD on Ford for letting their base engines do this. My 4.0L Ranger didn't deposit ANYTHING on the tailpipe. Somewhere Ford is trying to make a killing on 4.2L truck sales. The $17k price tag on my 4.2 certainly was not justified and I should have shopped around a bit more back in 1998.

I find that I have to drive the truck very rough to get performance that I consider reasonable out of that engine. Even chipped, I could wait all day while the truck tries to accelerate to highway speeds in these New Mexico winds. Very UN-SAT!

-Mike

 

I've got the 4.6 motor with soot in the pipe also. In my area, to get an inspection, you have to pass an emmisions test. When mine was tested the tech. did it twice because the machine registered all zeros. At first he thought it didn't get a good reading. After the second test he came up with the same thing. His exact words were "it's like it's not even running"! My point is, my pipe is sooty and it's definately not running fat. Just my .02.

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98 F-150 XLT 4X4 ORP Super Cab Short Bed, 4.6, Auto. Superchip, Gibson sing. cat-back, Airaid, 80/100w German head lamps. Needs one more door and a lot more power. I think I need to talk to Mr. Whipple.

 

Thanks 98fword, now I can go worry about something else.

 

The tailpipe on my truck also looks like it belongs on a diesel. I've a '99 4.2 with AT. I took it back to the dealer because I wasn't getting the mileage I thought I should (14-16 on the highway at 65 mph) and also showed them the tailpipe. They ran some tests and said it was normal. My truck seems to pick up more power at 3,000 rpm also, and is sluggish off the line. One of my big concerns is that if my exhaust pipe is this dirty, what is happening to the catalytic converter? I see many other trucks (Dodges and Chevys) that have very clean looking exhaust pipes, so this does bother me. I've thought about contacting the EPA on this matter.

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