Smoking Prelude

ASPUNDE

MEMBER
HONDA PRELUDE

My 1999 Prelude SH has black smoke coming out of the exhaust. Some of the people I talked to say its my Throttle Body, another person said its my computer or my piston rings are bad. And for some reason the gas mileage has also lowered. Can you help me Please
Thanks

5 Replies

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,753 POSTS

Black smoke is a state of having too much fuel to be burned by the engine. White is water, bluish is oil and black is carbon. Now, I of course look to the plugs to see what is happening. Are they getting deposited on with black? I would start with the timing. Is the timing correctly set?

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Monday, September 18th, 2006 AT 7:31 AM

ASPUNDE

MEMBER
6 POSTS

Well I checked the Spark plugs and they have black on the rim and the tip itself is a Red-ish brown. On the timing I don't really know how to check that.

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Monday, September 18th, 2006 AT 1:27 PM

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,753 POSTS

A timing light is needed and you need to disable the computer on the vehicle. Sounds complicated but it is rather simple to do. However, unless the basic timing of the vehicle is set correctly the fuel will not be injected at the proper time and it will be either too rich or too lean.

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Monday, September 18th, 2006 AT 3:31 PM

ASPUNDE

MEMBER
6 POSTS

Do you know the best timing light I can purchase and would that be all I would need to do in order to fix it.
Thanks

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Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 AT 2:15 AM

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,753 POSTS

No guarantee it will fix it. Timing lights are available from car parts places, ebay, pawnshops. There is nothing too special about them. I own a Craftsman.