got smoke grey smoke from exhaust. normal>? or not?

**00maroz28** · 05-17-2007, 10:12 AM

i have a 2000 a4 z28... with slp flowpac, borla catback, pacetter lts, pacesetter ory, no egr, slp 85mm mass air, ngk iridium plugs, msd wires...the car is untuned, the egr is gone but not deleted, i recently noticed that i have a little smoke (grey) form the exhaust...is this normal for what i got..becuase its untuned??? or no? i dont have cats meaning no rear o2's... smells a litlle gasy too..like its runnin rich...please help ...thanks

**Crimson Sin** · 05-17-2007, 03:07 PM

Hard to say without seeing the smoke, amount, color, when etc...
Basic rule of thumb : Bluish = Bad (burning oil) . Black = Unburnt fuel. White = Very bad ( water/coolant being burned in cylinders) Grey ? hmm if it's right at start up, it's most likely condensation (water from the air) in your exhaust being heated up and steamed off as the exhaust heats up. If it's only later on ( engine & exhaust up to temp) it could indicate a more serious condition.
If you have no runability issues ( IE check engine light on, stumbling, surging, overheating etc) it's most likely not something terribly serious.
This is all just my opinion, but it's a fairly educated one. I am a service advisor at a repair shop and see this stuff all the time.. Hell, it's not a major accomplishment, but I am ASE certified in Parts and some light repair.
Hope that helps bro.

**00maroz28** · 05-17-2007, 04:18 PM

[QUOTE=01T-TopToy;772943]Hard to say without seeing the smoke, amount, color, when etc...
Basic rule of thumb : Bluish = Bad (burning oil) . Black = Unburnt fuel. White = Very bad ( water/coolant being burned in cylinders) Grey ? hmm if it's right at start up, it's most likely condensation (water from the air) in your exhaust being heated up and steamed off as the exhaust heats up. If it's only later on ( engine & exhaust up to temp) it could indicate a more serious condition.
If you have no runability issues ( IE check engine light on, stumbling, surging, overheating etc) it's most likely not something terribly serious.
This is all just my opinion, but it's a fairly educated one. I am a service advisor at a repair shop and see this stuff all the time.. Hell, it's not a major accomplishment, but I am ASE certified in Parts and some light repair.
Hope that helps bro.[/QUOTE

i have had a little bit of a rough idle for some time now but never saw smoke.... i recently had LT's an ORY and took off my EGR... so no rear 02s no tune ect.. this stuff was done a week ago could there be a link between the two??? i does smell very gasy... i have an ses for a little while but it says...RANDOM MISFIRE... and the other codes are for the egr and no rear o2's...cause i dont have sims and or gotten them deleted with a tune

**Corey1987** · 05-17-2007, 07:11 PM

i believe the gas smell is because u dont have cats, just what ive heard about takin of ur cats.

**Crimson Sin** · 05-17-2007, 08:16 PM

EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation, basically it recycles unburnt fuel back into the engine to reburn it, so ya, I can see how that would smell gassy LoL. Random Misfire is just that, can be caused by all sorts of things, ignition components, bad tune, etc etc if you had LTs and an ORY with no O2s ( Oxygen sensors, among other things help moderate fuel mixture) I can see why you may have some runability issues. You should get at least a "box tune" if you cannot afford a Dyno tune. that alone may cure your "grey smoke"

**00maroz28** · 05-17-2007, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by 01T-TopToy

EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation, basically it recycles unburnt fuel back into the engine to reburn it, so ya, I can see how that would smell gassy LoL. Random Misfire is just that, can be caused by all sorts of things, ignition components, bad tune, etc etc if you had LTs and an ORY with no O2s ( Oxygen sensors, among other things help moderate fuel mixture) I can see why you may have some runability issues. You should get at least a "box tune" if you cannot afford a Dyno tune. that alone may cure your "grey smoke"

i will be getting a regular dyno tune soon...from a place called cartek in garwood,nj... they are an f-boby ls1,ls2,ls6 specialist in jersey..supposed to be the best around.....oh and as for the smoke being grey..maybe it was blackish who the F knows...lol...thanks for the help

**35thAnniZ28** · 05-17-2007, 10:29 PM

the same thing happend to me...if you dont like it...get cats and 02's back...my idle was horrible.....the fumes sucked balls....n i noticed a big mpg loss....soo get em back to normal....