When I purchased the car the tips obviously had been cleaned. After 240 hwy miles both were black/sooty. First I am going to change the intake filter. My friend following me said he saw NO smoke. It ran great but I would have perferred to see cleaner tips. Is this normal or an indication the car is running rich?

 

Yep, a rich condition indeed. Usually all cars in general come from the factory on the rich side as a safety measure.

 

yep, it's a rich condition from the factory. All our cars need the tips cleaned regularly, along with the brake dust. Getting a tune will clean it up, and get ceramics. Cheers

 

Hey guys, that an interesting note regarding factory mixtures running rich... do you happen to know where you got that information, and if so, do you have a link? is there a simple "fix" for our crossfires? mine is an srt-6.

thanks for your help and best regards -- bob

 

easiest fix in the world! call jerry at eurocharged

 

What is the safety measure you're talking about? I can't imagine why the factory would have to do that.

Thanks.
Tom

 

I would rather it be rich than lean. But it would have been nice to look after that long drive and see a tan color. I don't know the status of the air filter but i doubt it's the issue. I am going to change it just for GP.
Thanks for the replies, that's what makes this site...what it is!

 

Getting a tune won't take away the need to clean the tips regularly and often.
I've got the Eurocharged tune, and I still have to wipe mine down daily. On the
dyno, my AFRs were mostly in the mid to high 11's with a foray into the low 12's.

Coyote

 

Getting a tune won't take away the need to clean the tips regularly and often.
I've got the Eurocharged tune, and I still have to wipe mine down daily.

Is it just me or do you agree somethings not right. Whether by design or not. Have you looked at your spark plugs, do they reflect what you see in the exhaust tips?

 

Plugs looked quite clean when I last looked at them. As I understand it, the car runs
a bit rich at idle. step on the gas and the AFRs are in the good range. I would suggest
you take your car to a dyno shop and get some AFR readings. Or install a unit that
can provide that info to you.

Coyote

 

You are a little on the rich side. My a/f is around 12.5 on the dyno. My car had less power when only in the mid to high 11's. Get a re-tune and lean it out some.

 

Paint the inside of the tips black. Problem solved.

 

If it's an SRT the inside of the tips are black, or they're supposed to be anyway.

 

True .... but you still have to wipe it's @ss occasionally

 

Like I've said before. Use one of the Top Tier Gasolines and your tips as well as your innards stay clean. It's really quite easy and it doesn't cost anymore than the lower detergent gasolines.

 

We buy top tier gas available in Dallas and get the black. Any vehicle running on a petroleum oil product is going to leave a black residue.

But you are correct, cheap gas results in lower gas mileage that offsets the savings at the pump.

 

So why are my tips missing the black residue? I give credit to my almost exclusive use of Shell gasoline.

All brands of gasoline cost the same here in Bowling Green unless somone hasn't matched the price leader. Up twenty cents per gallon this week.

 

St. Lou I am affraid I can't agree on your theory of >$ gas = < black in tail pipes.
I've seen the black, running the best of racing fuels...
Montana

 

Montana - I respect you for not agreeing. However, I know what works for me and >$ has nothing to do with it. It's the detergent. Which of the Top Tier brands have you tried?

 

I have also heard that having ethanol in the gas will help make the tips a bit blacker as well.