Carbon Out Of The Exhaust?

[phantom]

Well I had some driving issues (loss of power, stuttering above 45-55 mph) with my 1992 ES and have been a journey to get her back on the road. She has 178k and was running pretty good up until a couple of weeks ago. So the journey begins with:

-Replacing the plugs, distributor cap and rotor.

-Cleaned the throttle plate, AFM, and EGR, and IAC.

-Seafoam

All items that probably needed to be done since they haven't been touched since around 80k.

Oh yeah, I replaced the radiator and put in new fluid and changed the oil filter the month before the driving problems. During my adventure with this car I also found a vacuum leak on the main air hose and patched that up with some sealant and duct tape for the time being. I also ended up having to soldier some of the contacts on the AFM back after I pulled some of them loose :whistles: .

So I got everything back on the car but for some reason after the car warms up or runs for a couple of minutes it begins to stumble again and what looks to be water and black carbon dust sputters from the exhaust. Then the exhaust begins to smell like when I Seafoamed?!?

I have no idea what I'm missing here. I doubt its bad gas since i filled up not but about 2-3 weeks ago.

BTW Thanks Toysrme for all the great info and possible scenarios. I think I hit all the do it yourselfers!

[Toysrme]

I also ended up having to soldier some of the contacts on the AFM back after I pulled some of them loose :whistles: .

Aw man that aint good! LoL! I did the same thing. Aslong as you soldier well & everythings still working, no harm no foul.

So I got everything back on the car but for some reason after the car warms up or runs for a couple of minutes it begins to stumble again and what looks to be water and black carbon dust sputters from the exhaust. Then the exhaust begins to smell like when I Seafoamed?!?

I have no idea what I'm missing here. I doubt its bad gas since i filled up not but about 2-3 weeks ago.

BTW Thanks Toysrme for all the great info and possible scenarios. I think I hit all the do it yourselfers!

Was it overheating before? I don't remember you off-hand & you've got 1 post so I don't know? It sounds more like a blown a head gasket. It may seal fine until it get's warm & expands. Then you've got coolant in a cylinder, and maybe oil. Which would explain the carbon.

I'd probably warm it up, take the plugs back out & do a compression test.

Who knows, there could just be a vacuum leak & the seafoam hasn't burne dout yet. Start your story fro the beginning. :)

Don't make stuff out anymore than it is. If I never posted anything at all, someone else would say the same stuff 5min later. :)

[phantom]

thanks for the response, and yes this is my 1st post but i've been lurking for a while.

it never overheated, just a small seeping crack in the top of the radiator. i patched it up but it kept seeping little by little so after a year i just replaced it.

and yeah it took about 3 tries to get the soildering on the AFM board tight. I'm gonna buy another one off ebay and see if that helps.

would the compression test help ID a blown head gasket? might need to drop her off at Lexus then.