Thread: Sparks showering from exhaust

Oil change off you go home to fit egt gauge and your set to go..

Have a good check of the composition of the particles you found as the usual cause of sparks from the exhaust is the turbo disintegrating. Excessive bearing wear causing the turbine or compressor wheel rubbing on the housing. Don't want to alarm you but it would be a good idea to take a turbo hose off and check the shaft for wear. There should only be a small amount of endfloat (sideways movement).

Have you got a muffler/silencer/resonator/spark arrester fitted to your exhaust system? My pipe is straight through, so I can expect the same....

So long as the deposits don't have part numbers on them, I wouldn't be too worried.

As stated, fit an EGT sensor and keep going.

My 2 cents.

Matt.

My 240Z used to do this sitting at 100mph. When the engine was working harder than usual, it'd heat up the carbon in the exhaust (most likely in the extractors close to the engine) and blow it out the back as sparks.
Maybe the extra effort up the hill is doing the same thing, cleaning out the soot and carbon deposits.

As said, get an EGT probe installed.

Originally Posted by mudmouse

So long as the deposits don't have part numbers on them, I wouldn't be too worried.


Matt.

Absolute gold

Originally Posted by ScottW

My 240Z used to do this sitting at 100mph. When the engine was working harder than usual, it'd heat up the carbon in the exhaust (most likely in the extractors close to the engine) and blow it out the back as sparks.
Maybe the extra effort up the hill is doing the same thing, cleaning out the soot and carbon deposits.

As said, get an EGT probe installed.

I'll back that for starters....

Originally Posted by mudmouse

So long as the deposits don't have part numbers on them, I wouldn't be too worried.

I'll second that!!! I'm giggling like a 9 yr old and SWIMBO's giving me the usual "oh dear" look!! This is where a 'Like' option at the bottom of each post would be handy!!

Re the sparks, I wouldn't worry. The 6 pot Nissan in my old 101 used to do the same when towing up a hill with the boot buried to the floor, looked like one of those Chinese Lanterns!!! Older tractors and trucks often do it... along with the stack glowing a dull red. The Detroit powered Chamberlain Super 90 I used to drive in WA did it when working hard. Loved it!!

I agree with other comments on here about carbon buildup. We often have generators in our fleet that go out and are lightly loaded while on hire. Once we get them back and load test them, showers of sparks are very common. In extreme cases you can have a whole lump of carbon spurt out on fire like a small volcano. Quite entertaining, and if it happens while the unit is on hire, the customer usually ****s themselves and turns the machine off, then rings us to tell us the genset is on fire...