I recently purchased a 2003 Forester. (3 months age). It seems to run well most of the time but twice when I started it, black smoke came out the exhaust and it missed badly. This continued for about 5-10 min. The second time black smoke also came out from under the hood also. The smoke had an acrid aroma to it. Now it’s running well again. It seems both times this occurred, the car was sitting a few days without being used. Any ideas on what the problem may be??
[b]Black smoke indicates that the engine is running rich or is flooded. This can be caused from leaking fuel injectors or a leaking fuel pressure regulator.
Pull the oil dip stick out and smell the oil. If it has a gas odor to it, fuel is leaking into the engine as it sits idle.
Tester[/b]
The usual good advice from Tester. I agree, you should look at those areas also.
By chance does this car have <60,000 miles? I believe this type of item would be covered by the 5yr/60,000 warranty on the PowerTrain at the dealer.
This will inevitably lead to other problems (oil dilution, possible damage to the catalytic converter), so I would advise getting it attended to before it winds up costing big $$. And, as was stated, if it has not passed the mileage limit, this should be covered under the powertrain warranty. See the dealer a.s.a.p.