Sooty residue in the exhaust

[simonc]

Hiya all and hope this is in the right section. After my retentive detailing session last Saturday when yes, I admit, I cleaned the tail pipes, I've noticed a hell of a lot of sooty deposits have decided to despoil all my hard work. I'm not expecting to have perfectly clean pipes but as she's going in on Monday for some bits and pieces doing, I'd like to mention this and hopefully have it fixed.
It's not that I don't trust them as they've been very good with me to date, but I'd like to go in armed with a bit of knowledge and point them in the right direction.
Any advice or guidance you can share will be much appreciated. Is this a fuel thing, a spark plug thing or gulp, a catalytic converter thing? Thanks, fellas.
By the way, there's no misfires, no untoward banging from the engine the only thing I should mention is she takes three or four cranks to catch upon a cold start.

[Scott560]

I think it's pretty normal. Since the h22 gets through a fair amount of oil, it doesn't surprise me the exhaust is full of carbon/soot.

My garage door is covered. I park with the tips about 4 inches away from the door, and it always gets splattered on startup.

[vanzep]

Yes that sounds right and they always overfuel on start up.
Giving the car a good high speed/rpm run can help clear things out - other than that its just basic things to keep any eye on like checking/cleaning spark plugs
checking dizzy cap and rotor - can always check timing with basic timing light
occasional clean out of egr valve & throttle body
etc
is it the 3 or 4 cranks on cold start that is a concern?

[wurlycorner]

Healthy H22's do put out pretty sooty deposits, so it sounds normal to me. If you pass genuine emissions test at MOT, then the mixture is just fine.

[simonc]

Brilliant feedback, Gents. It's much appreciated. I guess I'm overthinking and flapping like a wet hen (as usual). I'll mention it to Ali and his team on Monday just so they can keep an eye on it.
Thanks, everyone.

[simonc]

is it the 3 or 4 cranks on cold start that is a concern?
[/quote
I must admit it's a bit annoying, vanzep. Although once again, maybe I'm just fretting too much.
The start 3/4 crank happens in the mornings after sitting overnight, but is fine when I start her up around 17:00ish after sitting in the office car park all day. Warm starts are immediate when I'm out and about with errands and such.

[RattyMcClelland]

Sooty deposits from the exhaust?
.............Do you even Prelude thou..........