Should my tailpipe be so sooty?

[Droopy Dick]

When I took my panniers off, I discovered two things.

One, that the bolt that held the baffle in to my Remus exhaust had dropped out and the baffle had started to work its way out of the silencer, only to be stopped by the gas deflector thingy that stops the pannier melting.

I replaced this bolt and blow me if the replacement hasn't gone missing too. Does it need a lock nut to kepe it in place?

Two, that the tail pipe of my Remus is covered on soot. Does this mean that my engine is running rich? Is it normal for your tailpipe to be sooty?

 

[Fanum]

Two, that the tail pipe of my Remus is covered on soot. Does this mean that my engine is running rich?

Yep.

Probably....

Does it need a lock nut to kepe it in place?

No idea...but logically the 'zorst will go through some extremes in temp changes and ally/steel obviously have very different expansion coefficients, so I'd imagine a more secure fastening would be essential.
Lock nut or pop rivet ?

PS have you tried running with it out???

I prefer it like that.....less harsh noise and it'll help with the sooty problem as well

 

[Droopy Dick]

The pipe seems to be set up for a M6 bolt. The baffle has a threaded hole just that size.

I have tried running without the baffle and it is a tad noisy.

 

[FatAl]

Whilst recently on a trip through France and the Alps on my '02 GS1150 I also noted that there were sooty deposits around the exhaust (remus Y piece, standard BMW silencer, K & N, Steptoe Link), and panniers, and the nearside indicator, also the fumes smelled a bit rich, I didn't notice any increase in fuel consumption. Not really understanding the fuelling of these bikes I just put this down to the fuel injection system over compensating for the altitude/heat. A couple of weeks prior to going on this trip I'd had the bike dyno tested which showed the fuel set up to be OK, if slightly lean at low rpm/part open throttle. having now returned home and after a further few hundred miles there is now no sign of any soot etc; yet another mystery to be solved!!

 

[cookie]

the baffle is held in with a stainless pop rivet when new. if you drill this out you find an M6 thread for a bolt to do the job when refitting baffle.

as i didn't like the noise with the baffle removed and considered any screw likely to fall out due to it only having about one two turns of thread in the silencer, i rivetted mine back in with another stainless pop rivet.

my bike has only left soot deposits when the CO probe was disconnected. petrol smell very evident too.

 

[Swesty]

The tailpipe is not a reliable indication for the running of your engine, the sparkplugs are, so check those.

 

[MiGSel]

Should my tailpipe be so sooty?

Goes well with your droopy front, doesn't it?