seeing black carbon deposit
 

Hey Guys I am new here, and my blazer 96 s-10 ls 4.3L V6 is having a bit of a problem.
I noticed a black ring around my exhaust pipe within the last 2 weeks. I take good care of my blazer and tho she has 109 thou. miles on her, she has never let me down.
Does any one have any ideas as to what is causing this? Is it because I have unburned fuel that has gotten past my rings and has contaminated my oil??? There is no smoke from the exhaust, no oil leaks, no seepage at the gaskets, and she is running fine, Oil gets changed every 3000 miles and I do most of the maintaince myself ( Haynes manual at the ready). Someone out there, give me an idea as to what is going on. I don't want to end up with a valve job. Seafoam was suggested to me to use to burn off the deposits, anyone got any reply on this product or is it snake oil?.

RE: seeing black carbon deposit
 

its most likely unburnt fuel either from the rings or even the catalytic converter. if it runs fine, then i wouldnt worry. if you get a check engine light then i would check it out. my 88 k5 has the same thing and its got 160k on the motor, runs great and just passed the MA emissions test ( theyre very strict here). my suggestion...hook up a flame thrower exhaust!![sm=badbadbad.gif]