Very sooty tailpipe in 2019 Titanium

[dawastemaster]

I recently purchased a 2019 Titanium 2.0L for my wife.  We have approximately 3000 miles and I've noticed the tailpipes are extremely sooty.  That was after a 400 mile run on the Interstate.  I have a 2016 F-150 with 5.0L and there has never been soot in the tailpipe.  Is this a case of burning too rich or something normal with these 2.0L engines?

[lildisco]

Direct Injection & boost (turbo). Most manufacturers will run a boosted vehicle more 'rich' to decrease the chances of Detonation. It's better to run a little rich than lean. When in boost, which you're nearly always in on take offs & passing, the engine requires more fuel. To lesson the chance of running lean & potentially destroying the engine, manufacturers run the cars more on the rich side to prevent this. A tune will help lesson this, but will not eliminate it.

I myself went on a road trip & notice soot on the exhaust pipes, but not terrible. I recently got a tune from Livernois tuning & it's brought the soot down dramatically (my LTFT, Long Term Fuel Trim, was at 6% or under most of the trip. Saw a lot of 1's & 3's compared to 9's & 10's prior to the tune). Another factor is the fuel you use. All fuel isn't created equal. Check out TopTiergas.com & find a station that is certified with it, it will be beneficial in the long run. 

I do use Mothers Metal polish occasionally to brighten up the tips from time to time, but usually, they clean up nicely after going through the self car wash using a pressure washer. 

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Using oxygenate fuels such as ethanol will also cut down on the soot.  Unfortunately, you also would need a tune for the engine to run properly as it takes at least E20 to show the results.

[todd92]

DI engines produce more soot.