I washed my car yesterday afternoon and then took it for a spirited drive (you know to help dry it off...). Anyways, when I got back and pulled into the garage, I noticed small wet black splotches on my rear bumper. I had seen these before but thought it was just road gunk. I'm thinking it might be burnt oil coming from the exhaust. I checked my oil level and it has dropped below the full since my oil change in February and this seems like a semi-common issue with this motors. I can't seem to find anyone with it in their exhaust though. I'm going to try holding a white piece of paper in front the exhaust and rev it up to see if I get any splatter for confirmation, but has anyone experienced this? What could be causing it?

I wished I would have noticed it last month before my warranty ran out :(

 

I can't imagine it would be oil. as hot as those engine components get, small drops of oil would burn up by the time it gets to the exhaust.

Are you sure it just isnt road tar or something like that?

 

Its just soot from the exhaust. Happens on these things.

If you (or the machine) washed the exhaust tips, I assume you might have gotten some water in them, giving the soot something to fling out with.

 

You both make good points. I did the paper test and got nothing and I baby'd it to work this morning (nothing over 3k rpms in green mode) and nothing on my bumper. I'll run the revs higher on the way home as see if I get anything. You guys are probably right though, thanks for the calming words of wisdom.