My 2000 Ford Focus is running rich, has black smoke out of the tail pipe, smells like burnt fuel what could cause this

This will help explain the black smoke...http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/04/what-does-the-smoke-from-my-exhaust-mean-.html

That didn't help me but thanx

A bad spark plug or coil, not sure if the 2000 Focus has coil-on-plug; A plug wire or PCM bad, the list is long. The fuel in one ore more cylinders is not being ignited and is passing through exhaust .. hence the black smoke. Maybe an 02 sensor, bad MAF, something is throwing off the fuel/air trim. Suggest you get it fixed asap... the raw fuel could literally blow up the cat and muffler. An OBDII scan would be to your great benefit... eliminate a lot of guessing. Some parts houses will scan it for no cost. Most actually. But some of the guys that do the scans know what they are doing.. others not so much. Get P-codes, write them down and come back here.. one of us will be happy to give you more advice for a solution before you buy something you don't need and can not be returned.

Ok will have it looked at

joemom knows his sh.. um stuff. I didn't learn anything there either though

i would start with a tune up air filter plugs fuel filter

I'm trying Fordnut hard to figure what's wrong with a post...

Hey joemom.. always put a space between the link and your comment. When I swipe it to highlight and hyperlink..... if you pick up even the last period . trying to hyperlink throws everything off. That is why I often put links in separate windows completely, to avoid that. Just friendly advice.

And it really is a VERY good article now that I have seen it.

The author of that article is obviously well educated.... well informed... self taught... good writer. But I feel compelled to make a correction. Black smoke is UNburnt fuel. He (she?) says it is burnt gasoline. But if it was ignited and burnt/consumed there would not be the black smoke.. that is the un-burnt gas after passing through the exhaust and cat. The catalytic converter gets so hot the fuel sometimes does ignite = backfire

Also did you get one of those "Thank You, your post will be up soon" or something like that. That is the CarGurus fight with the spammers, which I must say the CarGurus Admin has outwitted those creeps, but if you use the word f- r- e- e or certain other keywords that's what happens. Those people I'm sure you recall, bombarded our forum with the 'f -word' no not not THAT f-word, the one meaning no cost

What makes car smoke when you give it gas