Cat 3116 blowing grey-white exhaust

[captbob1965]

I have a 1999 Sea Ray 370 AC with twin Cat 3116TA's in them.

Several weeks back we had the boat out on vacation and I ran the boat 46 nm one day and notices the transom and swim platform covered in soot. Thought it was because I was low on fuel and was burning some crap from the bottom of the tank. Also same engine was running a little hot but nothing to serious about 10 - 20 degrees warming then normal. I flushed the cooling system with Barnacle Buster to if this resolved the over heat issue, helped but was not the issue, replaced the impeller this weekend and found the impeller was somewhere between 40-50% missing, figured that was the issue with the over heating. Started engine yesterday morning to take the boat out and test the engines to make sure they where not overheating. Noticed an unusual amount of the exhaust smoke coming out of the engine. White/gray in color, let run for about 5 minutes and the amount did not reduce. There is around 900 hours on the engine. Thinking of dirty injectors since I ran the fuel lower than I normally do??? Would Sea Foam be a good place to start or am I looking at something more serious???Replacing injector(s), head gasket, etc...
Any input is greatly appreciated.

:huh:

 

[HUMPH]

A few things to understand first:
1. Did you find all of the pieces from your bad impeller? If not you need to open your heat exchanger and start looking.
2. Have you checked your Racor filters? If they are black you have work to do. See Frank Webster's post on the CSR home page regarding fuel management. Sea foam will not help you.
3. Check your oil to make sure there is no water in it. This is probably a good time to change your oil.

 

[captbob1965]

Update:
Went through the task of changing out my Racors and Cat filters on both engines. Notice a little bit of floating slim in both Racors, added a good biocide as directed by Humph suggestion of reading the Fuel Management section on CSR. I did add a little Sea Foam to the Cat filters and some in the Racors as well as in the tank. She started right up and ran them for 30-40 minutes, no smoke and temps were where they should be. Thanks Humph for the input. Have not had an opportunity to run the boat since this was completed. Between the storms in Baltimore and helping a friend buy a boat had not had the time.

Thanks again :smt038

 

[fwebster]

Go back to post number 2 and re-read item #1.

If you lost 1/2 the blades on an impeller, they went into the cooling system. On a Cat 3116, they all accumulate in the inlet end of the heat exchanger and effectively block water flow. You will never get a 3116 up to operating temperature idling at the dock so you won't know you have the blockage until you leave the slip and try to run the boat under load. Pulling the end cap off the heat exchanger is pretty easy....just watch the o-rings. Picking the rubber impeller parts out of the cap and tube bundle is easily done with needle nose pliers.

 

[mtnandy]

Go back to post number 2 and re-read item #1.

If you lost 1/2 the blades on an impeller, they went into the cooling system. On a Cat 3116, they all accumulate in the inlet end of the heat exchanger and effectively block water flow. You will never get a 3116 up to operating temperature idling at the dock so you won't know you have the blockage until you leave the slip and try to run the boat under load. Pulling the end cap off the heat exchanger is pretty easy....just watch the o-rings. Picking the rubber impeller parts out of the cap and tube bundle is easily done with needle nose pliers.

When you remove the end dap do you loose any coolant ?

 

[k9medic]

No. I just had to do this twice in the past two weeks.


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[fwebster]

You are opening the seawater side of the heat exchanger. If you wait for aa few minutes after shutting down the engines, the seawater drains out and you won't even get a water drip.