Smokey engine exhuast

K

Kon Tiki

Member
Oct 24, 2008
40
Pocasset Ma
Boat Info
Sedan Bridge - 3126 Cats
Engines
3126 Cats
Hey Guys,
Launched the boat yesterday and experienced a very smokey stbd engine. I noticed engine and felt some vibration especially at lower speeds. Temps and oil pressure were good, fuel supply looks clean. At higher RPM's it seemed to smooth out. I suspect a sticky fuel injector. Any advise on what steps I could or should take before I call for help.

Thanks.......
 
What color is the smoke? The color will tell you what direction to start troubleshooting. Black smoke is usually fuel related or running too rich, blue smoke is usually due to burning oil.
 
Could also be bad plugs or wires. Had a similar situation a set of plugs and wires fixed.
 
brown smoke, I am hoping a stuck or malfunctioning injector. Waiting on CAT right now.
 
Hey guys,
First of all, sorry for the incomplete problem statement. The boat is back at my Marina and waiting for a CAT guy at this point. Here is where I am at. I am getting blue and brown smoke, engine vibration. Non CAT mechanic indicates running on 5 cylinders. Feels it as well. I also have diesel smell in the fresh oil change from last fall. The range of issues are bad injector, simple fix, broken ring or dropped valve. Engine starts no problem, sounds good at idle, doesn't shake at all, appears to act like the other engine. Vibration is at 1300 rpm, after that it smooths out. Just had a CAT mechanic over the phone tell me the engine was probably junk, needs to come out. Not having a good Monday thus far. Waiting on CAT guy to arrive. It appears if it is not the injector, then a much bigger job and partial engine removal will be required to remove piston. I will let you know how I make out.
 
My starboard Cummins diesel sucked a valve last September. There was a popping sound when I started it followed by loud tapping sound even at idle. It blew the pieces through the turbo. I hope that is not your problem. All in all it cost me about 15k for the repair.
 
Well the day has come, engine dead and requires pull out from the boat. Final root cause not 100%, but it looks like failed injector and washed out the cylinder in number 4 stbd side. My CAT guys were down this past Friday, found the bad injector, installed a new one, ran it up and nobody was home in cylinder 4. Boroscope showed pull marks on one side of the cylinder wall, not a good thing. Call into insurance company, will know more next week on that. General plan is remove engine, send to machine shops for a rebuild, I guess they will sleeve the bad cylinder bore and stay with same piston etc.. This my 12th boat first time I will loose more than a week because of engine trouble, looking at early August back in the water assuming everything goes well. Waited 3 weeks for this news, waste of a season. I guess all my maintenance didn't matter in the end. More to come.
 
Yikes...really sorry to hear this. I had an injector go bad last summer right after we bought the boat. Took my CAT guy way too long to diagnose the problem honestly. Luckily my cylinder was not washed. Any idea how long the injector was bad? Anything we can do going forward to know right away when one goes bad? Good luck.
 
Re: Smokey engine exhaust

Hey Guys,
This should be a good read. Well I reported last year on my smokey exhaust and went quiet, not sure if anybody noticed that, but the news was not good. Here is my story for who may be interested, perhaps some things to watch for as well.

During the 2015 boating season I noticed my port engine was consuming more fuel than my stbd, the stbd feeds the generator, it was fairly big, 12-14 gallons during a fill up, considering the generator consumes about 6 gallons during a typical full tank burn off, so I was around 20 gallons. Ten years of owning the boat the stbd always took around 6 gallons more. I assumed the port had an issue. I thought perhaps somebody didn't topped off the port, I usually run one hose and somebody else runs the other etc. Not the case, the stbd was burning less fuel, I had a fuel injector that was failing, no reasonable way from my World to find the issue, in fact I asked the CAT mechanic during the end of 2015 and he mentioned that would be a tough one to find. No smoke, good temps, smooth, life was good.

The failed injector and the low sulfur fuel resulted in a scorned cylinder liner (they call it washed out, nobody home), no lubricate in the fuel, I know people will suggest you should of been running this additive, let me have it.

I used the boat during the 2016 season, one mile ride to an island for swimming and a couple of small rides, not even trips. 5 cylinder operation is not fun, it would improve on warms days but she was making oil.

Believe it or not, the insurance company stepped in and stepped up big, I ended up with a CAT Reman and they covered 75% of the whole project, still expensive from my end, but could of been a lot worse. They declared this a latent defect, no way that I could of detected the issue, according to CAT this just doesn't happen.

The insurance adjuster went to battle for me, got me to 75%, indicated that the boat was very clean, engine room was spotless and this is just not right. The CAT group (private company) I use stepped in as well and push the insurance group for me. So with all the money I saved I spent some of it on the port engine, all new injectors, dropped the turbo for inspection, cleaned all the coolers, new belts, thermostat, new air sep etc...


I am hoping for a good 2017 season.

Kontiki
 
That is good new that insurance and CAT stepped up. Are you using Milton Cat?
 
So what insurance company do you have? Very glad it worked out.


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Yours is a fairly common problem with engines built before we started using the mandated ULSD with 15 ppm or less of sulfur. The process of stripping the sulfur from the fuel also removes some of the fuel's natural lubricity. Since the fuel is what lubricates injection pumps and injectors fail use to use a lubricity additive can affect the long term health of those components.

I wrote and posted an article on CSR in 2011 you may want to review as you move forward:

http://clubsearay.com/content.php/4-Diesel-Fuel-Management

Sorry for your troubles but it sounds like you have some good help on your end.
 
I am using Windward Power, former CAT guy, basically works only on CAT products and Westerbeke. He is a follow graduate from Mass Maritime, but I graduated years before him, they are located in Fairhaven, Mass. The insurance company is Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company.
 
Thanks. I may look into them later this year.


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