Smokey D2-55

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asteven221

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This has just started and I have no idea why.
Filled uo a couple weeks ago from the marina pump. Other than that nothings changed. Engine starts first time and runs fine. No alarms. Temp seems fine all over using my laser thermometer. Most of the engine st 75c. Not obviously using oil.

Anyone got any thoughts. Ta.
 
Thx for rhe replies. I find it hard to decide if it is grey or white smoke! We have had a lot of fouling this year and have already had a diver down to clean off a massive amount of barnacles from the saildrive. Could be growth.

Thx for your help.
 
Filled up a couple weeks ago from the marina pump. Other than that nothings changed. .[/QUOTE]

It wouldn't be the first time that a smokey exhaust was caused by a bad lot if fuel.
Consume as much if your existing fuel as possible and then refuel from a different source.
 
Thx everyone for identifying the smoke as steam. Now I know that I am able to start looking at the cooling system. If that doesn't solve the issue then I will try adding more fuel to the tank as MartynG suggests.

Cheers.
 
When we had that it turned out to be steam and caused by crustaceans inside the sail drive. Taking off the inlet hose and prodding with a welding rod suddenly produced a fountain of water, closed the seacock (quickly!), reconnected and problem solved.
 
Almost the same as dunedin, only it was mussels that had grown inside the saildrive leg waterways from long term disuse. As the waterways get smaller at the point where the seacock is fitted, the broken shells were accumulating there. Fixed during saildrive overhaul, but backflushing with a hose from the strainer downwards usually also works.

The engine does not overheat as only some of the water is flashing to steam, the rest remains liquid and provides sufficient cooling.
 
Agree. The classic signs for my 2030 is a partial restriction of raw water. Typically it was weed sucked across the entrance of the skin fitting restricting the water. Never overheated to sound the alarm but caused steam. In that setup, stopping the engine allowed the suction to disappear and the weed to float away - not a saildrive of course. Once a Jelly Fish went into the strainer which was a pain and stopped the water completely and set off the alarm.
 
Had the same on my D2-40. Flushed Rydlyme through the system in case it was the heat exchanger, and poured some into the strainer with the seacock open, so it went down the saildrive leg. The bubbling that came back up the leg suggested I had something living in the inlet leg. Much better now, but not perfect.
 
It is steam.

1./ Check that your inlet isn't partially blocked.
2./ Check that your impellor is working properly
3./ Check that your water strainer is sealing properly (and not leaking air in)
4./ Check that your exhaust elbow isn't blocked.

Do them in that order. It's most likely to be No.1.
 
I have just launched the boat for the new season. The steam issue was still an issue at the end of last season. With the boat out the water I cleaned out the saildrive holes so all good. I decided to replace the hose between the raw water pump and the large raw water strainer, so I could see the water flow. I replaced the exhaust elbow as it was knackered.

I have not tested out on the water yet but have run the engine at the berth. As I can now see through the hose I noticed a lot of air bubbles. It looks a bit like the bubbles you see when opening a big bottle of sparkling water, except bigger bubbles. They dont appear to be flowing along the hose much and are fairly static. The bubbles are all along the hose. The question is, is that normal or is it drawing air? I am thinking its drawing air and this has been the problem all along. Water is coming out the exhaust ok, at least ok at the berth.
 
Adding to my post above I just noticed that the way the system works is that the raw water flows from the saildrive seacock, to the raw water pump, then on to the strainer. Is that normal.? I would have expected the strainer to be installed between the saildrive and the the raw water pump to protect the pump.
 
asteven221 said:
Adding to my post above I just noticed that the way the system works is that the raw water flows from the saildrive seacock, to the raw water pump, then on to the strainer. Is that normal.? I would have expected the strainer to be installed between the saildrive and the the raw water pump to protect the pump.
Click to expand...
I don't know that engine but the strainer is between seacock and pump on my boat and every other one I have been on.
 
asteven221 said:
Adding to my post above I just noticed that the way the system works is that the raw water flows from the saildrive seacock, to the raw water pump, then on to the strainer. Is that normal.? I would have expected the strainer to be installed between the saildrive and the the raw water pump to protect the pump.
Click to expand...

Yes, it should be. What's the boat? Has it been re-engined?
 
I have just traced the hoses. Duh, sorry folks I gave incorrect info. The strainer is installed between the seacock and the pump.
 
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