Smoking Volvo

[wp1234]

Having just returned from giving the boat a good run I think I may have a problem with the engine.
My MF 805 has a Volvo Penta Tamd41-A 200HP Diesel and although it’s always smoked a bit (as I believe they all do) I have never seen it as dense as today and of more concern was the fact that it did not reduce much when the engine was warmed through.
The smoke is what I would call white/grey rather than black. Everything else seems to be OK and running sweetly.
Would appreciate and hints on what checks I should be looking at carrying out to make sure I don’t have a problem.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Cliveshep]

I believe white is sign of a blown head gasket or worse cracked head. Get it checked out, they have gadgets that can sample the coolant to see if exhaust gases are getting in and also a compression test might show it.

 

[wp1234]

Many thanks Cliveshep , will get them checked out as you suggest .Are there any other causes that i should be checking while im at it ... ive got about 400 hrs on the engine .
Cheers

 

[Ludd]

don't know that engine ,but if it's turbocharged , could be theturbo on it' s way out. Best get it checked out.

 

[Cliveshep]

Doubt it's a turbo fault, when they go it's oil everywhere and loads of smoke!

 

[wp1234]

Thanks both for the tips, perhaps Im overeacting but smoke like this on a warm engine worries me a little .. perhaps its the way it is on a VP TAMD41 .Does anyone else have 41's that smoke this much as a norm?

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[alb40]

Looks more like steam from the cooling water. Have you got enough water coming out the exhaust? Raw water filters clear etc? Impeller good condition?

I don't think you've got anything to worry about there. I would expect it to be far worse if the head gasket had blown, with associated running problems.

Regards
Alex

 

[vyv_cox]

Doesn't look like steam to me. Bukh 20s are renowned for steaming. I had one for years and also used other boats fitted with them. The steam disappears only a few metres behind the transom, whereas the photos show clouds a hundred metres or so astern. I realise there's a huge difference in engine power and speed but I think this is smoke, not steam.

 

[Kawasaki]

I noticed You passing Caernarfon on Saturday.
One of the Students mentioned He might like an 805 or similar.
So We watched You cruising away from us for a few minutes.

On our way back to Menai we popped into Dinowic in the RIB and moseyed over to Your vessel.

I was explaining to the peeps how come you have industrial davitts! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Unless You had cleaned the transom there seemed to be no evidence of crap coming out of Your back end.
Plus the amount of smoke evident when You passed seemed pretty normal to Me.

The same question was posed last winter by 'Seren Wen' the 760 that was opposite you till recently.

I took Her out.
Rod thought 'Seren' was smoking too mutch too!
Yes, there seemed to be more smoke than the last time I had been on Her.
I checked everything.
Everything was OK.
2 things had changed since I last took Her out.

The temperature.
Not the temp of eng or water or owt like that.
It was Winter.
The first time Me or me had been out on Her when the temp was below 45 deg old money.

As there was nothing to attend to nothing was.
In the Spring the smoke went away !!!

Tother thing.

Sans dinghy the smoke could be observered.
With dinghy attached 'upright' a vortex is created and the smoke kinda dissipates plus the dinghy hides it.
I noticed You were without ding Sat!

From Your piccies and from My observations Saturday I do not think there is much if anything wrong.

I can meet You in Dinorwic whenever, well, a couple of days notice would be nice.
We can check Her over.
£80 an Hour plus 17-5% vat ok?
Things take longer to get up to speed in North Wales as You know




/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Dim Panic for the Mo bro /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Talulah]

I have been experiencing the same problem for a while.
Engine with less than 1000 hours on.
Firstly, the cause of the problem I believed was either water in one of the cylinders or the result of an overheated engine.
White smoke I associate with poor combustion and hence started by removing the injectors and getting them cleaned.
No change.
I also noticed that the water needed topping up fairly regularly.
There had previously been evidence of water in the head and a while back I raised the sea water injection point.
No change.
Two weekends ago, running out of ideas I took the head off, changed the cylinder head gasket and adjusted the tappets after reassembly.
I noticed whilst dismantling the engine that one of the fuel pipe fittings near the fuel pump was not as tight as the others.
With the head off I noticed on the underside of the head a lot of build up on one cyclinder where the three other cyclinders were clear. I cleaned the underside of the cylinder head up using a pan scrubber and plastic card and reassembled.
After reassembly I still had a significant amount of smoke.
However, after about 10 hours of running the smoke problem has gone. I shall be keen to see if it reappears the next time I am down.
The engine, a Yanmar 4JH4E took about 5 hours from start to finish. The cost of the cylinder head gasket was £70, getting the injectors tested and cleaned was about £50. I didn't remove the egine from the boat as access in the engine bay is pretty good. No specialist tools other than feeler guages were needed.
Hope this helps.

 

[Heckler]

Sorry Vyv, looks like steam to me, the second pic down shows it dissipating within a couple of meters, if it was diesel or oil smoke I would have expected to see it trailing along for hundreds of metres like a world war 2 smokescreen. I suspct that when the ambient temp comes up it will disappear
stu

 

[Kawasaki]

Yep!