Yanmar white smoke
Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:19 pm
My trusty 2GM20F has been running flawlessly for many years. Sooner or later I was bound to run into something I was going to have to deal with.
For the last 50 or so hours of operation I have noted an excessive amount of WHITE smoke along with a very obvious fueley smell.
Given the boat completed a sail to Hawaii and back last year, a trip which included a lot of at sea refueling from 5 gal jugs, I figured first step would be to completely clean tank, filters and lines up to the hi pressure fuel pump. Accomplished this and also upgraded the primary filter to a compact Racor fuel water separating filter assembly with a bowl. Previous filter was just a filter, no observation bowl. Also purchased a diesel dry additive to enhance water protection and to clean injectors to the extent an additive can actually clean them. I did find some debris in the tank and some slight gelling plus quite a bit of dirt and a little water. It was not a shocking amount of contaminate. I have now run about 20 gals of known clean and treated diesel through the system and white smoke is still an issue.
Oil burn seems minimal minimal - about 8 ounces per 40 hrs running (engine hours at about 1800 - best estimate including WAG on POs usage)
No coolant is being consumed
Engine power is nominal at all RPM
engine runs well, no weird noises
Air cleaner has been replaced and is clean
I did note hard starting in colder weather (40s 50s) but this symptom seems to have cleared with warmer weather (60s) and possibly clean/treated fuel benefit. Engine historically started up quickly in all weather here in California.
The plan going forward is:
1. perform compression test - tools on the way - if this fails I need to reboot my strategy, I am banking on compression being OK due to overall engine performance being OK
2. Remove and replace both injectors - injectors on the way (never been replaced during my ownership - 1200 hours)
3. perform valve clearance inspection and adjustment - never been done (yea, I know)
Anyone have any other thoughts?
For the last 50 or so hours of operation I have noted an excessive amount of WHITE smoke along with a very obvious fueley smell.
Given the boat completed a sail to Hawaii and back last year, a trip which included a lot of at sea refueling from 5 gal jugs, I figured first step would be to completely clean tank, filters and lines up to the hi pressure fuel pump. Accomplished this and also upgraded the primary filter to a compact Racor fuel water separating filter assembly with a bowl. Previous filter was just a filter, no observation bowl. Also purchased a diesel dry additive to enhance water protection and to clean injectors to the extent an additive can actually clean them. I did find some debris in the tank and some slight gelling plus quite a bit of dirt and a little water. It was not a shocking amount of contaminate. I have now run about 20 gals of known clean and treated diesel through the system and white smoke is still an issue.
Oil burn seems minimal minimal - about 8 ounces per 40 hrs running (engine hours at about 1800 - best estimate including WAG on POs usage)
No coolant is being consumed
Engine power is nominal at all RPM
engine runs well, no weird noises
Air cleaner has been replaced and is clean
I did note hard starting in colder weather (40s 50s) but this symptom seems to have cleared with warmer weather (60s) and possibly clean/treated fuel benefit. Engine historically started up quickly in all weather here in California.
The plan going forward is:
1. perform compression test - tools on the way - if this fails I need to reboot my strategy, I am banking on compression being OK due to overall engine performance being OK
2. Remove and replace both injectors - injectors on the way (never been replaced during my ownership - 1200 hours)
3. perform valve clearance inspection and adjustment - never been done (yea, I know)
Anyone have any other thoughts?