1994 57 V8 breather tubes

My flame arrestor needs cleani

My flame arrestor needs cleaning after every time out due to excessive oil buildup coming from breather tubes. If I put my thumb on either tube there is a pressure buildup. I assume this is blowby. Can this be caused by worn valve guides or is it only caused by piston ring blowby? There is a slight amount of smoke (from exhaust) when starting engine after sitting for days.

"Worn rings will cause it, not

"Worn rings will cause it, not bad valve sealing. The smoke at starting is typical of worn guides. Suggest getting a compression test to see what's happening.

Is the PCV valve operating properly?

Jeff"

"worn valve guide seals will s

"worn valve guide seals will show up also as a puff of oil smoke during a throttle closed deceleration back to idle.

Check the compression. If the numbers are consistent, you might just add another breather as a fix vs a rebuild.

jsut thoughts"

i have a similar smoke problem

i have a similar smoke problem with my 4.3 LX when starting cold... it goes away once warm... are warn guides a major problem? (possibly a stupid questi0n)

"matt, most likely your smoke

"matt, most likely your smoke is just from rich condition. (choke closed) unless you have other symptoms. S."

"If she has high hours and/or

"If she has high hours and/or lots of ski/wakeboard or WOT time (and maybe not the most frequent maintenance), my guess is your rings are getting sloppy. As was said above, a hot compression test followed by a leakdown test should tell the story. A leakdown test will confirm ring blowby, or valves, etc. It sounds like you should be considering a total rebuild or rebuilt exchange engine real soon.
Rod"

Matt... critical questions get

Matt... critical questions getting to what Scott suggested...

Which of these scenarios do you get upon start up?

Choke rich condition... engine may run rough or blubber along. Smoke will be darker. Carburated engines.

Oil in cylinders... engine may run smooth. Small cloud of white/blue smoke. Engine oil level will go down slightly over time. 400 plus hours on engines.

"when cold it idles a bit roug

"when cold it idles a bit rough, with a minute or two of smoke, then once warm it smooths out and smoke is gone. I always warm it up before leaving the dock so I dont know if it blubbers along when cold...it has 500 hrs."

"Matt, Check your oil level.

"Matt, Check your oil level. Maybe there is too much oil in the motor. I ran my '88 4.3LX without oil three times (I had two oil filters rust out and a pan rust out, all without warning), it also has high hours and I do not even have excessive blowby, and it is certainly not oily blow by. Those motors are tough"

don't worry too much Matt.

don't worry too much Matt. what You describe is typical choke operation.

As many times as I say this I

As many times as I say this I get stories of 2000 hr engines. What you describe is a worn out engine. Do the afore mentioned checks (compression and leak down) and you will probaly find it's worn out. The industry average for solt engine is 500 hr before replacement.

thanks for the info guys. hey

thanks for the info guys. hey also im looking for trim sensors that mount to the leg... the guage shows full trim all the time so Im assuming the sensors are gone... where can I find new ones and are they hard to replace and do they have to be calibrated somehow?

"Matt.

Issue one. Sounds to

"Matt.

Issue one. Sounds to me like choke issues. Take the flame arrester off and start the cold engine. Once it starts to blubber and smoke, slowly open the choke fly with a screw driver. See if it doesn’t smooth out and the smoke stop. Get your self a manual and check the choke settings and make sure the choke pull off or choke heater are working properly.

Issue two. From memory... There are two round guys (size of a small hockey puck) on the side of the (assumed) gen 2 drive. Looking forward, the one on the left is an adjustable limit switch and the one on the right drives the trim position gauge (also adjustable). There are o-rings, grease and simple electrical contacts in there that get boogered up. Next time it is out of the water, get your test light out and see what's what. Wiring diagram is helpful."