Exhaust Steam

"As the winter progresses here

"As the winter progresses here in the northeast. I pass what little leisure time enjoy reading this forum. I am still reading about exhaust steam posted by some and how eventually, someone ... somehow, develops a discoverable problem.

In the 2-3 years I have been using the forum and the Silverton club, I have yet to find the answer that says what amount of steam is normal or abnormal given the variables of the cooling system and water flow in FWC systems. I have totally removed the cooling system and cleaned or replaced everything.

I have seen many boats out there in summer "steaming" down the bay. Some days it is more than others. At idle, nearly nothing. At 2500 to 3200..I had to remove the swim platform mounted ice cooler as the 30-40 lbs of ice is 1/2 water within 2 hours. Is there a flow rate of sea water? A measurable temperature that eliminates it?

My boat runs perfectly according to specs after all of the help I have received here, and some of you know those events BUT...She is a "steamer" regardless of my persistence. IF it is normal to steam....man, no problem...However, if it is an indication of something NOT right...I gotta find right !

steam

"Al, I am with you. I also r

"Al, I am with you. I also read a lot of steam related threads. My Trojan with 454XLs steam no matter what the sea, air temp is. Using the IF heat gun, and dash gauges, all is normal, but still have steam on both sides. About 2-3 feet of a trail. I always look at other boats and some steam and some dont. ???"

"here's another thought on

"here's another thought on the topic Al:

Seeing a little 'steam' probably isn't a bad thing; the cooling water needs to remove heat in order to be converted to 'steam'. The exhaust system parts' production techniques will always introduce some variability. Add to that those from the environment and you'll be hard pressed to find anyone to 'guarantee' lack of 'steam' or a given length of the 'steam' trail as adequate. If the gauge and the IRT say normal and the engine is spinning the props normal, it probably is.

Smoke is bad, especially the grey-white variety that exhaust hose makes. I'd trade an extra bit of 'steam' for that smoke anyday, especially 50 nm offshore!"

"I leave anywhere from a 1-2 f

"I leave anywhere from a 1-2 foot trail, to a small cloud behind the transom, I too would like to know whats up.

Also, I am going to put new impellow pumps in, anybody have any suggestions on the best place to buy them?"

"Hey Mark....

Thanks for t

"Hey Mark....

Thanks for the lucid explanation. It makes some sense now that you put it this way. However, I never knew if it was something I needed to be aware of to a higher degree.

The reason I am so anxiety ridden. I never really had any training in mechanics yet I have done some very difficult vintage bike restorations on engines and transmissions simply by reading about it. In fact the 1925 Henderson in-line 4 cylinder in the avatar has babbetted bearings and the crazies of the 1920's used to adapt that engine and trans to a propeller and fly the dang thing or ...this ones even better....THEY would ride between the rails of roller coasters at speeds over 60 mph, and those bikes had NO front brake.

I loved toying with my cars and the latest greatest accomplishment...WITH THE AID OF YOU ALL AT MARINEENGINE.COM, has been the two 454's in my boat. As I had mentioned, they are currently running so sweet it is hard to believe they were ever as bad as they were AND THAT I DID IT ! I hate to sound so bold about it but I am really quite proud of them. When we bought this boat, I was so nervous about taking it more than a 1/2 mile from the marina... I knew nothing about it's torrid past. Just like those old bikes. In 70 years, each owner had their idea of some modification or chop. Frankly, our average outing on the boat is at least 50 to 75 miles round trip and more, all without blinking an eye. It is nice to see I am not the only one concerned about it...It started to look like it was something everyone else was aware of but no one talked about !

IF the steaming is something...shoot, I'd better find out it now than as you say...50nm offshore"

"BY the way, the steam trail i

"BY the way, the steam trail in that photo above is over 10 foot long. BUT, it all reads normally and I have never had the hull as fast as she runs now, over 35mph...48 gallons an hour, but 35 mph is pretty good for this boat."

"Well I can voice a steam prob

"Well I can voice a steam problem:
I have twin engine 8.1L. The strbrd engine was throwing steam. All systems check out ok and the engine ran like a TOP. I have MIE with straight exhaust on strbrd side with a "T" tied to the port side exhaust. Straight muffler.
Two things found. One resonator on the port exhaust tube slipped due to broken ss band. A new resonator and band was installed and we checked resonator of other side to verify it was good. The hose from the port side exhaust comes straight off and bends wide and T's into the strbrd hose with a 4 x 4 x 5 connect to the muffler. We noticed the exhaust hose was slightly lower causing a small low spot where water can lay. The hose was shortened and the T was corrected.
Ran the engine and no steam. WHALA. One thing I will never know however, we should have isolated the two situations. I know not if the resonator slippage or the low exhaust hose was the problem, individually or collectively. I had two mechanics look at this problem initially and I had diagnosis from bad fuel to possible head gasket replacement. I saw the pipe and resonator problems and knew they needed attention anyway. My point is that I will still consult a mechanic and they may get it right and some times ya just gotta follow your God-given boating heart."

"I'll bet it depends on hu

"I'll bet it depends on humidity. My temp gun tells me all is okay, so let it steam!

Jeff"

"I also have twin 454s. Last

"I also have twin 454s. Last week, I started getting a 10' trail of steam on my port side. The other side was the usual 1-3' trail. I pulled the impeller and found 4 of the fins were cracked. <font color=""0000ff"">I had dry run the impeller last year for about 2 min before realizing I had forgot to open the seacock (after cleaning seawater filters).</font> Impeller worked fine till now, but the steam increase was the final indicator that it was time to change again. Plus the temp gauge was showing 200! (180 normal on my gauges)"

alfelker's implied point i

alfelker's implied point is noteworthy...at least to us that own a pair.

it isn't whether there's steam or lack of steam as long as both engines are consistent. A visually discernable difference warrants further inspection

"Chollyjohn, what is the reson

"Chollyjohn, what is the resonator that was bad? I dont think I ever heard of one before?"