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Blue Smoke After Season Startup

Skipper Skip

New member
Hi All,

First time poster, long long long time lurker.

Got FWC Crusader big blocks in our boat. Last season they ran fine with no signs of overheat on the temp gage and a slight steam trail from the exhaust that I read on here was normal.

I winterized her myself taking a long time to figure out where and how to do things properly. I am certain I did it right. We splashed the other day and on startup got a lot of white smoke out the starboard exhaust. Marina guys thought it was the fogging oil burning off. I do not know if that is true or not. After a few minutes the white smoke stopped. Then I started to get a small amount of blue smoke from the exhaust while the engine was warming up. The port engine is fine.

Before I started the engines I got a baseline on maintenance by changing out the raw water impellers and replacing the pencil zincs in the heat exchanger and the U cooler. THere was some loose scale in the heat exchangers and the zincs were eaten away to the brass plugs. I cleaned the ports and removed the scale as best I could and replaced and installed the new pencil zincs. I also changed out the oil and replaced it with SAE 40 and correct filters.

I figure that the scale was from 8 months of saltwater operation down in the Keys. The prior owner took the boat from Lake Erie down to the Keys when he retired. I am keeping an eye on temperatures but think that the loose scale will eventually make its way out of the raw water system.

I know there are no total blockages in the raw water system since I am getting water out of the exhaust. We may have a partial blockage but it does not show up on the temperature gage so I do not see us overheating. Oil pressure is in the 60# range for both engines. Coolant temperature on the gage is 155 port and 160 starboard.

Blue smoke is usually oil burning but the question would be from where and why now? Any ideas?
 
Blue smoke is usually oil burning but the question would be from where and why now? Any ideas?

Ayuh,..... Run it, 'n see if it uses any oil,......

Check the spark plugs, 'n see if one is more fouled than the rest,.....

Motors wear out,.... Could be rings, or valve guides, or,......
 
2X what Bondo offered up.

you didn't give any indication of the age or hours on the engines or the maintenance history...so its kind of a guessing game ...
 
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