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Help! I see smoke!

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PeterCris

New member
First I would like to say Hello and any help would be greatly appreciated. I own a 1982 sea ray cutty cruiser with a 350 CID 260 HP mercruiser. I purchased the boat in 1998 with roughly 450 hrs on it. The boat ran fine and in the summer of 2000 I felt it ran a little hot so I changed the risers and manifolds. Unknowingly I was never given the blocking plates that go between the elbow and the exhaust manifold causing the boat to run cold. In 2001 my bilge pump failed causing rain water to rise up to the timing cover. I pumped out the water, ran the boat and the oil looked like milkshake. I changed the oil three times and to no avail it continued to look like milkshake. At that point I drained the block, refilled it with antifreeze and the boat sat from then until now unused. I decided to put the boat back in the water this summer so I changed the oil, cleaned the carb, gave it a full tune up, replaced the pump in the outdrive, new gear lube, replaced the gaskets between the elbow and the manifold blocking plate included. The boat seems to run ok, a little rough. I tuned the carb as best I could however, when the engine reaches running temp I see a fine smoke or steam coming out of the PCV grommets on the valve covers. Almost sure the oil level on the dip stick was rising. I drained some of the oil to bring it back down to the correct level. Although it doesn’t look like milkshake it does look thin. I’ve asked a few mechanics what could this be and what course of action needs to be taken. Some people are telling me its “head gaskets”, some are telling me its “intake manifold gaskets”, some are telling me its “blowby” and some are telling me its “heads”. It seems like everyone I talk to is giving me a different answer. Can anyone help?
 
After getting water in an engine ,just changing the oil does not remove the water content. Only running the motor at temp
removes this moisture. You need to run the engine at temp to "boil out" the water vapor. 1 or 2 hours should be enough.
Just keep checking oil level and condition.Assuming everything else on the engine is serviceable ,the vapor should stop.
 
An engine that has been sitting for ten years you should expect to have some internal damage. There may be a coating of corrosion all over everything. Little wonder it's running rough. The carb is likely all gummed up too if it was allowed to sit with gas in it. Run it and keep changing the oil frequently. A new carb may be in your future....rebuilt or refurbished carbs are never as good as a new one.
 
I thought it was...but im not sure, I drained it with one of those hand held pumps when i did the change. Maybe i didnt get it all. when i ran it, the level was well over full, so i drained some until it was at the full mark. when i ran it again i think it moved up slightly...
 
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