87 saltare. White smoke coming out of manifolds.

[Rusty]

I have two parts to this thread.

Part 1.

Got boat summarized in April , bad experience....!!!! had a bum carb that flooded the cylinder with gas, poured out gas from under the carb gasket, oil pressure way up- shot the dip stick up. Spurted oil everywhere...Ran very very rough.. Vibrated real bad- then shut off.


Part 2. Replaced carb with brand new holly from skidim. Went ahead and replaced the intake manifolds and risers,
since I had ordered them awhile back- while I was at it. Changed the oil - took it out today- white smoke coming out of intake manifolds. Also, I've lost torque. Now, I realized my prop has done slight bends on it. However, she doesn't
feel the same. Before all this happened.. The motor purred (fresh rebuild last year)... Now it seems kinda loud and
i hear clanky sounds every now and then under the dog house. There is white smoke coming from the manifolds after idle and higher speed. I'm noticing the temperature gauge creeping from 180-200 ( have a high temp thermostat).

Here is what I was thinking?:

1) Is it burning paint from the new manifolds and risers just installed? New gaskets burning ? (getting broken in?)
2) Is it burning the oil that spilled out all over the engine after summarized? I haven't cleaned it up to thoroughly yet.
3) Is a cylinder shot? Or pistons?
4) brand new carb hasn't been adjusted? But does it need to be if it's a holly?

Also:

1) why is my temp bouncing around? Impeller?
2) would a few bends in a prop make that big of a difference?
3) why does my engine sound kinda clanky now?

I'm about to leave for a boat trip on the 4th. I'm a little concerned about all this. Hope you guys can help.

[Salty87]

#1...the only time i've heard of the dipstick/oil shooting out has been bad news but i'll let someone with more understanding tackle that.

#2...smoke coming out of the manifolds?...i'm assuming you mean off, kinda sounds like you have leaks by that description

inspect/change your impeller for starters.
did you install the riser gaskets correctly?
loss of torque could be a combination of running too hot and bad prop although issue #1 still needs an answer.
brand new carb should be adjusted. plenty of videos on youtube.

how does the oil look?

[riveredge]

#1...the only time i've heard of the dipstick/oil shooting out has been bad news but i'll let someone with more understanding tackle that.

#2...smoke coming out of the manifolds?...i'm assuming you mean off, kinda sounds like you have leaks by that description

inspect/change your impeller for starters.
did you install the riser gaskets correctly?
loss of torque could be a combination of running too hot and bad prop although issue #1 still needs an answer.
brand new carb should be adjusted. plenty of videos on youtube.

how does the oil look?

All of the above. Also, you had it rebuilt last year? Any smoke from fresh gaskets would be gone after a few hours of run time. Why exactly did you replace the manifolds? Were the old ones leaking? As Salty said, the gaskets to the risers have a direction they should go in. The gasket blocks one passageway and it should be the one toward the stern that gets blocked, so the water has to flow up and over the top of the riser more. One more question, was the timing right on before all this? I realize you can't really check it now without it running right...

[Rusty]

Thanks for the reply.

I just replaced the manifolds and gaskets last week and have about 30 minutes on them. The smoke is not constant. It comes and goes. Seems to smoke more at higher rpms.

You know, the dip stick issue, which I sort of also remember it being my fault. I didn't push it all the way in-
now that I think about it!!

Oil was changed yesterday- using royal purple. When I got the boat back last year I realized the entire carberator and valve cover
ensemble were not installed correctly. The carb choke was disconnected and the wire that pertain were wrapped in electrical tape.
On one side of the valve cOver gasket, and oil plug was installed, rather then having a hose running to the flame arrest. On the
other side, PVC valve in the carb. My boat was hard to start last year. It seemed like it would flood all the time and I'd have to sit and wait. When I installed this new carb, I did it right. For starters, I plugged in wires up the choke. Ran a hose to the flame arrest etc. So I'm assuming the bogged out issue I had at the start of the season was because if the carb.


I didn't know riser gaskets had to be installed a certain way! I saturated them
In high temp silicone (that rt stuff) and plastered them on there. How do you install them? And should I be saturating them in that high temp stuff?

I replaced the manifolds because when I had the boat rebuilt last year - the mechanic said they were corroded. With the new ones I have a total of 30 minutes of use so far. The smoke doesn't smell like exhaust, oil burn, or steam. Smells kinda like burnt popcorn.

Ido have a fresh set of riser gaskets- I can redo them. I need specific directions though. Any help would be much appreciated.

The timing on the engine was perfect last season.

[OUI]

If the cylinders were full of gas and were turned over, it would be the same as a hydro lock. Meaning the pistons compressed the gas in the cylinder. Gas like water doesn't compress, so something has to give. It's usually the connecting rod to the piston that takes the hit. If you bent one or two, then that clicking sound could be the piston slapping against the cylinder wall on the up stroke because it's out of alignment. It would also shorten the stroke and result in poor performance. No torque and running poorly.

[Rusty]

If the cylinders were full of gas and were turned over, it would be the same as a hydro lock. Meaning the pistons compressed the gas in the cylinder. Gas like water doesn't compress, so something has to give. It's usually the connecting rod to the piston that takes the hit. If you bent one or two, then that clicking sound could be the piston slapping against the cylinder wall on the up stroke because it's out of alignment. It would also shorten the stroke and result in poor performance. No torque and running poorly.

Ya.. I've heard that before. That's what a mechanic told me I might of ran the risk of. Anyway to verify that? I guess do all the other things first. One thing I was noticing yesterday was that it seemed like the engine was running high
and it seemed like we weren't moving very fast for that level of rpm.

One thing I am going to do today is replace the riser gaskets. Any advice? Someone wrote that they should be
installed in a certain way but I was unsure exactly how to install them.

I'm going boating today with a mechanic, I'll see what he says too. Thank you for this piece. Have any suggestions on the other points I laid out?

[OUI]

One way might be to pull the plugs bring each piston to TDC and measure the distance with a caliper then compare measurements. There might be specs on that but I haven't seen any to speak of. I've never done a riser job before, but it should be fairly obvious to confirm the gaskets are in correctly. If the directions say to use silicon then use it if not don't. If the dip stick shot out, you might have created a lot of back pressure. Maybe a valve was wrecked in the process, that would cause a ticking sound and no power. Do a compression check while your at it. That could be your problem as apposed to a connecting rod. That would be a whole lot better than a connecting rod. My guess is the white smoke is an external issue from new parts, a little oil or too much silicone. . If you have a manifold leak you would hear it right away. Checking the timing won't hurt -- who knows if the hydro lock caused the cam gear to skip a tooth. A little bend in the prop won't cause anything major -- certainly not loss of power. I hope that address everything. I guess like anything, just keep checking shit until you find the problem. Hope this helps.

[Rusty]

Thnx for your help. I'll get right on it with the compression test. Then work my way down.

[mr.jrc]

The compression test is your best diagnostic tool at this point...OUI is on the money, unfortunatly an incompressible fluid (gasoline in liquid not vapor form) has entered the cylinders and when the engine cranked over, something had to give, valves and/or connecting rods. (think about your brakes and break fluid.. the fluid is the transport mechanism to actuate the brake slave cylinders... no compression). Take all the plugs out before you crank it over again and do a compression test on each cylinder. If you are lucky, only one head/side of the engine will need rebuilt.

[DAFF]

I have a hunch you blew a head gasket or have water entering where it shouldn't. Hydrolocks are generally not fatal unless the rpm is over 1800..... Compression test and get back to us....

[CornRickey]

the clanking is probably the damper. When the engine runs rough the damper springs start clanking. My dad called me the other day to tell me my boat was making a metal clanking noise at idle in gear. I ordered a new damper. Got out to his place and ran it and found two of the plug wires switched causing a stumble and the damper to talk. switched them back, threw a timing light at it and all is well.

[Rusty]

Ok.. So i'm confused. I hawk eyed all of these concerns I had about these symptoms and they aren't there anymore? The smoke
stopped.. The ticking stopped... And she ran and sounded very good. The thing in noticing is that the temp bouncing between
180-200 (are those ranges normal?). When the boat is turned off and I restart.... The temp gauage will reader 220. The air coming out if the
blower is hot. any advice?

I'm going to redo the riser gaskets

Install new impeller

Maybe a new thermostat (any recommendations of thermo would e great)


I'm still not taking off and too speed like I use to be able to. I'm not noticing any extra vibration from running...still
wondering about the prop. One blade seems severely bent away from the boat.

Any prop recommendations acme 541 vs acme 543 or any better recommendation.

[OUI]

Rusty, I forgot to mention, on the upside, I had a hydro lock in one of my boats. It wasn't fatal for any of the components accept the plugs. When I pulled the plugs and pumped out all the water and put them back in again, it ran like crap. New plugs and I was off to the races. Let's hope it's that simple.

[Rusty]

Rusty, I forgot to mention, on the upside, I had a hydro lock in one of my boats. It wasn't fatal for any of the components accept the plugs. When I pulled the plugs and pumped out all the water and put them back in again, it ran like crap. New plugs and I was off to the races. Let's hope it's that simple.

OUi- that would be absolutely amazing. I'm really hopeful. How do you pump out the water from plugs? Thanks again, I really appreciate your help.

[OUI]

You can't pump the water out of the plugs. Pumping the water/gas out of the cylinders is actually blowing the water/gas out. Pull the plugs and turn it over till you blow out all the water/gas. New plugs is the only way to go. Put while you're there do the compression check -- it'll take 2 minutes and then you know for sure if there is a value problem. Maybe do the compression check before you buy the plugs if there's a valve problem you don't waste any money on plugs.

[Rusty]

Thanx OUI. I'll get right on that. Any idea where compression should be registering?

[OUI]

About 120 to 130 would be ok. You can go down to 100 before a valve job. Look for consistency, if they're all about the same things are ok. If you see one really low then that's the bad one. If you see two right next to each other that are really low then it's a head gasket.

[OUI]

Make sure the engine is warm and all the plugs are pulled.