Excessive white smoke?

[Skier12]

This is a pic from this weekend while pulling skiers with our 94 sport. Is this white smoke excessive and what could it be caused by? The boat seems to be running fine. We were pulling 4 skiers and the smoke nearly blocks the 4th from view. The smoke is only this heavy when we initally take off, after we get up to speed the smoke is minimal. Is this any cause for concern?

[AirTool]

RE: Excessive white smoke?

Where are you located?

Go to your favorite weather website and look at what the temperature was versus the dewpoint for whatever hour(s) you were out there. If the two were close, the water in your low temp exhaust may have had trouble staying in a gas state.



Otherwise you "might" have a water leak. That seems like a lot of water vapor.

[Skier12]

I'm up in MA and it was about 70 degrees or so. Not the best day to be on the lake but we don't have a whole lot of days left.

Can you describe the possible water leak more? Where could that be happening?

[WakeSlayer]

That seems pretty excessive to me too. What did your engine temp guage say? wondering if your stat is stuck open and you are flowing cold water through your hot exhaust.

Do you know what your lake water temp is?

[Skier12]

The thermostat might be the culprit. Would that cause our engine temperate to vary more than normal? Our lake is probably 66 degrees and dropping rapidly.

When we are idling for a long period the temp will rise gradually, but when were running it's rock solid. Could all these things be related?

[DanielC]

Was this run done fairly early in the day? Did you see fog ghosts on the water that morning?
This time of year, it is quite possible for the water to be warmer that the air, and the air to be close to the dew point. Heat up some water with an engine, and store it in a muffler of an idling boat, then give a good hard probably wide open pull, and you are going to create a lot of steam, that will take a while to dissipate, because of high humidity, and cool temps.
It is possible it might be getting close to the time you meed to replace the raw water pump impeller, but if the engine temp stays normal, and you notice no other problems, you are probably OK.

[WakeSlayer]

As far as the slow rise in temp, check all your hose clamps too. 5/16" nut driver. Small air leaks will do exactly that.

Daniel is probably right about the warm engine water, relative humidity, and air vs lake temp, but that is a lotta steam there.

[Skier12]

This picture was taken later in the afternoon after pulling people for about an hour prior and this was a second attempt at getting everyone up so we weren't idling for very long between attempts.

I'll check the lines to make sure were not getting any air in them which might be the cause of the temp fluctuation. Is there anything else I should check out for temp fluctuations?

[Proud2BeCC]

I'd check your impellor in the water pump. Mine did this prior to me finding out that I had an impellor that had broken into many pieces throughout my raw water cooling system.

[Mikeski]

check impeller

[jasper]

My money is on the impeller too. That picture looks the same as my "exhaust" just before my temp shot up and my impeller went out.

[oldslalomskier]

That water vapor has be coming from somewhere. Looks like my old sports car when the head gasket went.

[AirTool]

From the PMs,

Saturday's conditions at 2:54 PM = Dry Bulb Temp = 66.0 °F Dew Point = 60.1 °F Relative Humidity = 81%
Sunday's conditions at 3:54 PM = Dry Bulb Temp = 66.0 °F Dew Point = 59.0 °F Relative Humidity = 78%

Note Sunday at this time, the temp was dropping. Data from: http://www.wunderground.com/history/...lyHistory.html

You say water temp is 66 so water and air are about the same temp. The fairly high relative humidity (6 degree dewpoint spread) would slow down the evaporation of the steam from the exhaust. Not the perfect conditions for thick fog (natural or from the engine)...but good conditions nevertheless.

So maybe there is no trouble, but check that impeller, hose connections, etc and let us know. Next trip out, let us know the conditions and results. Don't put figuring this out until next spring. ALSO, CHECK YOUR OIL FOR WATER....JUST IN CASE.

[Skier12]

So we got out on the boat on Sunday and it was very nice out, 74 degrees and lots of sunshine. Prior to going out I checked out the impeller and it looks good, we also have about 40-50 hours at the most. The hoses and connections all seem fine.

We did however still have the smoke although not as much as last time but I'm guessing that the weather would have some role in that. I'll have to see if I can get a picture from this weekend to compare.

I also noticed that the temp doesn't hold steady at 160 all the time. Sometimes when were running at slalom speeds it drops below 160 and then when idling it climbs but as soon as we get on plane it comes back down. In prior years the engine has held steady at 160 in almost all cases. There is no other signs of a problem other than the temp fluctuations and the white smoke. Any ideas?

[pj]

If temp climbs when at idle and returns to normal under way, my guess would be an air leak somewhere. check the strainer and all the hose connections from the raw water intake