gt-40 smoking and check engine light on

[Agent banks]

i have 2001 san, the engine started smoking today when i put it in the water, i changed the oil and impeller this winter . it was blue smoke and it was comming from the exhaust and under my engine hatch. when i tried move faster it would heat up and almost cut off. very confused the temp gauge was normal @160 ish but oil pressure was at about 230? i checked the oil and its at the right level.

[2001SAN]

bummer!!!!

ah crap... i'd pull the impeller and check it again. if it's run with no water it could burn up and generate a lot of smoke and the lack of water could then produce an overheat which would trigger the CEL. same thing happened to me less than a week ago and the impeller was less than a season old. when the smoke cleared and i pulled the impeller it had practically melted (which explained the smoke) - the smoke was coming from the exhaust and engine hatch. when you say 'it heated' when you tried to move faster did the gauge show the increase in heat/was the engine super hot to the touch?

your oil pressure reading sounds very weird. did you check the oil level before or after running and did teh pressure read low on startup and climb or was it high initially high? i think the sender for the SLOW circuit checks for low pressure and could turn the CEL on. not sure about high pressure. also, what oil pressure gauge do you have - mine doesn't even go up to 230?!

d.

[Agent banks]

Thanks for the info. I ment water temp. Im ordering a new impeller but this was brand new. I didn't think there was a wrong way to install it! The engine was like so hott it muted the PCM stickers. All I did was idle back to the trailer from my lift

[2001SAN]

if you left it in over the winter it might have dried out a bit. i left mine in over winter, tried the boat about 4 weeks ago and all was well. 3 weeks later and within minutes of starting a while idling it gave up. i'll be keeping a spare onboard in future and pulling it out over the winter. if you've lost blades they may be somewhere in the cooling system so that may need some checking.

[s_kelley2000]

does your boat have a seacock to seal off the raw water intake? If so any chance this was left closed and caused your impeller to burn up? If it got hot enough to damage the PCM stickers then it sounds like your temp gauge isn't reading correctly because that shouldn't happen at 160 degrees. Hopefully the impeller and clearing out any broken impeller pieces is the extend of the damage. Good luck!

[AirTool]

NASCAR fans know that the temp gauge only reads the water temp if there is water. So when a NASCAR driver reports to the pit that he just lost his water temperature, that means his water is gone and the engine is smoking hot.....but the gauge reads low.

[Agent banks]

I believe that the sea **** on my San is for the launch system. It's says sea **** launch system but I believe I was on. My water temp was reading really high but engine temp was between 160 and 180. But the PCM stickers are on the side of the manifolds not the block its self. I hope no serious damage happened!

[74hc]

Blue smoke usually is burning oil.

Going back to your first response, I am not clear. Are you correcting that your water temp was 230, not the oil pressure? If so, the ECM in your GT-40 will go into limp home mode which limits your RPM significantly. Plus, your check engine light comes on.

If you have low hours on the GT-40, I would check your PVC value and check that you installed your impeller correctly. Best quick way is to take the hose from your water inlet and submerse it in a buck of water to see if it draws. Much the same way if you draw in antifreeze for winterization. Don't do this while the boat in on the water!

[jward]

isn't it pretty common for people with a gt-40 to have the pump rotation reversed? Pretty easy to do from what I understand.

[Agent banks]

Yes it is the water temp 270. I'm pretty sure it was the impeller. I just ordered another one. But how can I be sure that I don't jack the pump rotation again? Yea the smoke was a white blue and the boat was def limited to a certain rpm.

[Agent banks]

Actually reading further on install instructions I did not put any lube on the impeller

[Chexi]

Actually reading further on install instructions I did not put any lube on the impeller

I highly doubt that it wad lack of lube. I highly suspect you put the pump in upside down. When you put the new impeller in, use a bucke full of water and connect a hose from the bucket to your strainer (or use fake a lake). If you connect hose to your strainer, be sure to do it on the intake side. Then start the boat. The water. Should start going down immediately in the bucket. If it doesn't, your pump is upside down. Reverse it, retest, and if water starts going down, you found the issue. Then mark the pump with some tape or paint. Mine has paint on the top across the both halves of the pump so it helps me line things up when reassembling too.

If this isn't it, check you strainer to be sure it has the o ring and is screwed down tight. You could have a vaccum leak in the cooling system, and a missing o ring is the usual culprit. But I really think it is the pump orientation.

[Agent banks]

Thanks. Do you think I caused major damage?

[2001SAN]

the mechanic who sold me the new impeller said that unless you were under load the chances of damage are minimal. the pump will have an inlet and outlet pipe closer to one side of the pump that the other. these pipes should be closer to the engine (if that makes sense). have you pulled the impeller yet?

d.

[Agent banks]

Nope I will pull it Thursday night. Thanks you have settled my stomach bro