Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 09-17-2021, 08:19 AM   #1
Veteran Member
 
Bonedoc's Avatar
 
City: Huntington
Vessel Name: DOÑA
Vessel Model: Ellis 28
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 88
Oil sheen- do I chase this or forget about it?

Yanmar 6-LPA STP 2006 with 250 hours. Runs perfectly and to expected specs. Not smoking much beyond normal brief cold startup white.

I have noted a mild but noticeable exhaust oil sheen. It is not coolant. Oil and transmission fluid levels stay unchanged so far. Probably fuel- ran some exhaust discharge through strainer with absorbent pads and collected petroleum residue.


Notice it dockside at idle- seems same cold or warm. Can’t say at cruise.

Did disconnect air cooler warmer coils that are installed as an option to decrease white smoke warmup in off season on recommendation of many.

I installed new water pump, fuel cooler and tranny cooler this season as routine updates. No change in sheen.

Some posts I have read online say “live with it” as this is par for the course for this mechanical diesel- others say they solved the problem with injector adjustments or replacements, oil coolet replacements, and more.

Would you chase this further or not?
Attached Thumbnails
82622963-EDE4-4DEF-841D-795BDAE72531.jpg  
Bonedoc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 09:06 AM   #2
Guru
 
SteveK's Avatar
 
City: Gulf Islands, BC Canada
Vessel Name: Sea Sanctuary
Vessel Model: Bayliner 4588
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 5,017
Unfair question. Most of us will not want to pollute. It does not seem possible to eliminate all from exhaust. Without seeing what concerns you how can I make a yes/no answer.

You are there. If you think you can reduce it then you must reduce it.
__________________
SteveK
You only need one working engine. That is why I have two.
Sea Sanctuary-new to me 1992 Bayliner 4588
SteveK is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 09:07 AM   #3
Guru
 
City: Carefree, Arizona
Vessel Name: sunchaser V
Vessel Model: DeFever 48 (sold)
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 10,185
Exercise the boat, hard. Avoid dock idling. On a 15 year old boat 17 hours per year is not healthy. Do you have a water lift muffler that per chance is collecting diesel from numerous cold starts?
sunchaser is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 09:54 AM   #4
Veteran Member
 
Bonedoc's Avatar
 
City: Huntington
Vessel Name: DOÑA
Vessel Model: Ellis 28
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 88
Soo-Valley: yes I agree and thus why I posted. Looking for advice if in fact the chase is at all worthwhile. Others have presumably been here before. Not a terrible sheen- but noticeable to me…. Maybe an inch wide at start- hard to quantify in words.

I will check the muffler.

Sunchaser: To clarify a bit- Boat is 1998. Motor is 2006 and delivered to me in October 2020 with 150 hrs-…. It is what it is. Since,I have put 100 on her this season and “run it good.”
Thanks.
Bonedoc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 10:19 AM   #5
Guru
 
rwidman's Avatar
 
City: North Charleston, SC
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,870
If the sheen is unburned fuel, replacing the water pump, fuel cooler and tranny cooler would have nothing to do with this.

The only thing left is to have the injectors checked and adjusted or rebuilt as necessary.

Personally, I would ignore it and go boating. Mine seems to discharge a bit of unburned fuel as well but it has over 5K hours on it.
rwidman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 10:37 AM   #6
Veteran Member
 
Bonedoc's Avatar
 
City: Huntington
Vessel Name: DOÑA
Vessel Model: Ellis 28
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 88
rwidman- I guess I do not know if it is fuel or oil… I am sure only that it is not coolant. I replaced the water pump, fuel cooler, and tranny cooler more as routine maintenance but alas it did not help.
( PS Would not a leaking fuel cooler or tranny cooler allow for a petroleum seepage in the seawater effluent?)

Thanks for your thoughts.
Bonedoc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 10:44 AM   #7
Guru
 
Alaskan Sea-Duction's Avatar
 
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,050
I have 3208T/As. When starting in warm weather not much smoke or sheen. In cooler weather I kill every mosquito within a mile circle. Don't worry about it. As stated run it.
Alaskan Sea-Duction is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 11:28 AM   #8
Guru
 
rwidman's Avatar
 
City: North Charleston, SC
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,870
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonedoc View Post
rwidman- I guess I do not know if it is fuel or oil… I am sure only that it is not coolant. I replaced the water pump, fuel cooler, and tranny cooler more as routine maintenance but alas it did not help.
( PS Would not a leaking fuel cooler or tranny cooler allow for a petroleum seepage in the seawater effluent?)

Thanks for your thoughts.
If it is oil, the oil level will go down as you run the engine. If you are adding oil between oil changes, it might be oil. If not, it pretty much has to be fuel.
rwidman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 11:30 AM   #9
Veteran Member
 
Bonedoc's Avatar
 
City: Huntington
Vessel Name: DOÑA
Vessel Model: Ellis 28
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 88
That makes sense…. No noticeable oil or transmission fluid level changes noted.
Bonedoc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 12:14 PM   #10
Valued Technical Contributor
 
DavidM's Avatar
 
City: Litchfield, Ct
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 6,785
Whether you chase it depends on how much it bothers you and others. I doubt if it is hurting the engine.

But for those few hours I would strongly suspect injector fouling. Run it hard at 90% of wot rpms for a few hours and see if it doesn't improve. Watch the coolant temp and oil pressure carefully while you do this.

David
DavidM is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 12:53 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
Scottwb96's Avatar
 
City: Burien
Vessel Name: Star Weird
Vessel Model: Camargue
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 381
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction View Post
I have 3208T/As. When starting in warm weather not much smoke or sheen. In cooler weather I kill every mosquito within a mile circle. Don't worry about it. As stated run it.
lol, ME TOO!!! Installed block heaters this year. Now that the weather is turning, I will get a chance to test them...
Scottwb96 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 02:13 PM   #12
Guru
 
rgano's Avatar
 
City: Southport, FL near Panama City
Vessel Name: FROLIC
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II since 2015. GB-42 1986-2015. Former Unlimited Tonnage Master
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,984
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonedoc View Post
rwidman- I guess I do not know if it is fuel or oil… I am sure only that it is not coolant. I replaced the water pump, fuel cooler, and tranny cooler more as routine maintenance but alas it did not help.
( PS Would not a leaking fuel cooler or tranny cooler allow for a petroleum seepage in the seawater effluent?)

Thanks for your thoughts.
I would think a leaking fuel cooler on this engine (I have same) would result in water in the fuel tank and not fuel into the higher pressure cooling water -at any speed/RPM. Also, remember at speed you are flushing almost 35 gallons a minute through there. The tiny bit (one inch) of sheen you mentioned probably would not bother you if you drank it. Ask me how I know, and I will tell you about being forced to drink/bathe in Navy Special Fuel Oil (black oil)-contaminated water while on "water hours" in the Tonkin Gulf.

Your mention of running the exhaust through a cloth makes me wonder if an oil sampling company like Blackstone where I have mine tested annually could take the cloth and tell you whether the petroleum in it is lube oil or fuel. Might be worth a call to them.
__________________
Rich Gano
FROLIC (2005 MainShip 30 Pilot II)
Panama City area
rgano is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 02:55 PM   #13
Veteran Member
 
Bonedoc's Avatar
 
City: Huntington
Vessel Name: DOÑA
Vessel Model: Ellis 28
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 88
Thanks for your service. I was considering getting it tested somehow- I may make some calls as this would narrow down the possibilities for sure.
Bonedoc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2021, 02:57 PM   #14
Veteran Member
 
Bonedoc's Avatar
 
City: Huntington
Vessel Name: DOÑA
Vessel Model: Ellis 28
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 88
Thanks for the suggestions.
Bonedoc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2021, 09:00 AM   #15
Technical Guru
 
Ski in NC's Avatar
 
City: Wilmington, NC
Vessel Name: Louisa
Vessel Model: Custom Built 38
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 6,194
All mechanical injected diesels put some unburnt fuel in the exhaust at cold start and low load. And that slime can accumulate in muffler and exhaust tubing.

Worse on trawlers as they tend to just putt-putt along.

Agree with some hard running can tend to clean things out a bit. No need for full power, but maybe 70% power.
Ski in NC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2021, 09:38 AM   #16
Guru
 
alormaria's Avatar
 
City: Trenton
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,522
Fuget about it.
__________________
Al Johnson
34' Marine Trader
"Angelina"
alormaria is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2021, 10:37 AM   #17
Senior Member
 
Newtrawlerowner's Avatar
 
City: Delray Beach, FL and Denver, CO
Vessel Name: PartnerShip II
Vessel Model: 2003 Mainship 400
Join Date: Nov 2019
Posts: 324
If after a few hard runs problem still exists it might be good to get valves and injectors adjusted. A mechanic that knows those engines may be able to help.
Newtrawlerowner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2021, 12:17 PM   #18
Guru
 
porman's Avatar
 
City: Duvall, Wa. USA
Vessel Name: Beach Music II
Vessel Model: 2003 Mainship 430 Trawler
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,040
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scottwb96 View Post
lol, ME TOO!!! Installed block heaters this year. Now that the weather is turning, I will get a chance to test them...
Since I'm your next door neighbor I hope they work too.
porman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2021, 04:52 PM   #19
Veteran Member
 
Bonedoc's Avatar
 
City: Huntington
Vessel Name: DOÑA
Vessel Model: Ellis 28
Join Date: Nov 2020
Posts: 88
Ok all tx for your interest and advise.
After traveling out of country past two weeks I got on vessel yesterday and pushed it for 90 minutes at 3600 RPM/20knts-(3800 WOT).
Sheen seems less…will report back in in near future.
Bonedoc is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2021, 05:38 PM   #20
Guru
 
City: West coast
Join Date: Aug 2021
Posts: 1,137
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scottwb96 View Post
lol, ME TOO!!! Installed block heaters this year. Now that the weather is turning, I will get a chance to test them...
I think it should. Let us know.
bowball is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Trawler Port Captains
Port Captains are TF volunteers who can serve as local guides or assist with local arrangements and information. Search below to locate Port Captains near your destination. To learn more about this program read here: TF Port Captain Program





All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:48 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2006 - 2012