Blue smoke start up Perkins 6.354

[Pack Mule]

I'm getting blue smoke at start up . It seems to be more than normal.It goes away after warm up to 180.
I just moved up to a trawler from sailboat with old 4 cyl. westerbeke. It would smoke a little but nothing like this. Just the other day at another marina I cranked up and the guy next to me on a sailboat was complaining about it ,grabbed up his little dog and ran for the hills.
This engine has around 1000hrs on a "rebuild ". I have good oil pressure and it goes away when warmed up .When getting back in the slip I'm running at idle(900 rpms ) for about 15 mins to get boat back in. Will it help with the start up if I kick up the rpms for a little bit then bring it back down to idle before shutting off?
I'm sure this will get a lot of response .I might be a little slow getting back I'm still on the clock .

 

[Moonstruck]

I'm getting blue smoke at start up . It seems to be more than normal.It goes away after warm up to 180.
I just moved up to a trawler from sailboat with old 4 cyl. westerbeke. It would smoke a little but nothing like this. Just the other day at another marina I cranked up and the guy next to me on a sailboat was complaining about it ,grabbed up his little dog and ran for the hills.
This engine has around 1000hrs on a "rebuild ". I have good oil pressure and it goes away when warmed up .When getting back in the slip I'm running at idle(900 rpms ) for about 15 mins to get boat back in. Will it help with the start up if I kick up the rpms for a little bit then bring it back down to idle before shutting off?
I'm sure this will get a lot of response .I might be a little slow getting back I'm still on the clock .

I know nothing about Perkins engines. Blue smoke is usually from oil. It is possible that oil is seeping down through the valve stem seals. On start up until the metal heats up and expands to seal more tightly. If the engine has valve stem seals and they were not replaced on rebuild it is possible they could be the problem.

 

[FlyWright]

Maybe this will help...

Trawler Forum - View Single Post - Baldwin Oil Filter # for Perkins?

 

[sunchaser]

When getting back in the slip I'm running at idle(900 rpms ) for about 15 mins to get boat back in. Will it help with the start up if I kick up the rpms for a little bit then bring it back down to idle before shutting off? .

Too much idling (more than 5 minutes) can result in a smokey (older especially) diesel on startup. I find with mine a higher, under load, run prior to shutdown minimizes a blue haze and diesel fuel sheen upon the next startup.

Also you may consider dropping your oil level closer to the add mark for a few runs. Overfilling is another cause of blue smoke. What is your oil consumption - getting to Don's point?

And as Flywright has noted, use an OEM oil filter (if not doing already) to see if any change.

 

[Moonstruck]

See details
Massey Ferguson/Perkins 6.354 Full Set
A quality full gasket set, which includes the valve stem seals and rubber o-ring.
There are no crankshaft oil seals in the set.

Other manufacturers offer the gaskets for these engines as separate top and bottom sets. Power Seal produces the combined or full set, which is suitable for the Perkins engines
used in the following applications:

Massey Ferguson Tractor

6.354
5800cc six cylinder diesel engine

Equates to
Payen (South Africa) GN 370
Payen (United Kingdom) DN 370 and EH 302

Our price: £64.79
including VAT £10.80

 

[jleonard]

Being a member of a Mainship owner's group and seeing tons of T6.354 engines, I never saw one that did NOT smoke at start up and clear out when the engine coolant temp got to about 140F.

 

[rochepoint]

I have the same motor, it smokes (blue) on a cold start up. The PO did a lot of trolling using the Perkins, thus glazing the cylinder walls. I just stay tied to the dock and pop it into gear on start up for a couple of minutes, smoke stops almost immediately. By doing this it puts a load on the rings for a better seal, thus less smoke. We have also found the smoking to be less as we put harder hours on the motor, we don't idle the motor for long periods of time.

 

[JAT]

We have a pair of Perkins 6.354 NA's in our boat....and they always put out a bit of blue smoke on start up. It goes away under load or after the engines get to operating temperature...

We had a sailboat with a Perkins 4.108....it put out blue smoke at startup as well.

Unless your oil consumption is bad...I wouldn't worry to terribly much.

 

[FF]

Smoke at start up is from incomplete combustion from the cold cylinders.

As diesels are efficient ldeling out of gear does little.

After 1 min of operation , get underway at say 1000 rpm, to assist the warmup.

As the temp rises the RPM can be increased.

IF the smoke doesn't go away at anything but full operating temp, its likely the compression is poor , perhaps rings not part of past "rebuild" , or were cracked on reinstall.

Not bothering to do PM on storing engine will cause rust pits in cylinder walls , which is fairly common on little used boats.

 

[Pack Mule]

Thanks everyone for all the info.There is only a couple of trawlers in our marina and none with a perkins . Most everyone here has houseboats and hardly ever leave their slip and call a mechanic when something's not right.

Thanks again glad you're here, Marty