hey, looking for advice. my westerbeke is blowing grey smoke. Could it be as simple as air filter needing to be replaced.
4-60 westerbeke blowing grey smoke
- Thread starter gulf islander
- Start date
Did you check if there was a normal output of water from the exhaust at the time it is blowing grey smoke? It happened to me, there was still some water coming out of the exhaust but nothing close to normal while the Yanmar 2QM was blowing a lot of grey smoke. It turned out that the exhaust elbow was clogged, although not completely. It had to be replaced and at the same type, I replaced the hose running from the exhaust elbow to the muffler and it took care of the problem.
We need more details.
does it smoke all the time?.... at idle as well as under load?... only on start up?... does the exhaust hose seem the get hotter than normal?....
Does it have a strong smell of diesel or oil? They are different smells and it would tell you where to look for the problem...
It could only be blockage of the exhaust elbow/water injection/impeller damage, but this is usually white colored and more steam...
Gray with a smell of diesel would indicate an injector problem...
Gray with the smell of oil could indicate bad valve guides/seals... or a ring problem, but the ring problem is usually accompanied with an excess of blow by, which you may not notice unless you actually look for it as it gets directed back into the intake system...
If you think it may be an air filter problem, which is possible if its severly restricted, remove it and run it without for a few minutes to see if the problem goes away... you will need to run it for a few minutes while the engine is at operating temp and under load so it can burn off any excess oils and give it a chance to clear up... IF IT IS DUE TO a clogged filter...