Just a Thought
Chris,Before last weekend my first guess would have been the mixing elbow. However sometimes its better to read and follow what the the book says. Two weekends ago we took a trip across the bay. The engine would run fine at 2500-2700 rpm for about 45 -60 mins then emint lots smoke. No overheat lite, no loss of exhaust water and the smoke quit by reducing the rpm to 1500 for a few minutes. The engine ran fine at 2000-2300 for the weekend but if I went over 2500 the same thing happened. After the trip we started the analysis of what happened. The book said dark smoke = check fuel, air, elbow. Then timing, valves etc. The fuel was perfect, no water, sludge or any contaminants evident. The elbow was not clogged. The 1/4 in opening in the brass fitting was perfect with no corrosion. I was at a loss. My wife said (I have to admit this) why don't you check the air filter? Yea, Yea, Looked at the sponge rubber filter and it looked good but a little greasy. Book says to clean use water and detergent. What could that hurt. Put 1/2 gal of warm water in a pail along with good old Joy. Droped the filter in and the clean water almost instantly turned black. The sponge was so dirty it took three pails of soapy water to clean. Probably the original filter and had never been cleaned in 9 years. Engine runs fine now. Lack of air will also cause poor combustion and smoke just like bad fuel or overworking the engine. Word to the wise is check the solutions in order and don't skip. Glad I didn't get to the oint of calling the mechanic to check timing, valves, etc.Les Andersens/v Mutual Fun