Poorly engine

[Dottyshirl]

OMG travelled from

Sileby on the GU onto the Trent n Mersey ... Suddenly loads of smoke.. Shut the baby off and hope she is ok, waiting for our mechanic to say we can carry on. Loved our two day excursion lol

Edited October 17, 2013 by Dottyshirl

[Midnight Rider]

Sorry to hear that. The upside is that it did not happen where the Trent & Soar meet. Hope that you get it sorted.

[Sir Nibble]

Sounds drastic but it won't be much, slipping belt or something. Short of actually busting into flames there's not much that can give rise to lots of smoke and nothing terminal unless there was an awful lot of noise.

[alan_fincher]

Also to the uninitiated what you may be describing as "smoke" might be steam, (depending on where it is coming from).

 

If, for example, water in an engine header tank gets too low, then the combination of the resulting steam, often involving rubber hoses that have a coating of oil on, may look like "smoke".

 

Don't panic at this stage - often what looks horrendous at the time may have done no lasting harm at all.

[Iain_S]

May be a daft question (if so, sorry ) , but have you checked the weedhatch?

 

Iain

[BlueStringPudding]

Might be a knackered exhaust filter. I had that once. Epic amount of black smoke caused i think by it getting blocked. Anyhoo it was a relatively quick fix by the mechanic guy.

[Dottyshirl]

Thanks peeps. There were no horrible noises and I switched off almost immediately so I'm hopefully thinking it will be ok. Thanks for all the advice x

[cheshire~rose]

I hope it turns out to be something relatively straightforward for you. These things often are (as others have said - unless they happen to occur with a horrible noise as well)

 

Let us know how you get on

[Dottyshirl]

Ok, we seem to be losing oil from the engine, no mechanic yet but checking everything you advised, we did an oil check, it was fine when we set off, only two days cruising and hardly any oil on the stick. Hope there is a solution besides replacing the engine..... The guy we bought it from said he had the engine cover on the roof and it was stolen ..... Maybe he had no cover as the engine overheated because it had an oil leak ? (No we did not have a survey ! ) love being on the water apart from being forced aground by some lovely guy who never made eye contact but knew exactly what he was doing to me, we were sharing locks with a gentleman who pulled us back on the water so we were ok lol ...

[RLWP]

apart from being forced aground by some lovely guy who never made eye contact but knew exactly what he was doing to me

 

I see. He 'forced you aground' did he? Not your inexperience putting you in a place to run aground then

 

Richard

[ditchcrawler]

Ok, we seem to be losing oil from the engine, no mechanic yet but checking everything you advised, we did an oil check, it was fine when we set off, only two days cruising and hardly any oil on the stick. Hope there is a solution besides replacing the engine..... The guy we bought it from said he had the engine cover on the roof and it was stolen ..... Maybe he had no cover as the engine overheated because it had an oil leak ? (No we did not have a survey ! ) love being on the water apart from being forced aground by some lovely guy who never made eye contact but knew exactly what he was doing to me, we were sharing locks with a gentleman who pulled us back on the water so we were ok lol ...

Did he hit you then?

You say engine cover, what engine is it?

[Paul C]

An engine with a missing valvetrain cover will certainly leak a lot of oil!

 

Do you have pics of the engine, maybe we can see the missing parts.

[pelicanafloat]

 

I see. He 'forced you aground' did he? Not your inexperience putting you in a place to run aground then

 

Richard

Amazing! .... nice welcoming comment then.

 

GL with the engine.

[Machpoint005]

We've all ended up on parts of the cut where the bottom is too close to the top at some stage of our boating careers, and it does happen more often when you first start out. WIth a few dozens of miles under your belt it becomes second nature to 'keep it on the wet bit' regardless!

 

On the engine difficulties, I'd go along with previous posters who suggested the lack of a rocker cover might be the cause of oil loss. Whether somebody just pinched it because they could, or there is some underlying problem, can't be analysed remotely. I wouldn't have thought taking the cover off to cure overheating was an obvious thing to do: lack of coolant is the usual problem, and if there's plenty of that, a blockage in the system or an escape of water would be early suspects.

 

Since you stopped the engine yourself, rather than it grinding to a halt, the chances are far better that it's not terminal. Hope it works out.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Machpoint005

[Dottyshirl]

Did he hit you then

No but being a lady I did not drive into him and he left me no room ! Bless him. The engine us a Barrus. When I say no engine cover I do not mean an engine part, it is the cover over the engine. Listen.... I am sorry if my ignorance is misleading you, I am trying my best x

I see. He 'forced you aground' did he? Not your inexperience putting you in a place to run aground then

 

Richard

I may be a novice but I am not an idiot, I know what he did, had I kept a safe course we would gave collided as he kept to the centre of the waterway.... Enough energy spent on you lol

 

Thanks you positive people xxxx

[p6rob]

Good luck Dottyshirl,

 

I only been a boater for a few months and it sure as hell takes a lot of getting used to. I've been aground several times, panicked when seeing boats heading towards me while zig zagging along the cut and had a fair share of engine problems too. Still love it though, every day is a school day.

 

Please forgive Richard, he's suffering a bit at the moment. Normal friendly service will return soon I'm sure.

 

Rob

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hi ya Dottyshirl

It's sometimes very hard to put into words what is actually ment,(I know),don't let it worry you.we all get there in the end,

So long as you are ok,,,now,,,what if any is the update on your Eng woes,,is anyone on the case to help you.

[Guest]

No but being a lady I did not drive into him and he left me no room ! Bless him. The engine us a Barrus. When I say no engine cover I do not mean an engine part, it is the cover over the engine. Listen.... I am sorry if my ignorance is misleading you, I am trying my best x

I may be a novice but I am not an idiot, I know what he did, had I kept a safe course we would gave collided as he kept to the centre of the waterway.... Enough energy spent on you lol

 

Thanks you positive people xxxx

Well said. A shame when people assume newcomers are in some way stupid. Some of the most stupid boaters we have come across have "been doing it for years, you know!"

Good luck with the donkey, hopefully just be a blocked breather, oil filter or similar.

[junior]

Any news?

[David Schweizer]

What colour was the smoke, There are three possibilities :- black, blue/grey, or white, and they all mean something different.Was the engine already smoking a bit before the "lots of smoke" occurrence? especially after longish periods of slow running

 

I have my views of what it might be, particuoarly as it was accompanied by loss of oil, based upon a similar experience with the engine in our boat. I do not want to be pessimistic but it could be worn bores or rings, which will not cause any noise (well not any that is discernable on a noisy diesel) but will produce enormous amounts of blue/grey smoke.

 

If it is bores or rings , you will not be stranded and will be able to continue your journey with care, but you will not be very popular with the boats you pass (again personal experience)

Edited October 20, 2013 by David Schweizer

[bizzard]

A blocked crankcase breather will cause oil and fumes to be blown out of every available hole like around the dipstick, badly fitting oil filler cap, or any weak and old gaskets on the oil side of things. BMC?

[David Schweizer]

Bizzard's suggestionn prompts another question. Was the smoke coming from the exhaust> or from the engine itself, in whch case any particular place? or was it coming from both?

 

OK three questions but the answer could be relevant to possible diagnosis

[David Schweizer]

Did you manage to get your engine smoke diagnosed? and if so what did the engineer suggest.

[Beaker]

Looks like the OP's keeping us all in suspenders, it's three days since her last post.

[Dottyshirl]

Sorry about my absence ... No mechanic yet, will let you know when I have news