Crusader 350 Problem

D

damaib

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New to me 1997 Carver 325 Aft Cabin with Crusader 350's. Boat has been starting and running fine for about 35 hours since purchase 3 months ago. Last night started the engines to go on a short local sunset cruise. Both started easily and normally. After about a minute the starboard engine died. I tried to restart, but no success. The engine would fire a bit, but would not keep running. Pulled off the flame arrestor to look for any obvious carb issues. Nothing to my untrained eyes.
This morning I went back to the boat and got it started, but it took lots of throttle and cranking. Once running, it was running rough and putting out some white smoke from the exhaust. After a minute or two it got smoother, but still not nice and smooth like the other engine. Still putting out white smoke. Moving the throttle to full idle, the engine would die after a few seconds of continually declining rpm.
Any thoughts about where to start?
 
Pull the spark plugs I hope you don't have water entering the cylinders.
Bill
 
Since you mention "carb" , this is plain-vanilla carbed XL or Classic model engine , not TBI ?

A few questions/suggestion:

If.... it cranks at "normal" speed, water in the cylinders ...probably... isn't indicated . If slow, check those plugs & cylinders like yesterday.
But do you have any idea how old the fuel might be and when the last full tune-up was done to your confirmed knowledge?
Was the fuel stabilized when it was fresh , not after it deteriorated?
New separator /filter? Gas fill cap o-ring intact?

If (E10?) fuel has had water-intrusion in sufficient quantity and has phase-separated, the bottom layer of water and alcohol would not allow the engine to run well at all if at all and steam would be evident in the exhaust if it did run at all.Top & bottom layers would both be very bad for the engine.

Have you checked the dist. cap condition?

Personally, in the absence of receipts clearly showing full tune-up within 6 months or less and when the riser/elbows were last replaced withing 3-5 yrs (plus manifolds on RWC engines), I would have pursued those preventative maintenance items before ever running the boat after purchase.

I suggest putting your hand on the top of the riser/elbows when at cruise speed- you should be able to easily keep your hand there indefinitely if RW flow is sufficient to avoid excess steam production just from lack of RW flow.

Have you confirmed sufficient fuel level? With engine off/flame arrester off & choke plate open and moving the engine throttle lever, is there a strong jet of strong smelling gas evident?

If there is a crossover valve, is it closed to keep P&S tank and engine pairing independent?

Perhaps try running with stbd engine tank fill cap off to eliminate possibility of restricted vent screen?
 
Looking at the plugs will tell you if water is getting in the cylinders cuz they'll look steam cleaned(brand new). Sounds most likely head gasket if hasn't over heated.
 
Pulled the carb and found one of the needles had some junk stuck in it. So, the symptoms of flooding are probably explained right there. Overhauled the carb and will reinstall in the next day or two. I will report back on results.

To answer some of the questions. Had a very complete survey done on the boat. Manifolds and risers appeared to be original equipment!! So, I replaced those as soon as I bought the boat. Previous owner had good documentation of tune-up and oil and filter and fuel filter change done just before I bought the boat. As I mentioned, I have operated the boat for about 35 hours with no problems. I am on my third or fourth fill up, so I don't suspect stale fuel. Plenty of fuel and no crossfeed or crossover system on this boat.
 
Have you checked the O-rings on your gas fill caps? If cracked or missing water may pour in the tank to phase-separate the fuel(if E10) , leaving water and alcohol layer at the bottom of the tanks feeding the pickup. At least some combo fill/vents can apparently allow water ingress as well. That would cause hard starting, stalling and white exhaust and other more serious problems soon. Perhaps drain contents of the filter/separator into clear container where you can inspect and smell to confirm it is still the fresh , strong gassy smelling fuel you are assuming it is?
 
Thanks Sandy. I am going to pull the fuel filters and will check both of the gas cap o rings tomorrow.
 
Sounds like water is getting in the cylinders. Pull the plugs and check for either water contamination or steam cleaned plugs. This is a must do!!

Water getting in thru exhaust manifold/riser joint usually smooths out after burning off water.
 
Installed overhauled carb and the engine started immediately and runs smooth.
 
That's great. So the white smoke went away?

Blue smoke is oil
black smoke is gas
white smoke is steam/water
 
quote:
Originally posted by jtybt15

That's great. So the white smoke went away?

Blue smoke is oil
black smoke is gas
white smoke is steam/water

Click to expand...

Perhaps un-burned fuel might have been mistaken for white smoke?
 
No more white smoke.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
 
That's great the overhauled carb was able to stop the all white smoke and red herrings. :D
Happy Nightmare!
 
This is the second time I've heard of white smoke, and then a carb rebuild does the trick?!

I am curious about the white smoke.

Was it a light smoke, a heavy smoke, whifs of smoke, smell, etc? I would have suspected head gasket or a riser gasket.
 
I guess I would call it a moderate to light amount of white smoke. It definitely smelled like smoke and there was fuel coming out of the exhaust into the water due to the flooding carb.
 
The carb replacement fixing smoking is a new one for me. I'd need to actually see what's going on. Unburned gas will dribble out the exhaust. Unburned gas entering the exhaust with some cylinders firing will turn black, just like un burned, over rich mixture. Yeah, I'd need to see what's going on
 
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