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2004 Utopia 185 smokes like crazy when accelerating

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hrichmondm

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I have a Utopia 185 and am overall very pleased with it.

Once this summer I had 3 adults sitting in the back seat and was trying to accelerate from a idle position, not only won't it accelerate and plane out, it revs quite high and smokes like crazy! This has happened before.

One thing I did this time was to place the adults in the front of the boat, then accelerated again and all was fine! No smoke and planed up normally.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
The smoke is coming from an overly rich condition. There was a write up on changing the temp sender on a Merc boat to fix that problem.

As far as not accelerating, and reving... that's cavitation. Check your impeller and wear ring. I bet you will find damage.
 
Thank you for the quick response.

One question I have is why would it smoke so much while it was cavitating?

One place said it might be the rotary valve.

Again much appreciated!
 
One question I have is why would it smoke so much while it was cavitating? One place said it might be the rotary valve.

That "place" should be avoided, since your boat has a Mercury engine that doesn't even HAVE a rotary valve.

Solve one problem at a time: Follow the above instructions and do a search here to replace the temperature sensor on the port head of the engine. Cost is under $40 and it can be obtained from any Mercury shop; if they don't already have it in stock they can order it. Or, you can order it online from any of numerous sources. Time to replace is under five minutes using a single socket wrench.

Then, try your test again and report back.
 
Yep... what he said.

1) even if you had a Rotax with a Rotary valve... it would only smoke when you first start it. (if the seals were leaky) But you don't have one, so don't ask that shop anymore questions.

2) The only reason I can think it would smoke while it's cavitating, is because the ECU is sending the engine too much fuel and oil... and while it's cavitating, there isn't enough "Load" on the engine to get it to bur the rich mix.
 
Rereading his post, I think the smoke may actually be steam due to fairly bad cavitation. Almost sounds like the impeller or wear housing are worn and with the boat loaded heavy it cavitates bad can't get up on plane and the smoke (steam) is due to a lack of cooling water due to the cavitation which is dropping pump pressure and only supplying enough water to produce steam.

I agree with what Doc and WJ say about the temp sensor, it's a good maintenance item, but have a good look in both ends of your pump for any damage and check the wear. Ideally the clearance between the impeller and wear ring should be about forty to fifty thousands, but if you find it up near a hundred thousands you will need to have the impeller rebuilt and check the wear ring diameter.

Aaron:cheers:
 
Rereading his post, I think the smoke may actually be steam due to fairly bad cavitation. Almost sounds like the impeller or wear housing are worn and with the boat loaded heavy it cavitates bad can't get up on plane and the smoke (steam) is due to a lack of cooling water due to the cavitation which is dropping pump pressure and only supplying enough water to produce steam.

I guess we'll have to wait for him to report whether it's smoke or steam. I'd think the difference would be easy to tell... color, smell, etc. should all be dead giveaways!
 
An update, the wear ring and stator were badly damaged and replaced. I believe the "smoke" was truly "steam".
The other issue I has was #6 fuel injector was leaking (mechanic mentioned that when starting, the boat it would "over-rev", which lead him to this.) Disappointed that the "other" place I took this to last year never diagnosed this.
Thanks all and I'll let now what happens in the spring
 
The other issue I has was #6 fuel injector was leaking (mechanic mentioned that when starting, the boat it would "over-rev", which lead him to this.)

Those Keinen injectors tend to fail (or stick) "open", which is a good thing because while it affects engine operation at least it protects the cylinders.

Those injectors are a few hundred dollars if you have to replace them. However, they can be serviced for $25-50. If you haven't already bought a new one, you might be able to save some money. Since you'll have the induction manifold torn down anyway, I'd have all six injectors cleaned, serviced, and matched while you're at it.
 
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