Four strokes are supposed to burn oil

[Crazy1ear]

Thought that might get your attention.

I'm the guy who recently posted "Help - my dealer's mechanic is killing me."

That thread outlines most of my experience so I won't go over it again, only to say the nonsense has not yet stopped. I've had to make another trip to the dealer because the boat is burning oil (blue smoke trail behind it).

I picked up the boat the other day (haven't tested it yet) and I called the dealer to see what they had done to fix it. They told me they changed the spark plugs.

I was at a loss for words. I asked how changing my plugs fixes the boat from burning oil (I have a 2005 Speedster 215 with the 4-tec). He put the mechanic on and he says: one of the plugs was black meaning it was dead, so the oil in that cylinder was going out through the exhaust and being burned there.

I asked how the oil got in the cylinder in the first place and he says it gets in there from the rings (saying not all the oil is scraped off).

I argued with him for about five minutes, but there was no convincing him that the engine wasn't supposed to burn oil. He said the other two plugs were a nice tan colour.

I told him the reason that one plug was black was because it "was" burning oil, not the opposite.

So I know I'll have to bring it back yet again (my ninth trip) and this time I am demanding they pay to have it fixed elsewhere.

I may have to go to court and am looking for expert opinions. If you are a certified mechanic please reply:

Is a four stroke engine (specifically the 4-tec) supposed to burn engine oil?

 

[timmyboy76]

not cetified, nor know 4-strokes...

BUT...logic, says, 4-stroke dont burn oil, stud, unless theres' a problem..? (rings)

 

[rexsteiner]

4 strokes arnt supposed to burn oil. Also not certified but come on, who doesn't no that.

 

[bigJake]

4 strokes arnt supposed to burn oil. Also not certified but come on, who doesn't no that.

obviously, his mechanic
:rofl:

 

[kustomkarl]

If a mechanic told me a stupid comment like that, my seadoo would be else where in a hart beat. Not all seadoo service repair shops have all certified mechanics on duty. Usually there is at least one that gets certified to satisfy seadoo requirements and the others are under paid want-a-be's. Then if the main mechanic leaves there is no certified on duty. My only suggestion, and this is my personal opinion, is go to another seadoo repair facility and get it repaired properly. It really stinks that the shop working on it now doesn't know what their doing...

Karl

 

[despower]

Crazy1ear has an 8 hour trip to get his boat to the next certified dealership (there are only two in our province). And, having had some experience with that dealership, I can say that it is probably the lesser of two evils (I have a previous post on it too).

So it really stinks when you have NO other option.

God helps those who help themselves methinks.

 

[boatmonkey82]

whats your compression reading ? a video borescope like my snap on one would be a nice tool for this job . correct me if im wrong but i think this motor is a dry sump system , little to no oil in the lower crank case .... yes its possible for the oil to go by the rings , happens all this time . but here is what to look for , if it smokes constanly at the same thickness then it may be a ring or bad piston ect , if it sits for a while and smokes like crazy when cranked then it may be a bad valve stem seal . it could also be dumping extra fuel into that cly causing it to wash the oil out and burn with the fuel , like a bad injector ect . i cant remember the pvc routing on this motor but if its any where close to that cly then there coul dbe a problem with that . i know on my 4stroke outboard guys i tell them when they are done using it to trim the motor up a bit b/c the oil will puddle behind the horozontal facing piston and seep past the rings , almost like turning your lawm mower upside down , it will smoke like crazy . when the trim the motors up the oil will run back down into the oil sump . but bottom line the dealer your at sucks and they are idiots , they give the rest of us in the marine repair industry a bad rep . if i dont know how to work on a customers craft then i will tell them , hey i can look at it but no promises and help him find a good reputable dealership . also in theory all motors burn some amount of oil , i dont care if its a lambo , it may not be noticed but they do , just the nature of the machine:rant:

 

[Crazy1ear]

Appears fixed

Thanks for the reply guys.

The compression on #1 and #3 were both over 150 psi. I couldn't check #2 as the guy put the plug in so tight I couldn't get it out without fear of twisting it off in the head! The torque spec is 14 foot-pounds!! We actually broke a swivel socket trying to take it out.

Anyway, as I said, all they did was change the plugs, but now it appears to be running fine. I took it out twice (and now have to put it away... we have snow already) and both times it ran well with no smoke. I did smell a bit of oily exhaust after a high RPM run and then doing a tight turn into the path of the exhaust, but nothing like when it was burning blue.

I'm not sure what to chaulk this up to now... but it does appear to be okay finally.

 

[kustomkarl]

Rule of thumb is replace your spark plugs every year and add never-seize on the threads so it wont corrode in the threads of the head.
Try taking it out while it's hot. It should turn right out.

Karl

 

[Crazy1ear]

Thanks Karl,

That was the advice of a small engine mechanic friend of mine too. I'll do that.

 

[kustomkarl]

Yeah, that's been my practice for over 35 years now...works for me.

Karl :cheers:

 

[boatmonkey82]

dude i would be livid with that place , i would take it back and tell them to pull the plug and let them break it , they may have cross threaded it :reddevil: . that makes me mad as hell and its not even my boat . i have some 4srks outboards with a few customers and they tend to smoke a bit from time to time . is it using oil too or just a bit of blue smoke , if its jsut a bit of smoke every now and then i would not worry about it one bit , but if its using and smoke consistanly then i would be concerned . one very very important thing that i always do even on customers boats and skis , i always let them warm up for 4 minutes or so before taking off and even then i dont hit wot , i run about 1/2 throttle for a few more minutes then i get down and dirty , reason is being that you have to let the pistons and clys heat up and expand , also different motors have cast pistons and some have forged pistons , cast are way way more forgiving than forged and can take alot of cold wot . forged on the other hand have more clearance in the way of piston to wall , so running hard before the expansion occurs can cause - piston slap , cold seize , smoke , scoring , maybe break a ring ect . you gotta remember that these lil motor pack a ton of hp and they run 7 grand non stop , so any bit of help they can get they will love you for it .