- Jun 5, 2016
- 5,632
- Boat Info
- 410 Sundancer
2001
12" Axiom and 9" Axiom+ MFD
- Engines
- Cat 3126 V-Drives
Something isn’t right. 2900 is way high while running under load. So high I’ve never heard of 3126s doing that under load and that leads me to suspect your RPM reading are not accurate. Until you have accurate RPM reading, the rest of this is pure guess work and speculation.
I think the first order of business is to verify the Aetna’s are accurate (as in in +/- a couple RPM). You need to get a photo tach (Inexpensive from Amazon) and measure the RPMs on the fly wheel and compare to the Aetnas at various RPM. This can be done at the dock. There could be issues with the senders or wiring.
As far as smoke/soot, as it gets colder, 3126s will produce a little white smoke at start up until they come up to operating temperature, especially if the Air Heaters are not working or it’s very cold. Black smoke/ sorting would indicate overloading or issues with the turbos or fuel delivery.
Let’s hope this is an instrumentation issue.
I think the first order of business is to verify the Aetna’s are accurate (as in in +/- a couple RPM). You need to get a photo tach (Inexpensive from Amazon) and measure the RPMs on the fly wheel and compare to the Aetnas at various RPM. This can be done at the dock. There could be issues with the senders or wiring.
As far as smoke/soot, as it gets colder, 3126s will produce a little white smoke at start up until they come up to operating temperature, especially if the Air Heaters are not working or it’s very cold. Black smoke/ sorting would indicate overloading or issues with the turbos or fuel delivery.
Let’s hope this is an instrumentation issue.