Westerbeke Smoking from underneath. Help Troubleshooting- Please.

[cacioa]

I cleaned out the heat exchanger and found two vanes from my impellor. I changed out the whole pump mechanism and hoses. All hoses clear, heat exchanger clear, ran it for a good 5 minutes water flow was excellent ( big difference with new pump). however, it started smoking again. same weird smell. I cut it off once it started smoking. Does anyone think this can possibly be coolant somewhere that is burning off. Keep in mind I must have lost 2 quarts of coolant --but to me it seemed like it all went into the bilge even though the hose from the reservoir rested on top of the actual generator. Do you think I can do damage if I have strong water exhaust coming out, and let it smoke hoping its something that just need to burn off?-- Im assuming a sensor will kick in and shut down the motor if its anything serious. --Unless anyone has any other ideas of whay may be causing this smoke. Keep in mind, after smoking, manifold is hot to the touch. Not sure if thats normal because i never really felt it before all these problems. I can take temperateure of it to see how hot it actually gets. --ANY advice would greatly be appreciated.

[ardeprint]

Manifold should NOT be hot enough that you cant keep your hand on it. If it gets too hot it will burn off the paint and that sets off a lot of smoke. I know you noted that you made sure you did not have an air bubble in your system, but a hot manifold is a clear sign of an air bubble in the system. That is, if there is water flowing.

[cacioa]

130 to 136 degrees. Let it run for 10 minutes- smelled plastic / electrical smell. definitely electrical/ ac portion of the generator. Time for a mechanic. Thank you for all the advice

[Steve500dancer]

I had a similar problem with my Westerbeak 4.5 on my 01 340. Pulleys were rusty and pitted. It was causing my belts to jump off and shred. I was replacing the pulleys when we noticed the timing belt seal had been damaged from the pressure on the rusty pulley. We replaced the seal and she ran perfect till I sold it this spring.

Below is the link for the parts manual for your generator. I hope this helps.

Page 16 item 5 is the seal I had to replace.

http://www.westerbeke.com/OnlineManu...Parts_List.pdf

Steve

[cacioa]

Steve, thank you very much. The 3 mechanics I spoke to just say change the back end --without even looking at it. I honestly don't think it's the back end it was running 100% perfect until I had the belt problem. Hate to change a back end for 2,500 and it may not even be the problem. I will look at this in the spring. Is changing the timing belt seal a DIY type of project. Is it straight forward, or did you have to take some pulleys off to get to it?
Is it the same seal as #11 on page 33 of the attached link?

http://www.westerbeke.com/OnlineManu...hnical_Man.pdf

thanks again

[Steve500dancer]

The toughest thing was removing the pulleys. They are in a grove with a set screw and were you to get off. I would start a week or so before with spraying them with penetrating oil.

Remove as much stuff as you can off the area and get a good look at everything. You should be able to locate your leak if you have one. The timing belt cover is also a good source for an oil leak, they are very thin and can cause a good leak. You may need a seal puller to pull the seal out. I can't remember if we had to take the timing belt cover off or not. I also had a small crack in the timing belt cover that we repaired.

Happy to help and good luck.


Steve

[PlayDate]

Sorry for being late to this thread. I'm struggling with several contradictions.

1) 15 hours on a 2002 generator? Is this thing brand new or never been used?
2) 2 hours of running then a safety shutdown. Restart and safety shutdown in 90 seconds. There are three safetys on the your generator which will cause it to shutdown by closing the safety circuit to ground. There are usually two heat sensors (one on the engine and one on the exhaust elbow) and one oil pressure sensor. It would really be helpful to know which one is the cause of the safety shutdown. An infrared temp tester can also help. Was the generator smoking during the entire 2 hours or did that start after the safety shutdown? Also, was there a load on the generator during the 2 hours?
3) Replacing the fresh water pump was a good idea since white smoke is common with antifreeze. I'm a bit surprised that didn't solve the problem. But we could be dealing with two separate problems: The smoke and the reason for the safety shutdown.
4) A faulty backend does not usually cause a safety shutdown....so I don't buy into your mechanics theory at this point.


If this is a 2002 generator that has not been used.....there probably is a reason for it. I have seen a lot of old, low hour generators that never worked right so the owners didn't use them and never got them serviced. If this is the case, I usually pull the generator off the boat and go through it. Access on your boat, (I'm 220 lbs 6' 2") is a real pain. Pulling it makes it easy to find the problem and solve it.

Prior to pulling it, I would run it again until (if) it shutdowns (make sure you borrow and infrared temp gun to monitor the engine and exhaust manifold). Operating under the assumption that the smoking showed up after the original shutdown it may be just residual anti-freeze from the repairs and the coolant overflow (since the overflow hose was not hooked up). Belt problems smell like rubber burning.....you would know that smell. I would also check the oil level before I ran this test. If it is anti-freeze....it will burn off in 10 minutes or so.


-John

[cacioa]

John,
thanks for taking the time to respond.

1) As far as 15 hours, I put on all 15. The generator had zero hours when I purchased the boat from original owner. It ran 100% perfect for all of those hours.
2) safety cut off was the exhaust temperature sender. I may have accidentally jostled it when I replaced the belt. I tightened the 2 screws on top of sensor and that was my problem. It then ran without holding down the preheat switch. Keep in mind the gen was on for 2 hours ( no load- just charging batteries) then it cut off. I noticed the belt shredded, changed it and that's when this whole mystery began with the smoking. -there are no more sensor cut offs, it'll keep running but the smoke gets thicker and thicker.
3) I did let it run for around 10 minutes before I surrendered. Temps were between 130 and 140 throughout.

Is there a fool proof way of knowing if its the back end. Hate to spend $2,500 to realize that wasnt the issue. (There's a place in Florida that sells rewound for $1200 then $1,300 more for labor from a local mechanic on Long Island )

thank you