He guys, I have another MEP-003a that is having a problem with producing a large amount of white/blueish smoke. When I got the unit from GL it produced large amounts of white/blueish smoke. I thought it may have been an injector leaking so I sent them to Storeman and had them adjusted. I reinstalled them today and still have a large amount of white/blueish smoke. I'm sure it's running rich because it smells like diesel and has a residue of unburned fuel in the exhaust. After it has ran about 10 minutes, the smoke dies down but it is still running rich because of the smell of non-burned diesel.
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MEP-003a Smoking
- Thread starter jamawieb
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R Racing
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My old mep003a would puff smoke on 1 bank but not the other. It would clear up after about a half hr. I think mine was using a bit of oil about a half quart about every 20 hrs. but it ran well. have you tried fresh fuel and a bottle of seafoam?
cuad4u
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Blue smoke in the exhaust means oil is being burned in the cylinder(s). Usually that is caused by worn oil rings on the pistons. Fixing that requires an engine tear-down. As others posted the first thing I would do is run the generator under load for several hours to see if it clears up. Often it will especially if the generator sat up for a long time and the rings got "stuck". If this does not clear it up and as long as the engine is running well and producing adequate power, I would just monitor the oil level and add oil as necessary unless oil consumption gets outrageous. What is considered outrageous varies from user to user. Adding a quart of oil even every 10 hours of operation is a whole lot cheaper than an engine rebuild.
When was the last time the genset had a load on it??
My first genset would put out some blue smoke and when I talked to some marine diesel mechanics that I knew they told me that before I panic worrying about a rebuild to first put a load on it and let the piston rings reseat ( aka free up under load )
My first genset would put out some blue smoke and when I talked to some marine diesel mechanics that I knew they told me that before I panic worrying about a rebuild to first put a load on it and let the piston rings reseat ( aka free up under load )
R Racing
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That's the way mine was. worked great! just keep a eye on the oil level !
Keith_J
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Air cooled diesels and cooler weather. Even worse when not exercised and only lightly loaded. Two water heater elements is more than enough to properly load the generator. 10 to 15 gallons of water from room temp to boiling is enough time to get the oil up to operating temperature.
Isaac-1
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May be a bad diesel injector, possibly dribbling, etc.
What you have is a tired motor wouldn't worry about it though…
storeman
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I agree with CDR. If you are getting 100% and the smoke clears, you should be fine.
Jerry
Jerry
rustystud
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Yes, either the rings or valve guides are worn. As long as it will pull 100% load, keep using it !
rustystud
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Repost.
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My 003 on house duty puts out white/blue smoke when first started. Clears up after 10 to 15 minutes or faster with a load. I run monthly for 1/2 to 1 hour and try to put a 100%+ load on it every 2 to 3 months. Was also worried about burning oil, but the level hasn't changed in a year of running this way. Unless you have other signs of a worn engine (loss of power, over heating, leaks, etc), run it. It needs a load.
Jimc
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yup, you have a cylinder or two that are just a touch low on compression. as the engine warms up the the compression temp finally rises enough to fire off the fuel and it starts burning clean. its not an issue. only thing to do really is figure out which cylinders are not firing which you can do with a IR thermometer on the exhaust at startup. then you can re-ring it if you want.