[C320-list] exhaust mixing elbow

[Crosby Roper]

Thought I'd pass this along for general lesson learned file. In july on my way back from Catalina island to San Diego, I noticed that when I ran the RPM's up to 3200, I got a bit of black/brown smoke from exhaust. Since water tanks were full and there was a bunch of stuff on board, I figured probably just overloading the engine was the problem. On my next trip to catalina on Labor day, I noted smoke at 3000 RPM. To make a long story short, the problem progressed rap[idly over the next 30 hrs of engine use to the point where even at 2000 RPM i was seeing smoke. We limped back to the slip and called mechanic ( to whom I had spoken while in Catalina and who had advised me that problem was likely a clogged exhaust mixing elbow and OK to run engine at low RPM as long as it was not producing smoke.) He came out on Monday and problem was indeed exhaust mixing elbow. The engine is 3 years old and has about 220 hrs on it. He admonished me for not using the boat enough (in front of my wife, which should work out well for future sailing schedule) and for babying the engine. So, for anyone else who tends to baby their diesel, run it frequently and run it hard. But we already know that!Crosby Roper, VMD
Tethys # 1054
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