Hard start big smoke

[MexMangoMan]

I have a 94 carbuerated 225 Mercury. Last weekend as I tried to take it out it was very hard to start, then when it did a few times it died quickly. When I finally did get it started for good there was much more blue smoke than usual, I tried to run it for awhile thinking that it would clear up but got worried of doing damage so shut it down. I went to get the trailer which took about a half hour then re-started it to get the boat to the ramp, it started right up but was still seemed to be smoking more than usual, it seemed to run fine as I drove it to the ramp. After trailering and getting it out of the water I started it again to flush, once again it started right up and seemed to run fine and now I am second guessing myself, did I pull it out too soon? My buddies seemed to think it was the right idea and we were not sure about the safety factor of taking it out of the marina since we had doubts, but as I flushed the engine there was no more excess smoke and it ran fine. Any ideas? Bad gas? I put sta-bil in it, maybe not mixed well? Bigger problems? I have not had a chance to pull the plugs, the boat is in Mexico and we had to return but the engine did not seem to be missing or sputtering once I got it started. Thanks.

 

[hkeiner]

Re: Hard start big smoke

I can only guess at the cause of your smoke, but if you think that it is loading up with too much oil at startup (as indicated by the blue smoke) the oil injection system may be at fault. The below link contains a very long discussion on the potential problems that can result from failed check valves in the oil injection system. As for the safety factor to the motor, blue smoke (too much oil) is better than white smoke (water intrusion into a cylinder) or no smoke (no oil at all).

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=182406&highlight=smoke

Or it could be dirty carbs...