Honda 130 smoking...

[BrianW]

Gents,<br /><br />My boat (22' aluminum approx 3500lbs) was loaded down today pretty heavy today and I noticed that my engine had exhaust smoke, or steam, blowing around down low, at the upper part of the lower unit. Kind of where the lower unit meets the engine cowling.<br /><br />There was water coming out of the 'pee hole' but earlier in the day the hole had been plugged up and I had to clear it. My boats a drop bow and I have landed on the beach several times in the past couple days. So I thought it just had a little sand stuck in the hole. The 'overheat' light never came on, and the engine ran fine.<br /><br />This engine falls in the cracked block serial number range, but since it was bought in Canada there's no warranty. Honda of Canada doesn't even acknowledge the crack problem. Plus, the engine has 1060hrs.<br /><br />So while I'm not happy with the amount of water coming out the 'pee hole' I don't think it was overheating. I'm thinking the extra load on the boat today (approx 1000lbs) was 'working' the lil'130 more than I ever have before and perhaps it burns some oil when weighed down? I've only owned this boat for a couple months, so I'm still learning it's quirks. I usually turn 4000-4500 rpms with this engine. Today was no different, except I was only doing 20-24mph as opposed to 26-29mph unloaded.<br /><br />Am I lugging the engine by not turning 5000rpms?<br /><br />Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

 

[cp]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

Did you see blue smoke or white steam? There's no exhaust opening at the top of the lower unit so you likely saw steam, especially if the 'smoke' you saw was white. An engine burning oil emits bluish exhaust. The heavier than normal load on the boat probably had the stern sitting deeper than usual so you got water splashing higher up the lower unit where it's hot from the internal exhaust passage, and would turn the splashed water to steam.<br /><br />I don't believe you overheated the engine since your warning light and buzzer/horn did not go off, and you did not mention the ECU reducing your rpm any. (The light and horn are working, right? You hear the two loud beeps when you turn the key to RUN, right?) I once spun the hub on my BF130 water pump impeller such that I wasn't getting enough water flow at high rpm, and let me tell you, you can't miss it when that horn sounds off, and the ECU will drastically drop your rpm. That happens way before any damage occurs to the engine. I was able to limp home at low rpm (no alarms, no ECU rpm reduction), replaced the impeller and was good as new. The pee hole and tee fittings (2) seem prone to clog up (but not completely) on my BF130.<br /><br />Regarding the lugging, were you able to get normal WOT rpm, i.e. 5500 rpm or higher? Getting lower mph at 4000-4500 rpm is not necessarily a sign of lugging, just a heavy load, unless you're saying that 4000-4500 rpm was the max you were able to get, then yes, you're overloading the engine. Or if you used to, but now can't get WOT rpm when hauling a lighter/normal load, then maybe you've got the cracked block problem I and Mackeralena had.<br /><br />Real bummer that Honda of Canada won't stand behind the engine like the American Honda Motor Co. did.<br /><br />p.s. Did you ever get that green oil pressure light problem on your Honda kicker resolved?

 

[BrianW]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

Thanks pchonda!<br /><br />You might be right about the engine sitting lower in the water than usual. The MIL indicator is working and never came on. I've got two red lights on a panel. Whenever I turn the key to the 'on' position the two lights come on for a second, the the bottom one goes off (I think it's the bottom one.) Also I get the two beeps. The last owner told me to wait for the one light to go out before cranking the engine, and that's what I do. <br /><br />Today I decided to run the boat to see if I could get it to steam up again. It was empty. Out of the harbor at 4200rpm I saw nothing unusual so I cranked it to full throttle which got me 5400rpms. I ran it there for about 10 minutes. I didn't notice any steam coming forward around the engine, but I did notice what looked like some oil smoke coming out of the two ports at the rear of the engine. At the slip, in neutral, I raised the rpms to 4500rpm and noticed the same oil smoke. I am assuming the two ports are some sort of exhaust?<br /><br />About the kicker. I put a multimeter across the lamp wires (disconnected from the rest of the wiring harness) and read zero ohms (or something real low) so I think the bulb is good. I ran out of time to run any more tests. What would be the next thing to check? In the mean time, I have not run the engine.<br /><br />Thanks for your help!

 

[jim dozier]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

I think PCHonda's answer was right on. I don't know the particulars of that engine, so check the book, but I would bet that engine should attain at least 6000 rpm and maybe even 6500 rpm in a lightly loaded boat. You should be able to attain 5500 rpm in a heavily laden boat with a headwind. I think that despite any other problems you may or may not be having, you are lugging that engine, which is not good for it. Also, don't rev it up to 4500 rpm in neutral at the dock, its hard on the internals and it doesn't tell you anything. That engine will rev past that in neutral on only one cylinder.

 

[BrianW]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

Jim,<br /><br />During my trip in which the boat was loaded down, I didn't try to run any higher than 4500rpms. I was already a bit worried by the steam and didn't want to cause more problems while trying to get back home.<br /><br />I don't know if it will help, but here's a picture of the boat...<br /><br />

<br /><br />...frozen in the slip. Usually the water doesn't freeze up that bad, but we had a cold snap this winter. Could the freezing water damaged the impeller?<br /><br />The engine is question...<br /><br />

<br /><br />...and a normal day in the life of this boat...<br /><br />

<br /><br />There's a good bit of soot on the rear of the lower unit that came from those two ports, if that helps???<br /><br />Thanks!

 

[cp]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

Honda specifies the BF130 WOT rpm range as 5000-6000 so your 5400 rpm is OK, but you should be able to get that rpm at all loads you'd normally carry, as jimd says. If you can't get that rpm at WOT with all normal loads, then you're overloading the engine and either need to lighten the load or use a prop with less pitch.<br /><br />Those two ports at the back of the motor midsection are exhaust ports that serve to prevent a buildup of exhaust pressure during reverse operation, when water flows into/against the hub and opposes the main exhaust flow. They do emit some exhaust also during forward operation, so if you're seeing bluish smoke continuously coming out there when running, you may be burning oil. If there's a thick blue cloud following you around, especially if your oil level keeps dropping and your plugs get fouled, you might want to check compression.<br /><br />If you're getting a good telltale stream of water and no overheat alarms, then your water pump impeller is working. You do replace it periodically I hope; it's no fun waiting until it craps out before replacing it.<br /><br />On the kicker: Put a simple 9 volt battery (you know, one of those rectangular ones) across it and see if it lights up. If it lights up, you may actually have had a low oil pressure , or hopefully just a faulty oil pressure switch. If it doesn't light up, then maybe you've just had a bad light and the oil pressure is good. As a couple of us advised in the other thread, be cautious and conservative when deciding to run it, 'cause bad things happen if running with no/low oil pressure.

 

[blueflu]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

You didn't say anything about maintenance on the motor,using the motor commercially as it appears you do,you should be changing the oil more frequently and running in dirty water the impeller on the water pump should be replaced more frequently than recommended! Seems like 1060 hours isn't bad for a engine worked this hard! I own a 27 foot World Cat which is a fiberglass cat with all kinds of fishing gear and passengers and the twin 130's are more than enough power for this boat! Good luck with your problem!

 

[BrianW]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

blueflu,<br /><br />I don't know the entire history of the motor, so I can't really comment on past maintenance. It's had three owners (I'm the third.) The first did use it for commercial crabbing, the second for pleasure, and I'm using it for pleasure too.<br /><br />I just changed the engine oil, and used Mobil One 10W30. I also changed the lower unit oil, and wasn't happy to see only a quart of oil drain out. The oil appeared to have some water contamination, as it was 'slightly' milky. I've seen oil that was worse though. I replaced it with West Marine synthetic oil. I'll run the engine another 20 hours or so, and replace it again to see how it looks.<br /><br />The engine runs fairly good, but I foresee a new larger engine being mounted in a year or so.<br /><br />Thanks for the reply!

 

[Alaskantech]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

Brian<br />If you let me know your model and serial number on your 130 Honda I can help you out with your warrenty issues. I'm positive that Honda will take care of it regardless of where it was purchased. If you have any questions about your Honda's give me a call at Petersburg Motors and we'll do all we can to keep you Honda happy...

 

[BrianW]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

Alaskantech,<br /><br />Thanks for the support!<br /><br />I hope to get underway again tomorrow, if I can stay clear of the herring fleet! The harbor is packed with seiners and tenders. So is the P-Bar. <br /><br />I have another heavy load run scheduled for late April (four guys, and 600lbs of gear), so I may learn more about any problems then. Plus I'll try and load it up in the next week or so, as a test.<br /><br />Keep in mind that I'm not experiencing the classic symptoms of the cracked block issue, as descibed here on this website. But I would like to have the engine checked out, to see if the crack problem exist.<br /><br />The serial number is BZBE-1001163 and I believe it's a BF-130A or something like that, I'll check further if needed.<br /><br />I've been to Petersberg twice, taking my old boat over on the ferry, then running out to hunt black bear. Once we stayed close to town, the last time we ran down to Craig. Had a buddy buy a boat from Rocky, and we checked out his shop, which looked real nice. If I were to come over for a hunt, then drop off my boat, how long does it take to inspect the engine?<br /><br />Again, thanks for the offer to help!

 

[Alaskantech]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

Brian<br /><br />I'll run your serial number when I get back in the shop and see what it kicks out. The inspection does not take that long, would only need to have the boat for a day to look it over. Have you had the fuel system upgrade done on it yet? I'm sure half the boats from Petersburg are stuffed in your harbor now. Hope the hering hits good this year. Talk to ya later....

 

[dd_storr]

Re: Honda 130 smoking...

hello i'm having same problem,my serieal # is bzbe 1007527.i blew head gasket when impellar went i was just wondering if the upgrade was performed on my engine i'm from up north in the canadian arctic so any help would be appreciated.i changed the head gasket when it went but the new one just blew on first test drive and there was water in the oil again.....thanks for any help on this matter......love the site really good info.