June 10, 2014

More Maintenance - Exhaust Elbows

Our engine is a Yanmar 3GM30F. The exhaust mixing elbow is a known wear item. It carbons up, and rusts out from the inside. While carbon can be scraped out, the internal rusting can't be fixed. It should be replaced regularly - especially if you are heading out for areas of the world where parts are harder to get.  Our engine is about 15 years old. The previous owner put about 550 hours on it over 10 years, and we now have a total of 2200 hours on the engine.  In diesel terms, it's fairly young - and I wouldn't be surprised if the exhaust mixing elbow is original.  I'm slowly learning that preventative maintenance is easier than fixing things in exotic locations.

Recently the engine's exhaust has been smoking and the engine has showing some signs of overheating.

Have a look at the exhaust passage of the old elbow and compare it with the size of passage shown in the new mixing elbow.  Note the old elbow opening is probably 1/3 the area of the new one.  Poor engine couldn't breathe...



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