LX210 Smokes a LOT! - any ideas?

[joe coleman]

I have a LX210 2003 Yamaha Jet boat. It runs well, starts fine but it really smokes at idle. Is there a way to fix this? I still have the automatic oiler hooked up and I use synthetic 2 cycle Marine oil from Walmart. I thought I read somewhere that you can pre-mix your gas and oil but I'm not sure what to do with the automatic oiler? Drain it and use empty or is there a way to plug it? OR is there a different fix? Fresh water boat - I live in Maryland.

 

[Brad_Ct]

All 2 strokes are going to smoke with either oil injection or premix. I would leave the oil injection but make sure all your oil lines are in good condition and secured tightly.

 

[the MfM]

The oil injection pump is variable. At idle your running in the neighborhood of 100:1 at full throttle it’s 32:1 (i think)

If you run premix at say 50:1 you’ll have more smoke at idle and be running a tad lean at full throttle. So it wont reduce the smoke...you’d be better off finding an oil that smells better to you <Klotz skicraft> And enjoy your mosquito free boating.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I have a LX210 2003 Yamaha Jet boat. It runs well, starts fine but it really smokes at idle. Is there a way to fix this? I still have the automatic oiler hooked up and I use synthetic 2 cycle Marine oil from Walmart. I thought I read somewhere that you can pre-mix your gas and oil but I'm not sure what to do with the automatic oiler? Drain it and use empty or is there a way to plug it? OR is there a different fix? Fresh water boat - I live in Maryland.

Does it start smoking immediately when it goes to idle? Or does it start smoking after has been sitting idling? Do you take the boat out and run it so that it cleans out all the way? If you do a lot of idling the motor is going to get loaded up with unburnt two stoke oil and smoke.

All oils are not created equally. You could try removing the Walmart oil and use another oil like Amsoil synthetic two stroke oil, or what the manual calls for Yamaha 2-W. In my experience Yamaha two stroke oils are excellent.

The manual calls for regular unleaded 87 octane gasoline. What fuel are you running?

I would leave the oil injection system in place as I’m not convinced that is the issue.

 

[joe coleman]

Does it start smoking immediately when it goes to idle? Or does it start smoking after has been sitting idling? Do you take the boat out and run it so that it cleans out all the way? If you do a lot of idling the motor is going to get loaded up with unburnt two stoke oil and smoke.

All oils are not created equally. You could try removing the Walmart oil and use another oil like Amsoil synthetic two stroke oil, or what the manual calls for Yamaha 2-W. In my experience Yamaha two stroke oils are excellent.

The manual calls for regular unleaded 87 octane gasoline. What fuel are you running?

I would leave the oil injection system in place as I’m not convinced that is the issue.

Thanks for the suggestions. It starts smoking right away when we crank it. I normally put the boat in the water at the ramp with my wife driving and she idles while I park the trailer. There is a huge cloud out there by the time I walk back to the river and she picks me up. Afterward, we do run it good and mostly it cleans it out, but if we go back to idle, it will start smoking again in a while.

I use regular unleaded from the gas station.

I'll try the different oil and leave the injection system in place.

Can the injection system go bad? and if yes, are they hard to replace? I've read a lot about replacing the lines but never the injection system.

Thanks again for the information and suggestions.

Joe

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks for the suggestions. It starts smoking right away when we crank it. I normally put the boat in the water at the ramp with my wife driving and she idles while I park the trailer. There is a huge cloud out there by the time I walk back to the river and she picks me up. Afterward, we do run it good and mostly it cleans it out, but if we go back to idle, it will start smoking again in a while.

I use regular unleaded from the gas station.

I'll try the different oil and leave the injection system in place.

Can the injection system go bad? and if yes, are they hard to replace? I've read a lot about replacing the lines but never the injection system.

Thanks again for the information and suggestions.

Joe

To answer your question about the injection system going bad...any mechanical device will eventually fail. whether your has a problem is not known. Has it always smoked a lot? Some more info here would be helpful.

the fact it starts and runs well makes me doubt there is a spark plug problem, but when was the last time the plugs were changed?

Please define ”we do run it good“ ... the fact it cleans out is a good sign. I’m still thinking the two stroke oil that is being used could be the culprit, or is adding to the problem.

What about the air filter ? When was it checked or replaced last?

Does this boat have a manual choke? If so perhaps check to see that the choke is turning off all the way.

It is possible that the carbs are dirty and need a rebuild.. have you run any fuel system cleaner through it? If not a dose of Techron may be in order.

 

[Julian]

This was one of the contributing factors to me being able to upgrade from an LX210! That and the boss' desire for a windshield to protect the baby....

But I miss the power and flat spins from my LX210 (fancy LS2000).....the smoke I could have lived without.....you just have to go faster!!!

 

[joe coleman]

To answer your question about the injection system going bad...any mechanical device will eventually fail. whether your has a problem is not known. Has it always smoked a lot? Some more info here would be helpful.

the fact it starts and runs well makes me doubt there is a spark plug problem, but when was the last time the plugs were changed?

Please define ”we do run it good“ ... the fact it cleans out is a good sign. I’m still thinking the two stroke oil that is being used could be the culprit, or is adding to the problem.

What about the air filter ? When was it checked or replaced last?

Does this boat have a manual choke? If so perhaps check to see that the choke is turning off all the way.

It is possible that the carbs are dirty and need a rebuild.. have you run any fuel system cleaner through it? If not a dose of Techron may be in order.

OK - to answer your questions first.
"We run it good" - lets see, she idles for maybe 5 minutes while I park, then we "no-wake" out of the area and then we run say 30 MPH for 10 minutes or so and then its wake board time. Maybe 45 minutes or so, then a run up the river - maybe 20 minutes, grab lunch and then 30 minutes at 25 MPH back to the ramp.
Yes, it has smoked some in the past but the last two or three years it smokes MUCH more.
Plugs were changed year before last and carbs were cleaned at the beginning of last year.
Yes, I have a manual choke.
Air filter - sorry, never knew it had one.

You have helped me a lot - now I need to work.

I'll drain the oil tank, buy a gallon of the HP Marine Synthetic 2-Stroke Oil from Amsoil and run for a a couple hours.
I'll put in new spark plugs.
I'll dose with Techron and I'll also spray carbs with carb cleaner.
I'll read the manual and find out where the air filters are and either clean or more than likely, buy new.
AND
I'll check back in a couple weeks and let you know how things went. Still cold up here.

Thanks again

Joe

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

OK - to answer your questions first.
"We run it good" - lets see, she idles for maybe 5 minutes while I park, then we "no-wake" out of the area and then we run say 30 MPH for 10 minutes or so and then its wake board time. Maybe 45 minutes or so, then a run up the river - maybe 20 minutes, grab lunch and then 30 minutes at 25 MPH back to the ramp.
Yes, it has smoked some in the past but the last two or three years it smokes MUCH more.
Plugs were changed year before last and carbs were cleaned at the beginning of last year.
Yes, I have a manual choke.
Air filter - sorry, never knew it had one.

You have helped me a lot - now I need to work.

I'll drain the oil tank, buy a gallon of the HP Marine Synthetic 2-Stroke Oil from Amsoil and run for a a couple hours.
I'll put in new spark plugs.
I'll dose with Techron and I'll also spray carbs with carb cleaner.
I'll read the manual and find out where the air filters are and either clean or more than likely, buy new.
AND
I'll check back in a couple weeks and let you know how things went. Still cold up here.

Thanks again

Joe

Right on Joe!

Sounds like a good plan!

If you can please post some pictures of the spark plugs when you pull them out. Be sure and check the gap on the new plugs before installing.

It may take an extended run to clean up the exhaust ports and exhaust pipes. Suggestion, take it for an hour long cruise so everything gets good and hot, for a while.

Best of luck !

 

[the MfM]

...no air filters to replace

But there is a screen in the air box. You can open it up the air box and make sure it doesn’t have something blocking air flow.

 

[4x15mph]

You have to love the LX210. Fantastic boat! Yes, smoke is completely normal especially at idle and initial start up. Definitely keep the injection and make sure all lines and the system is properly maintained.

 

[joe coleman]

Right on Joe!

Sounds like a good plan!

If you can please post some pictures of the spark plugs when you pull them out. Be sure and check the gap on the new plugs before installing.

It may take an extended run to clean up the exhaust ports and exhaust pipes. Suggestion, take it for an hour long cruise so everything gets good and hot, for a while.

Best of luck !

Here are the pictures - taken looking aft, plugs are in order - not sure it will help - guess the light was at the wrong angle
She started right up after a long sleep in the winter
ANYWAY
Oil is drained, new GOOD stuff in ready to be put in, I've got that list of stuff to do (thanks), its warm on Tuesday so she will get a good one hour run
AND
I've an appointment with the "professional" come early May to have them change out the oil lines and look at the oil pumps

Thanks for all the advise

Joe

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Here are the pictures - taken looking aft, plugs are in order - not sure it will help - guess the light was at the wrong angle
She started right up after a long sleep in the winter
ANYWAY
Oil is drained, new GOOD stuff in ready to be put in, I've got that list of stuff to do (thanks), its warm on Tuesday so she will get a good one hour run
AND
I've an appointment with the "professional" come early May to have them change out the oil lines and look at the oil pumps

Thanks for all the advise

Joe

Well those plugs look pretty wet! Definitely time to replace them.

 

[dabomb6608]

I just skimmed through the other posts so this might have been brought up already.

Check your oil pump cable adjustment. There is a mark on the cable bracket that should line up with a mark on the pump body at idle position. It could be out of adjustment and over oiling at idle. Other things are fresh plugs and better oil as mentioned.

For reference, my LS2000 when purchased had oil pumps deleted. It was like a fog machine at idle. I would idle through my almost mile long cove with only one engine running because it was so bad. I installed a factory oil injection system and can now idle with both engines running. It does still smoke but nothing like it was before. It smokes minimally after coming to an idle after running around, and as it idles longer it does increase but not terrible like before.

Another thing that helped was installing 115gram needle springs in the carbs. This helped with the rich loading up situation these boats are common for when idling for long periods. As it loads up it doesn't have complete combustion and this only adds to the oil burn off and smoke amounts.

 

[joe coleman]

I just skimmed through the other posts so this might have been brought up already.

Check your oil pump cable adjustment. There is a mark on the cable bracket that should line up with a mark on the pump body at idle position. It could be out of adjustment and over oiling at idle. Other things are fresh plugs and better oil as mentioned.

For reference, my LS2000 when purchased had oil pumps deleted. It was like a fog machine at idle. I would idle through my almost mile long cove with only one engine running because it was so bad. I installed a factory oil injection system and can now idle with both engines running. It does still smoke but nothing like it was before. It smokes minimally after coming to an idle after running around, and as it idles longer it does increase but not terrible like before.

Another thing that helped was installing 115gram needle springs in the carbs. This helped with the rich loading up situation these boats are common for when idling for long periods. As it loads up it doesn't have complete combustion and this only adds to the oil burn off and smoke amounts.

Thanks. As far as my skill level, I think installing new needle springs is above my comfort level. The new oil, plugs and cleaning everything has helped and I'm going to have the shop change out the oil lines and I'll share your comment about the oil pump cable adjustment. Thanks again.

 

[purv2000]

I just skimmed through the other posts so this might have been brought up already.

Check your oil pump cable adjustment. There is a mark on the cable bracket that should line up with a mark on the pump body at idle position. It could be out of adjustment and over oiling at idle. Other things are fresh plugs and better oil as mentioned.

For reference, my LS2000 when purchased had oil pumps deleted. It was like a fog machine at idle. I would idle through my almost mile long cove with only one engine running because it was so bad. I installed a factory oil injection system and can now idle with both engines running. It does still smoke but nothing like it was before. It smokes minimally after coming to an idle after running around, and as it idles longer it does increase but not terrible like before.

Another thing that helped was installing 115gram needle springs in the carbs. This helped with the rich loading up situation these boats are common for when idling for long periods. As it loads up it doesn't have complete combustion and this only adds to the oil burn off and smoke amounts.

I too had the oil pump deleted at purchase and suffer from idle smoke bombing the river. I realize this is a two stroke and a two stroke is going to smoke but it seems that the pump mechanically variates the mix based on rpm. can you give me some guidance on where to buy the installation kit and what is level of complexity regarding installation is?

 

[dabomb6608]

I too had the oil pump deleted at purchase and suffer from idle smoke bombing the river. I realize this is a two stroke and a two stroke is going to smoke but it seems that the pump mechanically variates the mix based on rpm. can you give me some guidance on where to buy the installation kit and what is level of complexity regarding installation is?

There is no "installation kit". You would need to find someone selling a used setup. This would include the oil tank assembly, oil pumps with cables, and then you could purchase a oil line replacement kit with filters from island racing or individually purchase the hoses and cut to length. You also need the inline check valves (3 per engine) between the engine and oil pumps.