Another old Onan question about smoke

[George]

Believe it or not, my generator is a 1984 and still going strong. well, it started smoking last year and I imagine it probably has 5-6,000 or so hours. Looking at the parts manual at the breather assembly which has never been taken apart, do you suppose, taking is apart, cleaning etc may in fact help with the smoking, or do you think it's simply old, old injectors, rings etc. Also, what about the Air Silencer. is there anything inside there that may be cleaned etc?

[JCG-PR]

It's too bad nobody ever responded to this post. I have a 45C as well and I've noticed some smoke from the generator. Nothing major, as its not obvious, unless you're looking for it. Just ran across this post and would have been curious to see any suggestions.

JCG

[sgharford]

You could check the valve clearance. I have original 1976 MDJE 7.5kw that runs like a champ. I checked the valve clearance on it about 6 years ago and they were so far off I was amazed it ran at all. I can't remember much about smoke, but the sound level went down considerably.

[ageless]

what color is the smoke?

[JCG-PR]

I would say black. It's a very light haze that is almost invisible, unless you're really looking for it. Also, anything floating on that side of the boat, while genset is on, will be coated black from soot, (dinghy, paddle board or friend's boat).

Checking valve clearances sounds like a good idea, I'll look into that.

Thanks,
JCG