'01 Outback smoke at idle and hard start

[graybmg]

I bought a 2001 Outback with 325 hours on it. It's carbureted and I am noticing some smoke at idle. I have to assume it's there when cruising, just can't see it with the wind. I wouldn't say it's blue or black. It's grey. I am having trouble starting cold and sometimes after it's hot. So I'm curious if this might indicate a bad fuel mixture. Any ideas?

[kaneboats]

Better make sure it's smoke and not steam.

[avery11100]

I have an 01 Moomba. I had similar issues a few years back. Hated being the smoky boat. I bought a new carb and the problems were resolved. It is one gasket and very easy to do. 1 hour tops. In hindsight I think I should have had the original one rebuilt. I bought a single pumper vs. the double pumper and ran into some issues getting the hoses to line up. Make sure you get a double pumper if you get a new one. Rebuilding the original is the best option.

[mmandley]

If its smoking all the time or just off idle for a boat on the older side, if the carb doesn't fix it the next thing you need to be looking at is Valve seals in the Heads.

They tend to dry rot from a lack of use and the low hours is awesome on a older boat but still comes with a price.

If you have the Heads rebuilt then it will run about 300 and while your at it get them ported and polished. Its a process of making the ports slightly larger and smoothing the bores. The result is a better flowing head and HP gains of 15 to 50 and same gains in the torque. Its a easy upgrade at the time of the rebuilt with some nice bang to it.