New DF175 - White stuff on lower cowling

[Mark255]

I have two new DF175's and after a running around doing the break-in procedure (got to 11 hours), I put the boat back on my lift and noticed that the lower cowlings of both engines had white stuff dripping down them. The white stuff appeared to be dried at the time and felt chalky to the touch. There was no oil slick in the water while lifting the boat. The engines are running with no alarms and about 130 deg temp. The boat is back at the dealer (they never have seen the white stuff before) and haven't got a report yet. I have included a couple of pictures of my engines. Hope someone can tell me how much trouble (if any) I'm in.

[wilbur1]

Looks to be coming from the pee hole

[Mark255]

The pee holes are on the sides of the engine. Did hot have any white stuff coming out of them. It did appear to be coming out of the rear water port.

[Harper]

That rear port is an auxiliary exhaust port. Have no idea what that could be.

[ChrigelKarrer]

I never saw something like this, nor on a Suzuki engine and not either on any other brand outboard engine.
From the pictre it's dificult to say what it is but it seems to drip from the auxilary exhaust port.
I only can guess what it is and from the color it may be either white lithium grease residues or some kind of oxidation material from aluminium/zinc anodes/magnesium.
Lithium grease should not be there and oxidation (maybe due to stray currents) would be a major failure.
Chris

[Mark255]

The white stuff is not greasy and was dry to the touch after being out of the water for about 5 minutes (that's when I noticed it). It was able to be wiped off with a damp cloth. Most of it came off when I motored to the ramp and got picked up by the dealer. Should hear from them today on what they found.

[Mark255]

The "white stuff" has been solved......kinda.

I was there when the Tech removed the side covers (nothing out of the ordinary after removing the top cowling) to see no white stuff on the lower engine nor on the inside of any of the covers. All the white stuff was on the outside of the cover or on the outer interface of the cover-to-cover junctions. So it doesn't appear to be a "motor" problem......which is good. So the dealer was back to the theory it's a T-9 problem. Here's the possible scenario:

1) After getting the boat with approx. 2 hours on it, I proceed to apply T-9 to both engines (outside temp was 90 Deg F).
2) After 2 days, take boat out for "break-in" run. Sequence of idle, half-throttle, idle, half-throttle plus, idle, etc. for about 2 hours. Never hit WOT. Again temp was in the 90's. No white stuff on engines.
3) Next time out (3 days later). Took a longer ride still performing the "break-in" sequence. Temp in the high 90's. Didn't notice any white stuff when we stopped for lunch. This time on the ride back I was at 10 hours, so I went to WOT for approx. 3 minutes (then hit no-wake zone) and had to slow down. Was home about 15 minutes later. White stuff was there on both engines.
4) Next day idled boat to remp for dealer pick-up. No new white stuff and much of the old stuff seemed to wash off as I was moving.

So the theory is that combining the outside hot temp with WOT engine temp caused the T-9 to "flow" down the motor (I did have a thick coat on the motors). When the T-9 came in contact with the salt/brackish water it turned white. The exact path of the T-9 is still a mystery and why it turned white also. The T-9 folks say that excess T-9 turns yellow when it drys. The only way to the outside from under the top cowling to where it first appears white is to pass through the two rubber outlets located at the back-side of the engine and then drip down to the outside of the exhaust port. From there it could "flow" to the cover interface where the majority of the white stuff appeared. It does sound like the Kennedy "magic bullet", but it seems to fit the data.