Broken exhaust after turbo. Thoughts?

Was heading home after a beautiful labor day weekend here in the north east. Cruising on plane as normal when the tone/sound of the engines changed noticeably. Quick check of gauges showed no loss of RPM, Oil Pressure, Turbo Pressure, or Temp. Pretty quickly, dark smoke appeared out the exhaust of the PORT engine.

Came down to idle on both engines and smoke stopped. Opened up engine room to find it pretty thick with exhaust smoke. My initial thought was I'd lost a turbo on the port motor and that explained the back smoke and change in engine sounds. But thought it odd that engine didn't appear to lose power or RPM and turbo boost looked ok.

On further inspection of a hot and smokey engine room, found that exhaust elbow on STARBOARD engine had become disconnected from turbo outlet. As best I could tell as it was difficult to inspect, some kind of coupler had torn or broken. My working theory is that when the starboard motor started exhausting into the engine room, the port motor sucked up that foul air and that's why that is where I saw the black smoke. Make sense?

I know this was lame but I was able to wrap the joint in heavy aluminum foil and rescue tape to keep the engine from ejecting soot into my engine room. I was then able to make weigh about 8.5knts without turbo's spooling up and after a 6 hr slow cruise, got the boat to the yard where my mechanic is. I am now waiting to hear from him.

Other than repair of this connection (and I'll have the one on the other engine done too) and I imagine replacing the air filters, is there anything else I should do or check? Engine room is filthy with soot and will need a serious deep cleaning. I think the root cause of this is a broken support collar that goes around exhaust elbow and is supported by a stainless strut. I found that broken last season. So I replaced it at the beginning of this season. But the added vibration prior to repair may have been enough to compromise the connections.

Let me know if anyone has any other thoughts or suggestions on my course of actions.

Thanks.

Capt Ralph,

Thanks for the reply.

2 questions...

-Why a possible insurance claim on something that's basically a wear issue on a 20yr old boat.
-Why an oil change (although not the worst thing in the world as I do it this time of year anyway).

I plan to have them handle all the clean-up. No way I want to tackle that one.

Hey all. Just closing the loop on this one. Inspected by mechanic and no surprises. Flange of exhaust elbow that connects to turbo broke off. So having elbows on both motors replaced. Volvo parts prices are $$$ as everyone knows so not a cheap date when you add in cost of engine room clean up. Thankfully no damage to turbos. Also doing air filters, breather filters, and oil change. That stuff was basically due so no big deal there. Honestly, I try to stay on top of maintenance and service intervals but I never knew exhaust elbows were essentially a wear item that should be replaced periodically. No sign of wear on exterior so only way to know would have been to pull and inspect them. Always learning...

I suspect the rust and corrosion had been covered over by paint...

No I did not check with my insurance company. Was thinking it's simply a mechanical failure of a wear item. Didn't think it was worth it. Also figured it might slow the repair as they'll want to send out a surveyor/adjuster, likely to tell me I'm not covered. But perhaps it's worth it.

**EDIT... update to say I talked to my insurance co. I have a pretty high deductible so not worth a claim.

I don't have any pics. But I saw the part in the vice at the yard this AM. Mechanic showed me where a flange was "supposed to be" on the elbow that had broken off. Apparently that mates to a matching flange on the turbo and is then clamped together with a part that volvo calls a "V Band Clamp". I suspect the reason this part broke is related to vibration. Not only is it likely 20 years old and likely corroded... but, as I mentioned in the original post... at the end of last season I noticed that a band that clamps around the riser and attaches to a stainless strut to stabilize the elbow had broken. I replaced it at the beginning of this season but not sure how long it was broken before I noticed it. So elbow may have been subject to more vibration and weight then was good for it for some period of time.