2020 Suzuki 9.9 kicker question

[luckydude]

2020 Suzuki 9.9 kicker cooling problem

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I bought this new sometime in 2020 and since day one, it doesn't want to piss water like it should when run in fresh water to clear out the salt. I have to force water in the inlet or cover the little exhaust tube next to the pee hole and spray water in there. It will piss a little, then stop, I spray again, repeat, repeat again, and the 4th it will "catch" and start to pee.

Normally, out on the ocean, it pees just fine so I haven't worried about it, it's annoying. That changed yesterday while salmon trolling, it didn't pee, overheated, and quit. So something is wrong and I'm looking for a clue stick.

I pulled the casing off it, hoping to see something, but it is just about an inch of metal tube coming out of the block, no hose for me to play with.

Questions:

A) Is this just me or is this a known issue with the Zuke 9.9?
B) Is it a good idea, or bad idea, to force compressed air in the pee hole to try and clear it?
C) Would salt away or something else be helpful (remember, this thing had this problem brand new but it appears to have gotten worse)
D) Any other ideas for me?

Thanks.

 

[SkunkBoat]

This is based on a very old 2 stroke zuke 9.9 but.....look for a hole directly above the prop and cover it with duct tape when you are on ear muffs.
Maybe the hole is somewhere else now?

My Yamahas would not run on ear muffs. Had to use a Yamaha Hot Tub.

You may have damaged the impellor while running dry on ear muffs.

Oh wait ..I read it some more...
You are saying it does not pee when you have the flusher hose connected ?
You are not talking about running it on ear muffs?

And now it overheats?

I would be looking at the T-stat and the impellor


As far as clearing the pee hole, the pee hole being clogged won't cause overheating. Once the T stat opens most of the water goes thru the block and out the exhaust .
The pee hole is just there to tell you your pump is working.

 

[ilmmct]

Have you tried pushing some weed whacker line done the telltale/pee line? Perhaps spiders or mud daubers have set up a home in the line and you’ve got a blockage?

I had a similar at sea overheat (not a Suzuki) and it turned out to be mud daubers. I cleared the line and was good to go.

It’s a relatively new outboard, so I’d be surprised if the thermostat is the problem.

 

[luckydude]

Have you tried pushing some weed whacker line done the telltale/pee line? Perhaps spiders or mud daubers have set up a home in the line and you’ve got a blockage?

I had a similar at sea overheat (not a Suzuki) and it turned out to be mud daubers. I cleared the line and was good to go.

It’s a relatively new outboard, so I’d be surprised if the thermostat is the problem.

Yep, tried that, tried compressed air that made it through the system, I had it in water and it forced bubbles out the bottom.

I've ordered an impeller and am going to replace that and see. It's been a while since I've done one so I'll be watching youtube videos.
A buddy told me that if the impeller is in backwards I'd see what I'm seeing and I just had it serviced so maybe that is the issue.

 

[Chessie246G]

Were you flushing on muffs or the flush ports? Engine running or just water pressure.

Some engines just won't pee on muffs. Its a combination of water pressure and air entering the system. Water pump cant build enough pressure to get it to come out.

If on the flushing ports.... and engine running... could have damaged the impeller. Not enough water in the water pump to keep it cool enough. Dry rubber on dry metal doesnt end well.

 

[luckydude]

Were you flushing on muffs or the flush ports? Engine running or just water pressure.

Some engines just won't pee on muffs. Its a combination of water pressure and air entering the system. Water pump cant build enough pressure to get it to come out.

If on the flushing ports.... and engine running... could have damaged the impeller. Not enough water in the water pump to keep it cool enough. Dry rubber on dry metal doesnt end well.

I have a 50 gallon horse trough, I flush with that. So it is like it is in the ocean.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I'm still not clear on the symptoms.

It NEVER pees. It ALWAYS overheats. Are both statements correct all the time?

When in tub it does not pee and overheats? This can be impellor or water tube not connected in lower unit.

When running in the water it overheats and does not pee? This can be impellor or water tube not connected in lower unit.

When on flushing hose it does not pee? This is a confusing symtom if it is true.
The flushing port should cause it to pee even if the impellor is bad.
If the water tube was mis-aligned then maybe there is not enough pressure built up to get the water out of the pee hole. All the water drains out the open tube below.

As I said before, the pee hole being clogged should not cause overheating. It is there to indicate that there is water pressure in the head at the thermistat (regardless of whether the thermistat is open or closed)

 

[Halfhitch]

Yep, tried that, tried compressed air that made it through the system, I had it in water and it forced bubbles out the bottom.

I've ordered an impeller and am going to replace that and see. It's been a while since I've done one so I'll be watching youtube videos.
A buddy told me that if the impeller is in backwards I'd see what I'm seeing and I just had it serviced so maybe that is the issue.

I think you are on the right track Lucky. If it ran fine without overheating before you had work done and now overheats ever since the work was done, it's a pretty good bet something was done wrong. Being professional doesn't mean mistakes can't be made. While you are waiting for the impellor kit to arrive, you could test your thermostat just to eliminate that for sure. The easiest way to tell when the stat begins to open is get a piece of your wife's sewing thread....push on the center of the thermostat to compress the spring and open it a bit. Stick the end of the thread in the opening and let it close on the thread. Suspend it by the string in a pan of heating water and the moment it starts to open, it will drop off the string. Note the temperature on the thermometer that you had in the pan. That is the opening temp in the specs for your engine. You probably have a 140 F opening point but check your manual to be sure. Continue to watch the thermostat as it lays on the bottom of the pan and the water continues to heat to make sure it is opening fully. You should see about 3/16 inch of opening or so by the time the water gets 10 or 15 degrees hotter. If it's less than 1/8 inch it is binding and should be tossed. Highly unlikely for a nice new motor like yours but knowing for certain, makes one sleep better. If your stat is opening and you get a new impellor in, bent in the right direction, you should be good to go. Grease up the new impellor fingers and housing good. Have fun.

 

[luckydude]

I'm still not clear on the symptoms.

It NEVER pees. It ALWAYS overheats. Are both statements correct all the time?

When in tub it does not pee and overheats? This can be impellor or water tube not connected in lower unit.

When running in the water it overheats and does not pee? This can be impellor or water tube not connected in lower unit.

When on flushing hose it does not pee? This is a confusing symtom if it is true.
The flushing port should cause it to pee even if the impellor is bad.
If the water tube was mis-aligned then maybe there is not enough pressure built up to get the water out of the pee hole. All the water drains out the open tube below.

As I said before, the pee hole being clogged should not cause overheating. It is there to indicate that there is water pressure in the head at the thermistat (regardless of whether the thermistat is open or closed)

If you just start it and let it run, it never pees and eventually overheats. Same in tub and the ocean. Same in neutral and in gear. Revving it up does not make it pee.

I can make pee for a second or two by pushing water in from my garden hose but then it stops and it never pees strongly, it just spurts.

I used to be able to get it to go by forcing water into the water inlets but that doesn't work since it was serviced.

 

[SkunkBoat]

You don't have a hose flushing port on that?

Does sound like impellor.
Possible they didn't line up the water tube when they put the lower unit back on. Not sure if thats possible with your model but its a thing to look for.

 

[glacierbaze]

Did the service include dropping the lower unit for anything?

 

[Keitha]

Sounds like either an enlarged prostate or a bad impeller. Inspecting/Replacing the impeller is probably the easier fix.

 

[luckydude]

Coming around to close this topic, short answer is Mr Idiot (that would be me) strikes again.

So when I started out with the horse trough I would put 3 pallets under the trough to raise it way up for the kicker and that worked but I
got lazy. I noticed that the water intake was way under water so I thought, this is the Mr Idiot part, that all I needed to do was stick that under water and I'd be good to go. Thing is that the impeller sits way higher than that and the horse trough provides no pressure so no pump priming for me and I roached the impeller and the housing. Stupid me.

I've also found that they have a garden hose coupling, all I need is a coupling that turns so I can connect it, and bingo, I use way less water, can do the main engine and kicker at the same time, no issues.

This is unrelated, but since I smelled a little oil around the lower unit, I checked the lower unit the upper plug, oil oozed out and it looked like oil, not like milk, so I think I'm ok there.

One weirdness is that the interior of the housing above the lower unit, had maybe a tablespoon of oil in it. I just tipped the motor down, let it sit for a minute or two, checked the dipstick, it's all the way to the top mark, maybe a hair over it. If my dealer overfilled it, would some run down inside the housing?

Thanks for all your help and sorry for yet another edition of Mr Idiot

 

[ilmmct]

Glad you figured it out. Don’t kick yourself too hard, most of us have many stories that could beat this one.

 

[DennisG01]

Yeah, I've been there on things, too!

All engines have a small amount of residual oil left in the cylinders that then drains down. In cars/stern drives/inboards the oil drains back into the sump. But because of the vertical nature of OB's, it's not uncommon for that oil to pool in the combustion chamber... which then causes a bit of white smoke on initial startup. It's feasible to think that this "unburnt oil vapor" (white smoke) could then collect on the inside walls of the midsection as it cools down and collect somewhere.

Keep an eye on the oil level, but don't worry about a thing unless you see the level noticeably dropping.

 

[luckydude]

Thanks for all the replies. Oil level is completely full. And while I screwed this up once, I only beat myself up if I make the same mistake again (I won't). All in all, a relatively cheap lesson in how my cooling system works.