Starboard engine piss port

[magicalbill]

Sometimes attaching a hose is not enough to make the engine pee. If it’s peeing while it’s running you’re probably fine.

This...

It's water pressure that makes engines pee on the hose/flush attachment. I have hooked up many a hose that doesn't have enough pressure to make it pee, but in the water, it does.

Agree with others, check t-stats, impellers, etc.

 

[SkunkBoat]

Seasick, correct me if I am wrong but the starboard rear is the tell tale (picture shows water). Not doing anything at lower limit yet. Never had high temp sensor alarm go off but to be honest not even sure it functions. Speed is close to gps so thinking it is ok.

Should I have seen water come out of tell tale when I put a hose on the flush connection?

you had the right tube. It certain looks good in the picture.

Yes, it should pee when on the hose. If not there is a high likelyhood of gunk in the Tstat and the pee hole and/or the cooling channels in the head.

Do your gauges indicate temperature or only alarm if overtemp?
You can compare engine temps. Start them at the same time. let them run.. Feel the water coming out of the pee hole. It will get warm when the Tstat opens.
Figure out if the motor is actually not cooling.

I would not waste time though...

I would order two Tstats and two gaskets for the t-stat covers. While waiting for them and a impellor kit to arrive, I would remove the T-stat and look at it for obvious gunk. I'm not going to get into the "boil the Tstat" waste of time. if the Tstat doesn't look brand new, change it. If it looked bad, look at/change the other motor's Tstat.
Start fresh.


There are oddball cases where the impellor is damaged and sometimes/sortof pumps water and sometimes not. A head can be severely gunked up and not have good water flow.
There can be enough gunk at the tstat to prevent the water from flowing to the pee hole.

 

[Pfu]

Have you pulled your thermostats to see if they are clogged?

Will check tomorrow. Too much sun and frustration today!

 

[Pfu]

you had the right tube. It certain looks good in the picture.

Yes, it should pee when on the hose. If not there is a high likelyhood of gunk in the Tstat and the pee hole and/or the cooling channels in the head.

Do your gauges indicate temperature or only alarm if overtemp?
You can compare engine temps. Start them at the same time. let them run.. Feel the water coming out of the pee hole. It will get warm when the Tstat opens.
Figure out if the motor is actually not cooling.

I would not waste time though...

I would order two Tstats and two gaskets for the t-stat covers. While waiting for them and a impellor kit to arrive, I would remove the T-stat and look at it for obvious gunk. I'm not going to get into the "boil the Tstat" waste of time. if the Tstat doesn't look brand new, change it. If it looked bad, look at/change the other motor's Tstat.
Start fresh.


There are oddball cases where the impellor is damaged and sometimes/sortof pumps water and sometimes not. A head can be severely gunked up and not have good water flow.
There can be enough gunk at the tstat to prevent the water from flowing to the pee hole.

Just finished going through the maintenance records and do not see any reference of thermostat(s) being replaced. If corroded is there anything else I do to the “inside”? Note I do not have temp gauges, only alarms.

Will order t-stats and water pumps kits to have on hand. Will wait until I get t-stats and gaskets before checking as sounds like it makes sense to replace not matter what.

I will say it again. This forum membership is awesome. Appreciate everyone‘s comments and ideas.

 

[SkunkBoat]

Another test is to remove the tstat and run the flush hose. Water should come out the tstat hole.
Also, run the motor in the lake and test the same way. That will show pump is getting water to the top of the head.
Doesn't necessarily prove the pump is in great condition though.

These are things usually done in the heat of trying to figure out whats going on. heheh in the end you end up just changing a bunch of things because you don't have time to waste on it.

Removing a Tstat often results in ruining the gasket which results in a leak. Thats why you order gaskets too.

When a Tstat goes bad it can be in three ways. It can NEVER open, it can partially open or it can be STUCK open.
NEVER open is really bad. But you can remove it to get home.

You don't want to run without one permanently. The engine will not get to best operating temperature

 

[seasick]

You are correct about the telltale being on the trailing side of the outboard. My mistake, i thought you were looking at the pitot hose. I did wonder how you got to it though
The telltale may or may not pee when the hose is on the flush port depending on water pressure and more importantly, water flow rate.
It is easier to check using muffs on the lower unit but even then, sometimes there just isn't enough volume to pee.
If you are unsure about over heating I suggest you buy an inexpensive contactless thermometer. They have them at all the box stores and HF for about $30. You don't need a really good one.
I use mine for a lot of things but the most important is during spring prep when the motor is started for the first time or after maintenance like water pump repair/replacement.
You point the red laser beam at each thermostat housing as the motor wars up and check that 1. the heads are warming up 2. they are not too hot, 3 both heads reach about the same temps and 4 if possible, see that the t-stat opened up * when it does, you may see a small drop in head temps. Note that if you do the measurements using pretty cold water, the motors without load, may have a struggle reaching t-stat operating temps.

 

[Pfu]

Todays report.

Got in the car and traveled 45 minutes one way to purchase new thermostats and gaskets. After the rain stopped went to the boat to replace both thermostats. Easy job sitting on the dock. Pleasantly surprised to not see any corrosion but removed and cleaned t-stat area and installed new. Couldn’t run flush test as the water was turned off at the marina for maintenance. Started boat and was happy to see water coming at a decent stream from tell tale. Ran motors for 10-12 minutes with positive results. Was happy.

Turned off motor and waited another 10 minutes. Restarted and only dribbles from tell tale. Exhaust above water line was spitting decent amount of water throughout fifteen minutes test. Repeated cycle again with same results. Called parts dealer and he was not concerned. Should I be?

Water back on tomorrow at the marina or at the latest Tuesday to test flushing again. Want to test using air compressor reversing air flow but not quite sure what to expect. Also grabbed at my office a laser heat gauge. Is there a range I shoukd be expecting during the process? High level where concern should be to shutdown immediately?

 

[seasick]

Your poppet valve may be sticking open. That valve is trickier to replace/rebuild and can be a bit hard to get to. If you are not mechanically up to snuff, you might not want to tackle a rebuild of the poppet.
A symptom of of an open poppet valve when it should be closed is over heating at low speeds like idle but normal temps at higher revs and under load in addition to a weaker telltale.
A flushing using something like Saltaway may help. Sometimes a sticky poppet will free up a bit as it gets exercised, especially if gunk is keeping it from seating completely.

 

[SkunkBoat]

oh...forgot about that! Thats another thing in the mix.

 

[seasick]

Thinking about it again, I may be confusing the difficulty or changing/rebuilding the Yamaha poppet valve with a Mercury poppet valve.
Those jobs just blend into one memory

 

[Pfu]

Of course not easy to see while underway but the exhaust port does spit water out. Is it because of a blockage or OK? Violent storms so nothing new to report today.

don’t see this on port engine as tell-tale is strong flow.

 

[Timbo]

When in doubt change it out. Impellers only last about 2 years

 

[seasick]

When in doubt change it out. Impellers only last about 2 years

Lifespan depends on a few things: My Yamaha impellers last a lot longer than my Mercury impellers. The main reason for that I think is that the Mercury ones are a lot smaller than the Yamis.

Where you boat makes a difference. If you suck sand and mud a lot, the impellers will wear out faster.
The impellers on my older SX Yamis are good got 5 years or so and even then, I change them based on guilt and not wear

 

[Pfu]

After a few days of crappy weather got to the boat. Water on at the dock so jumped right in.

First I pushed air from Tell-tale using compressor. First attempt air pushed valve out, figured blockage. Increased pressure a little and tried again. Heard something break up and then a good whoosh of air. Worried I blew off a tube but nothing found.
Hooked up to flush connection with motor at 2/3 tilt. Much better water pressure than first test and quickly had water coming out of tell-tale.. lowered motor and let run for 15 minutes. (did other motor as well just for fun)

Now the real test. Started up both engines and both had steady stream of water from tell-tale. Ran motors for twenty minutes water was luke warm on both. Shutdown for another thirty minutes. Started both motors back up and water was coming nicely from tell-tale.

Don’t want to jinx myself but maybe this is behind me. I thank you all as learned a lot in a week.

Now if I can get the lawnmower to start…

 

[seasick]

I am glad you seem to have solved your issue. I am hesitant to use compressed air to clean things like telltales in fear of blowing off a hose fitting as you mentioned. I would have preferred to use something like a wire to clean out the fittings to hopefully see what gunk was there if it was gunk. In any case, good job.