Water flow from coolant hole - How much pressure

[Gemini]

Thanks, this has been helpful. I was getting ready to post the same thing. This weekend I launched, I get the boat in the water, motor fully down, start it, let it warm up as we disconnect it from the trailer and move it off. Well, the lake was really low this time, and really sandy and milky looking in the shallow area. No problem when I started, water streaming out, but after I got out into the lake I didn't see it streaming. We lifted the motor, and messed around with it, went full throatle and it started streaming again. Then when I went to pick up the rest of the family at the dock (I even trimed it up some since it was so shallow), I noticed it stop streaming again, this time I couldn't get it to flow again. We still went out and I kept a close eye on it, I know it was picking up water because when I would lift the motor water flowed out of all the intakes, etc. I have maybe 30 hours on this 50 HP Suzuki. I think it is the sand stuck in the hose/hole, I will try the wire idea. Again, many thanks.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Clogging up the pee hole (or having the tube twisted) actually would get more water pressure into the engine block. I was able to limp along for a while by blocking that hole. But of course, then you don't know if your water pump is running or not. When I had my problems a year or so ago, I was hoping that it was one of those easy problems...but no, it had to be the big one. Of course, my motor had 5 years of moderately heavy salt water usage too. Here's a nice long read for anyone who has recurring overheating problems:

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5045

[James V]

I hope that they solved that problem with my '06 bigfoot.

[opie]

kmclemore said it perfectly in his analogy about the 20 year old and the 70 year old. Mine went from the latter to the former when I unscrewed the brass block-fitting and took out the blockage by pliers (that a wire or coat hanger pushed in or out of the fitting in-place could never have removed.) So as another just said, the indicator (pee) stream being lacking or absent does not mean your motor is not getting all the cooling it needs. The motor may be happy as a clam with sufficient engine block flow, but the skipper will be uneasy and worried until the indicator flow is restored.

[ChrisP and Pam]

Try Flomax once a day. Hahaha
Chris

[vkmaynard]

Run a wire thru the pee hole first (several times). If that does not work then replace the impeller. I had the same problem on a new impeller replacement; pee, no pee, wire clear, pee great.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

One word of caution about reaming things into that hole. My P.O. had done that so much that a piece of that little nipple had broken off and the hole was at least twice as large as it was originally. I know because
I had to pay Mercury's ridiculous price (you always get gouged on these little parts), like $28 iirc. But the new piece has a much smaller hole and also directs the flow about 30 degrees to starboard so that it is very easy to see the jet. Having the smaller hole there really jacks up the pressure enough to make foam in the water where it hits. I feel pretty certain that this pressure was part of the original design of the cooling system (think of enlarging the hole in a pressure cooker) so be careful reaming it too much or you may actually be hurting the performance of your system.

[James V]

As Long as your Temp is within range you should be OK. I hope you have a high temp alarm.

[Geoff]

Exactly the same problem on my X with Honda 50 4 stroke permanently sailed and moored in saltwater. Flushing with freshwater always makes a big difference to pee flow. There's also a chemical that can be added to remove encrustation. Only added point I wanted to make is that I use weed-whacker filament instead of wire coat hanger because I looked closely one day and found that the wire was rubbing too much on the hose where there were bends in it.

Happy sailing

Geoff

[opie]

I had to reply to vkmaynard's post for a small correction: IMHO, in this order: no pee, clear water intake screens, no pee, clear pee hole in indicator, no pee, clear plastic hose from block fitting to plastic indicator, no pee, clear brass block fitting, no pee, remove brass block fitting and clean out debris from block, no pee, look to impeller replacement. The first five can be done easily enough on the water and save a trip.
Opie.