Motor not spraying water like usual??

[bassman186]

The other day I was out on the lake prefishing for a tournament when for whatever reason I decide to look back to make sure my motor is spraying water. It was but it was only dripping. So I then decided its time to load up and take it home to figure out the problem. When I got home I connected the suction cups with the hose to my motor and started it. It was spraying water but with very little pressure is this a sign that its gonna quit? Is this ok to run the motor like this? Is this just normal for my 1995 Mercury 2 stroke? Any and All help is needed.

~Matt Jung

[luckey]

Before doing anything drastic, open the hood find the hose running from the outlet to the motor. Remove hose and run the engine. This will tell you if the line is clogged or the problem is in the engine

[bassman186]

Alright I'll go walk outside and try that.

~Matt Jung

[bassman186]

I looked at my motor and I cant find where to disconnect the hose from. It connects to the outlet point on the back of the motor, and then to the Block of the motor, which it is held on by a tie strap type thing.

~Matt Jung

[marine_man]

disconnect it where it goes to the side outlet point...

When's the last time you had your waterpump changed? It probably is time if it's been more than a couple of years...

marine_man

[bassman186]

Do I just pull and it will disconnect? I'm not sure on the water pump I bought the boat this year. The guy who owned it before me bought it Brand new off the showroom in 1995. He ran the motor from point A to B then just trolled. The last 2 years though he has not used the boat.

~Matt Jung

[anchor man]

Did you take a quick look at the intake ports on the lower unit to be sure they are not clogged with weeds or debris?

[bassman186]

yeah the intake ports are clean from the outside. I was thinking is it possible I sucked sand up?

~Matt Jung

[bigeyes]

Take some weed wipe string and stick it up as far as you can while the motor is running. If there is anything partially pluging it then that should take care of the problem without hurting the soft rubber pipe. Most of the time the water pumps are fine but Merc and most manufacturers recommend that the impeller be replaced every 2 years. They do get cupped and go bad. The are a relatively cheap and easy project to fix if you are at all mechanically inclined. I would fix it when your schedule allows, but I would not get too worked as long as water is comming out and your overheating lights/horns are not going off yet.

[fishlakeman]

Ask Valv, He might have a reccomendation for ya I would change the impeller if you don't know when it was last replaced, cheap maintence for an expensive motor, right valv.

[ChuckN]

What hp motor? I have a '94 Merc 175 that spits, dribbles and only a steady stream when she's really hot. Most of the water that passes through the engine goes out the hub, exhaust area.

When I bought the boat/motor I thought there was a problem so I changed the impeller and thermostats. Cheap maintanance and relatively easy. It still dribbled, spit and very weak stream compared to all my other motors I've owned. Just the way that motor was designed.

[bassman186]

Thanks to everyone who threw in there thoughts about what the problem was. I DID fix it! I took and disconnected the hose from the block took an air compresser and blew out the hose. Then I took off the thermostat and seen if it spit water out the correct way without it, and it did. So then I put the thermostat back on to see if the thermostat was bad. When I put the thermostat back on it spit out water just fine. So either the hose was partially clogged or the thermostat just needed my special touch, LOL. Anyway problem solved so thanks again.

Now if only I could fix the Hummingbird!

~Matt Jung

[jwhjr]

Glad to hear you were able to figure it out and it was an easy "fix". I had a similar issue after the big storm up in Ottertail where the motor took some sand through it. I replaced the pump/impeller a couple of years ago and I was worried that it went bad, but it ended up being sand clogging the hose at the top where the water comes out. I pulled the hose off, blew the water out and it was good to go.