Spring prep questions

M

matt_unique

New member
Today I continued some spring prep work. I replaced my Racor filters and after Dr. Bob's recent post drained my fuel water separators in each of the engine cowls. I added some gas to each tank as well.

I have never been able to get a stream when connected to muffs so I always dunk the engines in a large tub of water. Both engines fired right up but no stream of water. I only let them run for 5-10 seconds then shut them down. I then decided to run some water through the forward flush port without the engine running the make sure water could flow through the cooling tube fine. There was no evidence of debris. I removed the hose and fired up the engines. The engines immediately began "peeing" on their own. I ran each engine for a good 15 minutes verifying the charge and all that.

Is that an S.O.P. I was unaware of after being dry for the winter? It seems odd I would have the same problem on two engines if no. Over the next couple of days I will test them again to make sure they pee based on a draw from the tub.


Second question, what is the manual referring to for a grease point titled "steering bracket"? I can't for the life of me match up the picture they show with anything that looks like it needs grease. The rest of the grease points are identified easily.

Thanks
 
I suspect that the water passages were completely drained, and it took a few seconds to get a prime. The danger of running running the engines dry would be burning up the impellers. I suspect that the pumps had just not picked up the prime and filled the passages. (the pumps are full displacement pumps, so as soon as there was water, they were flooded, but still may not have picked up enough water, since there is a little distance from the intake to the pump.

Not sure what grease point you are referring to.

Glad it is finally good enough weather to de-winterize the boats. We had a lot of rain, but then a beautiful day...up to 80 in the sun--and about 65 now at 7 pm.
 
Thanks for the replies.

To be clear, my engines were submerged to the cavitation plate in a 30g tub of water before I turned the key. There was visible air coming from the cooling tube, but no water until I connected the water hose to the forward rinse port. The engines were shut off while I ran water through the forward rinse port, then I capped the rinse port and started the engines. They immediately had the pee stream at this point and purred like kittens for the 15 minutes I ran them.

Do you think I just did not run them long enough when I first started them in the tub of water? I was concerned about running more than really 8-10 seconds without a pee stream so I shut them off and "primed the system" as I mention above.

Thanks
 
Not a bad idea to "prime the system"--but submerged to the cavitation plate, there was water to the impeller immediately when it turned over--and no damage would occur. One of the reasons you don't run these engines on the hose, is that there is no water lubricating the impeller --and it is sucking air--thus burns up when run on the "hose"
 
thataway":2tg2fdd5 said:
Not a bad idea to "prime the system"--but submerged to the cavitation plate, there was water to the impeller immediately when it turned over--and no damage would occur. One of the reasons you don't run these engines on the hose, is that there is no water lubricating the impeller --and it is sucking air--thus burns up when run on the "hose"
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Do you think they did not initially push water because they have been totally dry for 5 months? I will dunk one of the engines in the tub again tomorrow and fire it up just to make sure it pumps the water on it's own again.

If it happened with just one engine I would be more concerned. When something happens to both engines I tend to think I just missed something.

Any ideas as to why the impeller did not pump the water on its own at first?

Thanks
 
I think you just didn't wait long enough Matt. With the boat out of the water anyway, it wouldn't have been too difficult to do the impellers if you had to.

Charlie
 
Thanks Charlie.
I think my impellers are fine. I've got 84 hours on the engines and after my little prime they both produced a good stream at idle.

It's a mystery as to why they would not draw water when initially dunked...I did not have the problem previously. I'm thinking it must be related to the fact they were bone dry for 5 months...it's a simple procedure to do at the start of each season if that is the case.
 
Yep, if you had run the engines a few seconds longer there would have been water--there are a fair number of passages to fill up--and the engine is at an idle (properly). Not unusual after such a "dry spell". There is normally some water left in the passages, During the winter it all drained out. (which you want)
 
matt_unique":4ssp8oi9 said:
Thanks Charlie.
I think my impellers are fine. I've got 84 hours on the engines and after my little prime they both produced a good stream at idle.

It's a mystery as to why they would not draw water when initially dunked...I did not have the problem previously. I'm thinking it must be related to the fact they were bone dry for 5 months...it's a simple procedure to do at the start of each season if that is the case.
Click to expand...

Matt, my boat was on the lift, bone dry for about 4 months, I dropped it into the water about two weeks ago, it started right up. In about a minute or so, I went back to check the cooling indicators (my engines are gentlemen, they don't pee) and they were running fine. No flomax needed....

I think you just need to wait a few microseconds longer.. Dr Bob is right as usual... :thup :wink:

Chalrlie
 
They may have been clogged. Last year I towed the boat down to Seward, put her in the water and no water flowed out of the port engine. I freaked! We screwed around with it for a while and finally I just pulled the little hose that goes from the powerhead to the peehole and water just shot out. I then cleaned it up and the problem was gone. Fortunately it has nothing to do with the impellor, it is just gunk. Since then when it suddenly stops peeing I just motor on until I get back to port for "degunking".......
 
One very common problem experienced with the water flow indicator stream orifices (or "Pee Stream Holes"), is that some insects ("bugs") lay eggs in them or over-winter in them, plugging them temporarily when the motors are first started in the Spring.

Sometimes it's necessary to clean them out with a small flexible wire or relatively large monofilament fishing line if them seem clogged when first starting up for the boating season.

(Hope this wasn't mentioned above, but I don't remember it and don't have time to re-read it all!).

Joe.:thup :teeth
 
This might be of help. I was advised to spray WD40 down the outlet. Worked like a charm. I was advised that salt can block the channel and WD40 clears it out.

Good luck
Ed
 
There is a product called "Salt away" http://www.saltawayproducts.com/

I keep a 3 gallon spray bottle with a hose adaptor on the hose, and pump a little into the engines after running in salt water, when I cannot flush it every time. Generally this will help to prevent any salt deposits. You don't want to just superficially avoid salt deposition--because it can deposit in the entire water cooling system.

I am not a big fan of WD 40, although I do use it for a stage of cleaning rust etc. I suspect that there are better solvents to use on rubber hoses.
 
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