Recently bought a 76' Merc 110 (9.8 hp) and can't get a constant stream out the pee hole other than high rpm. Nothing but steam at idle. I first checked for blockages and found none. Replaced the water pump impeller and cleaned/resealed all the fittings and housing. Checked to make sure it worked before reinstalling lower unit by attaching driveshaft to drill. Made a nice fountain. Put it back together and started it up-still no water out of pee hole. Air easily blows through from pee hole end, so definitely no blockages. I assumed a bad connection of water tube at bottom of powerhead, so I removed the powerhead and cleaned inside of drive shaft housing and underside of powerhead and replaced gasket. The connection of the water tube seemed fine. Before reinstalling, I blew through water inlet port on the bottom of the powerhead while plugging the outlet on the top of the crankcase. Air was leaking out of the two little slits between the drive shaft hole and the exhaust area (see attached picture). When it is all together and I force water backwards through the system (without the lower unit attached), water leaks out of these slits. I can see it when I look up the through the drive shaft housing. Is this normal? Is there something wrong inside the crankcase causing my leak? Apparently the leak is significant enough that when the engine is at idle there is not enough pressure to get water through the system. All I get is air/steam out the pee hole. I don?t know what else to do. Suggestions?
