1971 Johnson V-4, 85HP Cooling

[Fortitude]

Dear Fellow Boaters,

When I had the lower unit on my 85 HP serviced I had a new water pump and thermostat installed. When the lower unit is mated to the leg, the cooling water tubes fit into neoprene tubes and a gasket is fixed to the internal mating flange of the lower unit that fits against a companion flange inside the leg.

My problem is I get zero cooling water out of the two exhaust ports on the upper part of the leg, but water is squirting out the flange between the leg and the lower unit. The engine runs fine, but I know this is not the design solution. What have we done wrong in assembly or are we missing the obvious??

Thanks for your help. Troubled in Ohio.

Chuck

 

[bigpoppakdog]

Re: 1971 Johnson V-4, 85HP Cooling

well, when mine(1970 115 hp evinrude) was doing this about a month ago it was the result of a blown head gasket on one side. When I described to the mechanic, that water was shooting out of the lower unit like you are describing he would "put money" on a blown head gasket. Sure enough. Now with a new head gasket my motor runs A LOT cooler than it did the past 3 years.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1971 Johnson V-4, 85HP Cooling

I don't believe these early engines (with the single vernatherm) put out much water from the exhaust relief ports at idle. A minute after starting a cold engine, the vernatherm should open. If you hold your hand by those ports at idle (once the vernatherm opens) you will see a water mist eminating from the ports. Water droplets will form on your hand. That's typical. The later crossflows (the ones with two thermostats) had a redesigned cooling system. These engines flow a lot of water out the exhaust relief holes, esp when on plane.

 

[Fortitude]

Re: 1971 Johnson V-4, 85HP Cooling

Thank you both for the replys. This engine has the veratherm arrangement with a thermostat and second relief valve on the vernatherm assembly. We put in a new thermostat but did not service the other part of the assembly.

 

[bigpoppakdog]

Re: 1971 Johnson V-4, 85HP Cooling

What made you decide to change the water pump? Was the motor running hot? The t-stat and vernatherm could be the kulprit....but the outboard mechanic that I took my questions too, said he has never seen a t-stat go out on these(I think is just a coincidence) and a high ranker on this site also said it would be odd for the vernatherm to freeze closed...when they usually get stuck it is in the open position. Just some info...if it doesn't solve your problem, I would then most definitely look at the head gaskets.