1974 Mercury 650 3 cylinder no water out of tell tale

[grizzly1530]

Hi, I have a Mercury 650 that I just recently replaced the impeller on, because it had been sitting for 5+ years. I got it replaced, got everything put back together on it, and there is no water coming out of the tell tale. I know I got the water tube in right when putting it back together because that is one of the first things I made sure of. I cannot figure this out for the life of me. I did a search, and saw some ideas that I tried, but none of them work. My questions are as follows. Should water be pumping out as soon as I start it? Also, is there a diagram, or anything out there, that shows where the water hoses are on the motor? I have a book, but that just basically shows me where the water tube is when connecting the lower unit to back to the motor. Please help, when I did start the motor, it ran like a top for the 30 seconds I had it on, and I'm hoping I can use this motor.

 

[flyingscott]

See if the tell tale itself is plugged. Take weedeater line and push it up there see if it goes.

 

[grizzly1530]

That's one of the things I tried, with no luck. I was hoping that was it, but it didn't.

 

[flyingscott]

Take the hose off by the block and check there when you replaced the waterpump was it in one piece

 

[grizzly1530]

I'm not sure what you mean by in one piece? The Impeller itself was in decent shape, I went ahead and replaced it to be sure it would hold up.

 

[flyingscott]

Waterpump impellers can fall apart and the pieces can end up in the motor blocking things.

 

[grizzly1530]

Oh, ok, yeah, this was in pretty good condition. I replaced it because it had been sitting so long, and wanted to avoid problems. I didn't see any chunks missing.

 

[DavidMoore]

Yes water should be coming out as soon as the motor starts, so there is a blockage or the impeller isn't pumping.
Are you sure you refitted the impeller drive key?

 

[grizzly1530]

Yep, I made sure to do that as well. I think I will take it apart again to make sure everything hooked up correctly. It doesn't even seem like water is getting to the lowest water hose on the right side of the motor. I saw on another post about this situation that you can backflush the motor. I don't have any idea what that is, but could it be a possibility?

 

[444]

Are you running it in a barrel or on the ear muffs? If on the ear muffs, you should be getting water exhausting out the prop hub and after idling the engine for a while, the water should feel slightly warm. The water pipe coming up from the water pump goes straight up from the water pump to the engine block, not really hoses for you to deal with.

Also worth noting, my late 70's black max 175 only ever dribbled and spit water while running on the ear muffs, but had a decent stream when in the water where my mid 80's 90hp inline 6 always pissed like a race horse.

 

[grizzly1530]

No Title

I tried it in a barrel when I noticed it. I will try it on muffs next. Its supposed to be cold and rainy for the next few days, but I hope to work on it this weekend. Here are pictures showing the water lines as told in the manual. This is not my motor, this is just what I could find on the internet. This is the exact same setup I have. In the first picture, that is the water line I was talking about earlier. It shows this as a water line in the manual, but maybe its not meant for cooling. The 2nd picture is the line that goes to the Tell Tale in back. Both of those lines are going into the fuel pump, which is correct per the manual.

 

[merc850]

I think that's a water cooled fuel pump so those lines and the pump base might be plugged up. And the little nozzle that sprays the water is another place.

 

[grizzly1530]

Update..... So, I took the lower unit off today, and figured out that when I had put it on before, the tube had slipped out of the bottom of the powerhead. Went to put it back on, and even though I thought I had it in forward gear like Mercury recommends, I only had reverse and neutral (this is not the first time this has happened to me). So I took it off again to adjust the shift shaft in the lower unit, and then I went to make sure the control box was in forward, and now its stuck in forward. Even with the lower unit off. What could cause this, and how can I fix it? I absolutely CANNOT get it out of forward. I took the control box apart to see if there was a stuck cable, and the cables are fine.

 

[merc850]

At the first page of this forum are instructions for hooking up LU.

 

[grizzly1530]

No Title

Yep, I did all of that and now I feel like a dummy. The shifting problems the whole time were in my control box. I hadn't taken it fully apart, but had taken the cable off of the shift linkage in the motor, and it shifted like a dream. Well, I finally dove all the way in with the control box, and found that the old shift lever had bent a bit. It's supposed to look like the image, but one of the points was bent. Now my question for this. Will a newer control box work for this motor? I would like to get one that's a bit more crisp. Or should this part take care of the play that I had in the control box?

Also, thanks a lot everyone for all of your help. I feel like I'm making mistakes, but I'm learning a TON from you guys!