1988 Evinrude 20 - Cooling problems

[Jubera]

Picked up used engine over winter and during the first time out this season my 20hp was not putting out a steady steam of water from the tell-tale. It was worse when in gear, sputtering water and lots of steam. I shut it down and replaced the impeller unit. While I was at it, I also replaced head gasket, thermostat and tried to clear most of the salt and carbon buildup. On start up, same intermittant water flow through tell-tale and lots of water/exhaust through top exhaust port. Any ideas?

 

[oldboat1]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 20 - Cooling problems

want to be sure the motor isn't overheating first. If you can hold your hand on top of the head for a few seconds, it's getting cooling water. (The spray from the exhaust port also indicates things are working.) I'm not sure what model you have, but on my 9.9 Evinrude ('90), I backflushed the telltale by disconnecting the hose on the lower right rear and forcing water through it. In my case, the problem appears to be some grease blocking the flow through the tell tale -- which operates ahead of circulation through the head on my model.

 

[wilde1j]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 20 - Cooling problems

1st, follow oldboat's suggestion to confirm cooling. If not:<br /><br />Drop the LU again and force water or compressed air into the water tube (probably good the remove tstat and leave cover off to see results to that point. Probably have salt/debris in water passages. Also, how did you seal pump when reassembling? Should use hardening Permatex SPARINGLY on the pump housing perimeter, make sure none gets inside. Did you replace the wear plate? Very slight scoring will prevent good pumping action.

 

[Jubera]

Re: 1988 Evinrude 20 - Cooling problems

Thanks for the suggestions. I did not check engine temp after last startup. The failure of the tell-tale after what I thought was a thorough cleaning of the system made me pack it up for the night. One thing I missed in the manual was whether this a closed system - when I forced air through the tell-tale hose, engine not running, it sounded like it was escaping through the top exhaust port. Is it supposed to do this or is there another seal I need to look at?