1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

[pennyanman1]

I was flushing out the motor to fog it out for winter. Water hooked up, I noticed the temp going up quickly and pee stream was not strong. The waterpump has about 20 hours on it. Water from Pee hole was HOT. It is NEVER hot, and has never been in the 15 yrs I've owned the motor. Both heads got hot and horn sounded. The only thing that make any sense is that there is blockage some where above the pump. Took down lower unit and pump looks perfect. I did remove both hoses from thermostat housing and confirmed no water was coming from either head. The only thing I can think of is that the water diverters have swollen and are restricting flow. HELP!!!

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

You have done some good investigating thus far. No water from the hoses is certainly not a normal situation. You could pull the heads to check the diverters, though it is unusual for both sides of the block to suffer from a "no water" situation at exactly the same time. For further investigation, you have a couple of options: pull the head covers off both heads and see if the passages in the heads are restricted. What you find there may also exist inside the powerhead. Depending on what you find, you can then pull both heads and have a look at the diverters. Possible you have some sand or weeds up in the block. Lastly, you may even have to pull the cover off the top of the block (between the two heads) and check to see what is inside that cavity. You may have run this in salt water, so potential salt builup could also create a water passage restriction over time.

 

[Haffiman]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

Throw the muffs and use a barrel if you want to check for cooling and water pump problems/function.

 

[pennyanman1]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

I pulled starboard head cover and everything is clean. I use the motor mostly in saltwater, but I trailer it and flush with freshwater and Salt-Away after each run. There is another item I didn't mention; Two runs ago I went through a sandbar at about 4K rpm., the engine tilted up and I backed off on the power immediately, and I slowly ran back out into deeper water at idle speed. The lower unit has some sand accumulated in the casting cavities around the pump impellor area, but the motor was run about 4 hours on two different occasions after the "event" and ran flawlessly. I'm wondering if the the impellor might have been jammed briefly, causing the little nylon key to slip on the diveshaft the inside surface of the impellor seems shiny, like it may have been spun in relation to the driveshaft. I was planning to do back plate and head gasket/diverters in the spring anyway, so I guess this stepped up the urgency. I will do a pump overhaul kit as well to be safe.

 

[boobie]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

As Haffiman has said throw the muffs and use a barrell. I'd take it to the water and see what happens before doing anything to it as you will be operating under actual conditions. What type of muffs are you using? Single or double sided?

 

[pennyanman1]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

Single sided on the muffs. They're getting ditched in favor of the center intake style when I get a chance. The only reason for muffs is that it is the only way to mix Salt - Away into the cooling water. I do use the barrel for any diagnostic work, normally. There is a HIGH likelyhood that the waterflow from the hose was low, I was in front of a friend's house in the street, and his son turned the water on. I was rushing and as always THAT is probably what bit me on the (bottom).

 

[Haffiman]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

Why not just run with a Salt Away mix in the barrel?
Probably more economic!

 

[daselbee]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

I was test running a 1987 88 SPL yesterday on muffs.
It was running about 100 degrees on both heads, and I concluded that there must not be any thermostats in the motor.
All of a sudden for no apparent reason, the temp of the stbd head went to 165, and the port head was 130.

Shut it down, put it in a barrel (NO MUFFS) restarted, and it was idling just fine at the original 100 degrees....no more temp spiking.

Now to tear into the thermo problem......or lack of.....

Muffs introduce air, forming an air pocket at the top of the motor.

 

[Haffiman]

Re: 1989 88 SPL suddenly got hot.HELP!!!

130.


Muffs introduce air, forming an air pocket at the top of the motor.

And as a 'bonus', the risk of melting down your rectifier gives odds you may want to have on the horse track!!!