Cooling Water Route Through Engine

[kwk]

I've got a 1989 125 HP Force and have been having intermittent overheating problems. I took the exhaust port cover off and found several large bits of broken impeller lying in the cooling chamber and one bit wedged in a cooling passage. Now I'm concerned about impeller bits also being lodged in the head cylinder cover. Does the cooling water go through the exhaust port cover or the cylinder head cover first? I was thinking of putting the exhaust port cover back on and trying it out, but if there are still bits in the cylinder head, I don't want them blown back into the exhaust port cover again so do I need to pull off the cylinder head and check before running it again?

 

[scotiany]

Re: Cooling Water Route Through Engine

Don't know about Force so this may not be much help. On my Chrysler the water goes through the exhaust jacket first before it goes around cylinders. In addition , there's a water pressure relief valve in the jacket. It's known to cause overheating problems in older outboards if it's stuck.