Re: No water coming out the pisser hole
That engine should have thermostat and pressure control. Stand behind the engine and look at the water jacket where the 3 sparkplugs are (covers the whole rear of the powerhead). The water jacket will be a flat surface except for one area where a small (1" x 2" sorta thing) cover is installed on it. Under that small cover is the stat and pressure relief. The stat can be checked in a pot of water slowly heated to the boiling point with a candy thermometer to monitor water temp. I wouldn't worry too much about getting the exact temp (accuracy); just the fact that it opens in the general area of temp that it is supposed to.
Somewhere on the pellet of the stat (that goes toward the engine) is a number. Mine is stamped 120 for 120F opening temp. You should also have a brown (brown/blue) wire going to the same water jacket where the overtemp sensor is located but probably in the center of the cover near #2 cylinder. Mine is set for 195F so I'd assume you'rs would be there too.
The engine works like this. If you are running the engine forward in the water, or are above about 2500 rpm's adequate pressure is generated by the inrushing water to unseat the pressure relief valve.....stat has nothing to do with this per se. The stat is there to keep your powerhead warm when you are at slower speeds.
So if you are below the pressures mentioned water is trapped in the powerhead till the stat opens. If it doesn't open, the power head temp will rist to the warning sensor temp and you will get a solid beep audible overtemp alarm.......which is what happened to me, on my current engine, when the stat stuck closed first time I had it out (2002 used engine).
Since you did not experience an overtemp condition (alarm) I'm going to assume the stat and pressure relief valve are ok, but it probably wouldn't hurt to pull them out, inspect and while the hole is open, check the condition of your engine's water passages and run the test of the water pump that emck....mentioned above. The water passages should be clear of any foreign matter, scale and the like.
My engine is a 90 which is not exactly the same but you can find your way around knowing what you are looking for.
Unless you completely dug the lower unit into the sand, above the gearbox, your egine shouldn't know that you were there as the water pickup holes are well above and forward of churned up crud...............not like OMC used to be 30+ years ago where the water pickup was directly behind the blades of the prop. Besides, the sand would come in with water (cooling and lubricant) and for a short time that should not be that big of a deal.
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Trace out your pee hose and see where it goes. Mine goes to the exhaust manifold water jacket (big flat plate on port side of engine). As a result, mine pees as long as the engine is running (once the water pump has had time to pick up some water); has nothing to do with the stat. If yours comes out there also, same rule applies.
I wouldn't go jumping to conclusions that your impeller is bad. Your engine is only 2 model years old and I know others say change it every 2 years, I don't change mine till it needs it......but my engine does not sit up for any period of time and at least every week I tap the starter to keep it (the impeller) repositioned so it won't develop a "set" in the blades. Since you mentioned Florida, would doubt that yours sits up either. I have been boating since the '50's and have never taken out an impeller that needed it. That's why I developed my current attitude towards them.
The exhaust water jacket is supplied with water in a separate path from the cylinders since exhaust is present whenever the engine is running and the manifold must be cooled constantly. So, you might remove the rt angle fitting on the manifold cover and inspect for foreign objects and while out blow out the fitting and your pee tube. Might run emck....'s test again just for grins.
If all that is clean and you still don't have water coming out then I'd say bite the bullet and do your impeller thing and the last time I was in a Merc pump, the innards were stainless steel so all you need is the impeller.....especially on a 2 year old engine. Iboats has them for about $10.
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Engines can have bolts on the side (one or two per side), may have a bolt in the very front (obvious if it has it), and some have a bolt hidden under the trim tab (have to remove it and look up in the hole it left to see it....usually a hex socket). I'd mark the location of the tab to get it set back where it was when you reinstall, and look before I tried to separate the sections to determine if one is there. It won't separate if it is and you don't find it.
It's a pretty straight forward process; just pay attention to what you take out and where it was; also notice the direction of the blades when you remove the water pump cover.....a little soapy water or vaseline really helps to get the new impeller blades bent and back under the cover upon reinstallation.
Last, insure that the water outlet tube makes it into the hole in the bottom of the powerhead (where the water goes from the pump to the engine) and you will have to rotate the splines of the drive shaft or rotate the crankshaft to get them to mesh with the powerhead.
Don't move the gear shifter lever or the shifter spline while separated. That will insure that you don't have to realign that upon reassy.
Sorry for being so long winded, but some things take some explaining.
HTH
Mark
