Overheating?

[jfkkesler]

(I'm posting this here because 1. Nobody reads the Force threads, and 2. Mercury took over Force, so maybe you guys can help me)


1987 Force 125

Yesterday, I started up my motor on the muffs, and after a few minutes, smoke (more than usual) was coming out of the exhaust and off the block. I pulled the lower unit, and found my impeller shredded to bits. Now, rewind a few weeks... A few weeks ago, I started up my motor after installing a new gas tank, to make sure everything was hooked up properly. It started up no problem, but I noticed it wasn't spitting any water. I figured that it had a thermostat that hadn't kicked in yet, so that's why it wasn't spitting water. I let it run for a few minutes, then shut it off. Now Fast forward back to present... I now know that it wasn't spitting water because the impeller was shot, and I now realized that I have run it for about 10-15 minutes overall, most likely with little to no water circulating. How much damage could this have caused? Tomorrow I will be installing a new impeller, and I'm hoping that I didn't do too much damage. What kind of damage could I possibly be looking at here? Thanks guys

 

[farlee308024]

Re: Overheating?

just to C.Y.A. check your compression, plugs, hoses leaking, leaking gaskets etc. that my suggestion. You might have caused alot of unseen damage as well. You won?t know until you fix your problems. just some advice next time watch you water pump outlet if water doesn?t come out in less then a minute shut off the motor

good luck

 

[sschefer]

Re: Overheating?

Odds are that you didn't do any significant damage. Engine manufacturers built these engines to handle situations like the one you've experienced. It's situations where people try to avoid a tow and limp back to the dock that usually causes a complete melt down.

Older engines whose gaskets are well set actually have a better chance of surviving this type of torture. The smoke out the exhast is typical of an overheated two cycle but since you didn't run it to the point of seizure you're probably o.k.

I would pull the plugs and fog the cylinders with fogging spray. Thin I would turn it over by hand from the flywheel and fog each cylinder as I was turning it. This is just to make sure everything gets a good coat of oil.

If everything feels good then crank it for a few seconds using the starter and run a compression check. This will be sort of a false check since the fogging oil will cause an increase in compression.

If the compression is a nearly equal accross all cylinders and within specs then put the plugs back in and start it up. After you've run it for a few minutes, shut it down and do another accurate compression check.

Normally the water jackets won't leak water into a cylinder so if you find water when you pull the plugs then damage is definitly done.