sand blockage in my motor

[Kajun37]

well i've had this overheat alarm on my 94" johnson 140 for awhile now...after replacing the thermstats,temp switches , rebuild carbs....i still got the alarm at 40mph, and heads are cool to the touch...so i ordered a new water pump and housing....i get that on...i drop it in water and take off...50 yrds from the dock i hit a sand bar!..then if that wasnt enough my steering cable breaks trying to get off it.....

i fix my steering cable and decide to go test my motor out since i never got to see if the new water pump fixed my alarm problem at 40mph......i take off and get up on plane...imediately i get a overheat alarm...oh oh..thats not normal..i barely hit 25mph..so i turn around and motor back to dock......get home check compression... all good....decide theres nothing left to do except pull my heads and take a look for myself.....well i open them up and its FULL of sand on both sides....i finally got around to cleaning all the sand out the heads and around cyl's...being very careful not to get any inside the cyl's......

my question now is...what else should i pull apart to check for more blockages? should i pull the lower unit off and take apart the water pump?...even when the alarm came on i was getting a good tell-tale..water was coming out good.....i hate to take the pump apart cuz i dont have another gasket for it...

any other place that i can get to to make sure its not clogged? maybe drop the lower unit and stick a water hose on the water tube and see if the water comes out on the powerhead?...anyway to backflush it from the power head down?


here's some pics....i dont see how i didnt blow it lol

stbd side

port side

 

[quilter]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

well i've had this overheat alarm on my 94" johnson 140 for awhile now...after replacing the thermstats,temp switches , rebuild carbs....i still got the alarm at 40mph, and heads are cool to the touch...so i ordered a new water pump and housing....i get that on...i drop it in water and take off...50 yrds from the dock i hit a sand bar!..then if that wasnt enough my steering cable breaks trying to get off it.....

i fix my steering cable and decide to go test my motor out since i never got to see if the new water pump fixed my alarm problem at 40mph......i take off and get up on plane...imediately i get a overheat alarm...oh oh..thats not normal..i barely hit 25mph..so i turn around and motor back to dock......get home check compression... all good....decide theres nothing left to do except pull my heads and take a look for myself.....well i open them up and its FULL of sand on both sides....i finally got around to cleaning all the sand out the heads and around cyl's...being very careful not to get any inside the cyl's......

my question now is...what else should i pull apart to check for more blockages? should i pull the lower unit off and take apart the water pump?...even when the alarm came on i was getting a good tell-tale..water was coming out good.....i hate to take the pump apart cuz i dont have another gasket for it...

any other place that i can get to to make sure its not clogged? maybe drop the lower unit and stick a water hose on the water tube and see if the water comes out on the powerhead?...anyway to backflush it from the power head down?


here's some pics....i dont see how i didnt blow it lol

stbd side

port side

 

[quilter]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

I had this problem with a 200 mercury one time and I wound up having to remove power head and clean the larger pebbles that would not go on through the outlets. also the exhaust houseing was plugged. the water pump houseing was completely packed, sounds like your water pump may be ok since it is pumping water. also the heads were full of sand like you found in yours. good luck

 

[Walker]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

You betcha you need to drop the lower unit and clean out the waterpump. It will have sand in it too and it will wear grooves in the cup and base plate. While the lower unit is off put the clean heads back on and remover the thermostats. Run water in the thermostat housings and it flush out the block pretty good.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

stay off the sand bars, and quit beaching it,

 

[Kajun37]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

thanks tash ! what would i do without you lol

walker...thanks..i'll do that...i'll order another water pump gasket today.

 

[Walker]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

You probably don't need a new gasket. Just leave the base plate on and rinse the passages out good.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

Somewhere along the line,I'd remove the thermostats and give it a 20 minute blast around the pond,then replace and do it again.

DHP

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

Somewhere along the line,I'd remove the thermostats and give it a 20 minute blast around the pond,then replace and do it again.

DHP

PS don't let the price of a gasket slow you down

 

[Kajun37]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

well got out tonight and did the back flush through the thermostat housing...man...i had a ton of sand come out...flushed it from top and bottom multiple times..until i could not feel any grit in the water...

also dropped the lower unit again ...glad i did.. took apart the water pump...packed with sand also...bad thing is..i have the next 5 days off and now i have to wait until jan 2nd to get a gasket...ALL the marine parts stores in my area are closed for the holidays!..but oh well..atleast i know for sure there is no sand in my water pump....thanks for the help!

DHP..i will do that.....i got few extra sets of thermostat gaskets.


heres a pic of what came out when i back flushed through the thermostat :^

 

[DJ]

Re: sand blockage in my motor

That's allot of sand!:^

It's amazing how much of that stuff a water pump will pull in.