Steam from upper exhaust?

[PW]

Just replaced the water pump and thermostat in my 84 Evinrude E30ECRR. At low to medium throttle, there is a strong telltale and a light spray of water coming from the upper exhaust port. At high speed, the telltale seems to weaken a bit and the upper port vents steam. Any worries here? Many thanks for yr help, PW

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Steam from upper exhaust?

Why did you replace the water pump and thermostat? Was it because of an overheat? If so, my suspicion is that you have some bad exhaust cover seals that are leaking exhaust into your water jackets and this is what is causing your weakened telltale and steam.
Any other info. on the motor would be helpful. J

 

[PW]

Re: Steam from upper exhaust?

1984 Evinrude 30 E30ECRR, Serial #F0368410, electric start, electric choke. I bought it 4 years ago on the back of an 84 Harris Flotbote 24 where it remains to this day. It has always run like a champ until the telltale finally quit. The guy at the outboard shop said I should replace the thermostat when I did the water pump. Sounded like a good idea since I hadn't touched the motor in 4 years.

I still runs great, just can't recall if I've ever seen the steam before. By "bad exhaust cover seals" do you mean the gasket I replaced when I did the thermostat?

 

[PW]

Re: Steam from upper exhaust?

Just did a parts lookup on the powerhead and saw the parts I think u mean. The E30ECRR has an exhaust cover (outer), a gasket, an exhaust cover (inner) and another gasket. Correct? I s'pose the only way to determine if the gaskets are bad is to replace them?

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Steam from upper exhaust?

Yes on both. If you're seeing steam, but it's never overheated, I don't know if I wouldn't check every other thing before I did the exhaust cover gaskets. It's not a hard job, but the exhaust cover screws are notorious for shearing off when trying to remove them. Usually they're not bad about going out unless the motor has overheated. I've heard salt can corrode the inner cover as well and cause the same problem. I'm sure you're telltale stream shouldn't weaken on WOT, and you shouldn't see steam.
Sorry I can't be more helpful. The only other thing I can think of is that you might have pinched a water tube gasket during reinstallation of the lower unit.

 

[PW]

Re: Steam from upper exhaust?

OK. I leaving town until 7/1, so won't be able to check it out til I get back. Thanks again.

 

[PW]

Re: Steam from upper exhaust?

Hey, jb. I've used the boat a few more times since getting back to town and haven't done any further wrenching on it. As long as I run low speed, I get the strong telltale and no steam. Went to a local Evinrude shop and their theory is the powerhead base gasket is bad, which creates backpressure against the water pump, not allowing it to circulate enough water through the engine. This accounts for the weak telltale and steam at higher throttle. Does this make sense to u? Should I still be looking at the exhaust cover gaskets too?