What is this?? Waterpump question....

[amp381]

Hey guys, I have a 2003 Evinrude 175 Ficht model E175FPLSTB. It's a new motor to me. So today I was going about replacing the water pump and I ran into this white piece on the old pump that doesn't come with my new kit (5001595). I checked every kit I could find online, plus Google every keyword I can think of the describe this piece, but nothing seems to be showing up. No kits come with it, yet it's on my pump. I tried to fabricate every possible piece that came with my new kit to see if it would fit the water tube in the LU, but this white piece seems the only thing that makes a solid connection with the water tube.

Fun fact, my water tube is sort of recessed up in the leg with a grommet on the end and this white piece basically just pushes against the grommet to make a seal. Someone help me understand if this is some custom job or I'm just dumb.

 

[Chris1956]

In your waterpump kit, you should have gotten 2 black tubes that replace that white plastic fitting. The different length black tubes fit XL (25 inch) shaft and XXL (30 inch ) shaft motors. What shaft length motor do you have?

Waterpump kits usually have instructions to explain it.

 

[amp381]

It's a 25" shaft and none of the provided black tubes fit up to the water line. I was able to remove this from the old, clean it out good, and reuse it on the new. I also started to consider maybe this piece actually goes up in the engine and just came out when the LU was taken off... which would make more sense rather than a missing part in these kits.