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outboard telltale query


Tom Morgan

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I took my boat out on the canal today, Norman 23 with a pre-1997 Honda 9.9 hp outboard.   This was only my 3rd bit of cruising. But when I got back to the marina, reversing into my berth, I noticed that there was no water coming out of the telltale - just steam.  During my 1.5 hour cruise, there had been no problem.  I stopped the engine, which didn't seem to be unduly hot,  waited for 5 minutes while I tied up, and restarted the motor.  Water flowed out of the telltale immediately, as normal.  I could do with some advice on what might be wrong.

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

It could be an 'only in forward' pump, or you could have picked up a plastic bag around the water inlet filter, when you stopped it fell off, when you re-started the engine the water was able to flow 'normally'.

A mate of mine was servicing his and phoned me with a cry for help. He’d removed the leg and replaced the impeller and was driving the shaft with a cordless drill. When I looked at what he was doing I asked “Are you sure you’re turning it in the right direction?”  He reversed the drill and out spurted the water. He said “Please don’t mention this down the pub!”  So I went down the pub and said “You’ll never guess what Bob was doing...”

  • Haha 2
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14 minutes ago, Dyertribe said:

There is some advice on your question on Thunderboat if you care to look. 

I have no idea if it is correct or not. 

The poster reckons that direction of rotation is irrelevant. He has way more experience than me with outboards so he’s probably correct. 

 

The intake probably got a bit bunged up. 

 

Edited by WotEver
Typo
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10 minutes ago, WotEver said:

The intake probably got a bit bunged up. 

The reason I suggested it is that I had exactly that about 30 miles off the IoM. (Half way between Holyhead & the IoM)

Overheat alarm went off on one engine, stopped the engine and lifted the leg to see a bit of plastic 'sliding down the leg, dropped the leg back down water circulating perfectly.

I could only think that the forward movement and the 'suction' kept the plastic bag / sheet wrapped around the leg and as soon as I stopped it started to slide off.

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Thank you all for your advice.  All good, but  I think Alan's explanation might fit.  I've just changed my location within the marina and was reversing in for the first time.  The boat that was in the space before mine had been there for ages and had never moved in that time. So there is quite a bit of weed about a foot below the surface.  I'm thinking that a bit of this might have blocked the water inlet, and fallen off when I stopped the motor.  Or it might not work in reverse, as Wotever suggested.  If I can get out on Sunday I'll try a bit of reversing in the main canal, away from the weeds, to check this. Dyertribe, I haven't found the Thunderboat posting yet but will keep looking. All very helpful, and thanks again.  

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Here you go, copying and pasting from there brings a link too, so just copied one line. 

 


Tom, spiders have crawled up your tell tale and blocked it. Rod it out with a small drill bit.

Read more: http://thunderboat.boards.net/thread/4449/word-tom?page=1#ixzz5b3ZbrpsX

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13 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

It could be an 'only in forward' pump, or you could have picked up a plastic bag around the water inlet filter, when you stopped it fell off, when you re-started the engine the water was able to flow 'normally'.

Most of the smaller outboards have the gearbox in the "pod" that is in front of the prop where as the pump is on the down shaft above the prop so the engine  can only drive the pump in one direction, be the box in ahead, neutral, or astern.  I agree with Alan re plastic bags etc. based in the info given.

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Ive had this outboard and many others besides....the telltale will not need a fwd or reverse gear selected to run the pee stream.

It will run regardless.

Id say you picked up some crud and it temporarily blocked. Dont be overly concerned at this unless it happens again.

 

It could be a blade from the impeller has broken or the impellar needs changing but unlikely if working fine now...a simple enough job if you have basic tools and a bit of knowledge.

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1 hour ago, Matt&Jo said:

Ive had this outboard and many others besides....the telltale will not need a fwd or reverse gear selected to run the pee stream.

It will run regardless.

Id say you picked up some crud and it temporarily blocked. Dont be overly concerned at this unless it happens again.

 

It could be a blade from the impeller has broken or the impellar needs changing but unlikely if working fine now...a simple enough job if you have basic tools and a bit of knowledge.

I am going to qualify the last paragraph with:

 

Providing the splines in the crankshaft or on the down shaft have not worn very much. If they have it can be a beast of as job to get the two to separate. For the majority of time I agree, a fairly simple job, especially if you have seen it done. One more thing, some makes do not use a conventional Woodruff key for the impeller. In stead they have a flat on the shaft and a funny shaped thing that sits on the flat to drive the impeller. Those can easily fall off while you are fitting the impeller so the electric drill trick before final assembly is a good one.

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23 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Those can easily fall off while you are fitting the impeller so the electric drill trick before final assembly is a good one.

As long as the impellor is well greased otherwise the heat generated by a dry leg (pump-hosing) and a dry rubber impellor will soon melt the tips of the blades.

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1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

As long as the impellor is well greased otherwise the heat generated by a dry leg (pump-hosing) and a dry rubber impellor will soon melt the tips of the blades.

When my mate tested his he had the leg in a large drum of water. 

 

Not his leg, you understand...

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24 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

As long as the impellor is well greased otherwise the heat generated by a dry leg (pump-hosing) and a dry rubber impellor will soon melt the tips of the blades.

But you could not test the impeller unless the prop end was in water of some sort. If you tried it just in air it would not prove the impeller was turning or not. I am afraid I assumed a certain level of knowledge.

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25 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Surely it WOULD prove the impellor was turning, it just wouldn't prove it was capable of pumping water.

No, it would not. If the funny flattened key thing fell down and you did not check it before fixing the pump top the shaft would turn but the impeller stay still, especially as it would now have the key thing lying in the bottom of the pump between two blades trying to jamb it. It would be similar to a key or pin driven Jabsco impeller that had the key or pin missing.

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23 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

No, it would not. If the funny flattened key thing fell down and you did not check it before fixing the pump top the shaft would turn but the impeller stay still, especially as it would now have the key thing lying in the bottom of the pump between two blades trying to jamb it. It would be similar to a key or pin driven Jabsco impeller that had the key or pin missing.

You are correct sir those little keys are a pain in the arse!!!!

The last one i did was on a 95 mariner 15hp 2 smoker and it was a total barstuard to seat.

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3 hours ago, WotEver said:

When my mate tested his he had the leg in a large drum of water. 

 

Not his leg, you understand...

legs and propellers don't mix well.

 

 

I always use the council wheelie bin, but I haven't yet managed to get my knee high enough to get my leg in it.

Edited by Murflynn
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