Trying to winterize a 1991 Mercury outboard. I hooked up a pair of
universal flush ear muffs to the engine water intake and turned on the
hose. Water was spitting out of a couple places in the lower unit
before I started the engine. When I started the engine water still
flowed out of the lower unit but no water came out of the water
discharge hole which is mounted on the rear of the engine itself about
half way up. I turned off the engine and tried blowing through the
water outlet and was able to blow through it easy so I repositioned
the flush muffs and tried again, to no avail, water was flowing freely
out of the prop though. I never let it run for more then 10 seconds
and the engine remained cold to the touch. When I turned off the water
I was able to hear water trickling down out of the upper drive unit. I
searched the net but couldn't find any info. Shouldn't water come out
of this hole the same is if it were in a lake? If so what should I
look for? Please help.

George

Try letting it run longer. There is usually not a lot of water pressure at
idle and water may not have fully filled the motor. The fact you have water
at the pump will prevent the pump from running dry therby preventing the
normal damage to the pump caused when you run with no water. Other than a
dry running water pump, the engine will not be damaged from a lack of
cooling water, should that be the case, for some minutes and if you are in
doubt, remove the engine cowling and feel the upper cylinders and shut the
motor off when you feel the block hot to touch. So bottom line run it a
while, don't go over and idle or fast idle at most.
Good luck,

--
Ron White
My boatbuilding website is:
www.concentric.net/~knotreel

10 seconds is not long enough to get to the top and out the **** hole when
on the muffs. Let it run, it'll get there.

--
Steve
=======================
Remove the not dot from my address to abuse my email box
"GeorgeR" wrote in message
om...
Trying to winterize a 1991 Mercury outboard. I hooked up a pair of
universal flush ear muffs to the engine water intake and turned on the
hose. Water was spitting out of a couple places in the lower unit
before I started the engine. When I started the engine water still
flowed out of the lower unit but no water came out of the water
discharge hole which is mounted on the rear of the engine itself about
half way up. I turned off the engine and tried blowing through the
water outlet and was able to blow through it easy so I repositioned
the flush muffs and tried again, to no avail, water was flowing freely
out of the prop though. I never let it run for more then 10 seconds
and the engine remained cold to the touch. When I turned off the water
I was able to hear water trickling down out of the upper drive unit. I
searched the net but couldn't find any info. Shouldn't water come out
of this hole the same is if it were in a lake? If so what should I
look for? Please help.

George

On 12 Oct 2003 12:10:19 -0700, (GeorgeR) wrote:

Trying to winterize a 1991 Mercury outboard. I hooked up a pair of
universal flush ear muffs to the engine water intake and turned on the
hose. Water was spitting out of a couple places in the lower unit
before I started the engine. When I started the engine water still
flowed out of the lower unit but no water came out of the water
discharge hole which is mounted on the rear of the engine itself about
half way up. I turned off the engine and tried blowing through the
water outlet and was able to blow through it easy so I repositioned
the flush muffs and tried again, to no avail, water was flowing freely
out of the prop though. I never let it run for more then 10 seconds
and the engine remained cold to the touch. When I turned off the water
I was able to hear water trickling down out of the upper drive unit. I
searched the net but couldn't find any info. Shouldn't water come out
of this hole the same is if it were in a lake? If so what should I
look for? Please help.

George

George- some O/B's have a thermostat to help the engine warm quickly
to operating temperature. I don't know if your engine has a t-stat
but, if so, 10 seconds is not enough time to warm the engine, and
allow water flow through the discharge.

Make sure your muffs are fitting right, and let it run a bit longer.
Pay attention to engine temp (gauge or touch). As the engine warms,
I'm fairly sure you'll feel a warm water discharge from the engine.

Three minutes should be enough to warm it at idle. Within that time,
if you smell anything "hot", or the block feels hot, shut it down to
be safe. You may have a cooling problem, but I don't think so. The
behavior you describe is similar to what my Evinrude, Johnson, and
Merc do on the engine stand, with muffs.

Good luck,
....carry on.
noah

To email me, please remove the "FISH" from the net.