OMC Sea Drive water pump tube

fletchster

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Jun 2, 2010
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I have just purchased a 1988 Sea Drive 115. Ive got 105psi on all cylinders which I know is not great but they are all the same and hold well. Starts up like a champ but very little water flow with water muffs on. I took the foot off and the pump dosen't look bad (still gonna change it though). What has me confused though is that (with the engine not running) when I spray my garden hose up the pick up tube I still get just a small stream and almost all the water comes back down the outside of the pick up tube in the exhaust housing. Is this normal? I just don't want to put a new pump on it and put the foot back on just to take it off again because I have a cracked tube or something else. Thanks in advance for any answers from you guru's out there.
 

wilde1j

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Apr 15, 2002
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Re: OMC Sea Drive water pump tube

Was motor overheating before you dropped the LU?
 

fletchster

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Re: OMC Sea Drive water pump tube

NO but the motor has some age on it so I was going to change the pump anyway because the guy I got it from said the motor hadn't been run in awhile and last time it had he was only getting 3600 rpms. He thought it was low compression but I found one coil wire rubbed through and one barely on the terminal.
 

rattlin

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May 9, 2010
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Re: OMC Sea Drive water pump tube

when I spray my garden hose up the pick up tube I still get just a small stream and almost all the water comes back down the outside of the pick up tube in the exhaust housing. Is this normal?

If I understand correctly what you're describing, yes that's normal. The primary exit point for the water system is into the exhaust stream and then out through the propeller hub.

If you take a cut off end of a water hose and put it over the pick up tube you can temporarily simulate your lower unit's water pump.

You might check the tell-tale (aka pee stream) hose for obstructions. Trace it back and take it loose from the power head exhaust cover if necessary.
 

fletchster

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Jun 2, 2010
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Re: OMC Sea Drive water pump tube

Thanks for the reply, I did take the line off the elbow coming out of the manifold. When I did that and sprayed the hose I did seem to get a better stream out of the elbow outlet but the opening in the elbow is smaller so I kinda assumed that it wasn't that I was getting more flow but rather more velocity. When I get home this evening I will try pull the lines off and check them for clogs.
 
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