Hello, I have a new to me 1969 Johnson 33EL69A 33hp tiller motor on a plain jane 16ft alum boat. The motor started fine when I went to look at the boat. it was also pumping water ok. When I got home to do some tuning and change plugs, coils, points, condensers, and run new plug wire I noticed when I started it up cold it would not pump water for 30~45 seconds. The head will get to about 120+ degrees then water will start pumping with a cloud of smoke (steam?) as I asume the engine is warm. Then after about 15 seconds of water pumping ok with steam head temp quickly drops to 90~100 degrees. This is running in a large bucket 20+ gallons maby. I have used this bucket to run many outboards with out any issues. I'm not new to repairing old outboards but this no pump for 30~45 sec on cold motor then lots of steam for several seconds is new to me. It also does this when warm and restarted after sitting for more then a few minutes. If I restart in 1-2 minutes all is as it should be. Other then this the engine runs well. Any thoughts? Thanks.
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