HELP! Cooling issue 1988 Evinrude VRO 120

[elcamino383ci]

New to the boating world, picked one up last week. Finishing going through it for its first outing, was not running well, carbs got cleaned, new plugs. Idles fine. My concern now is a possible overheating issue. Both pairs of cylinders seem to warm up at the same rate for about a min or so, then the left cools off (assuming when the thermostat opens) while the strbrd side gets to a temp that I cant hold my hand on. I cut the thermostat out on that side, does not cool down. Am i missing another way that water will not get there? Running it only at idle in driveway.

 

[fireman57]

Re: HELP! Cooling issue 1988 Evinrude VRO 120

You have a clog in a water jacket somewhere. i would take off the head and try to run a stiff piece of wire through the water passages and then flush out good with a hose and small nozzle that will fit in the passage. Hope it is not on the exhaust side because that is a real pain. You will need a new head gasket when you do this. Never reuse a head gasket. You will also need to find the torque specs before you replace it. Welcome to iboats.

 

[elcamino383ci]

Re: HELP! Cooling issue 1988 Evinrude VRO 120

Thanks a lot. Im still have some type of issue, but a light run in the ocean yesterday helped the diagnosing. Some RPM helped the cooling issue, along with the ports being submerged. My water pressure/muffs at home may not be enough for it at idle.