1996 Johnson 130 Outbard Water flow from pee hole apears restricted

[wwatson621]

I ran up on a sandbar a few weeks ago and sucked up a bunch of sand. Motor then temped out and only ran at just above idle until we got home. Temp indication went away and we were able to get underway but not get on plane without the engine either temping out or what appeared to be dropping 2 cylinders out preventing us from getting up to speed. I initially thought I spun the prop, but I checked that with a new prop and when I got back in the water we had the same problem. Boat initially got up to speed and on plane and then temp alarm sounded and after that only just above idle or the engine would hesitate. I removed the lower unit and changed the water impeller and housing assembly. Was scored, blades bent and junked with sand. I replaced everything with Johnson parts and also flushed the engine from the upper discharge port, through the water pipe into the powerhead and removed t stats completely and removed all debris. At the advice of a Johnson maintenance tech I left the entire t stat assembly out and reassembled everything. When testing on muffs I got a weak but consistent stream out of the engine. My questions is, should the stream be more or less strong with the t stats out? I want to make sure I am getting the right indications before taking it out on the water to test for real. Tech said to run without the t stats in for my first outing to flush out any remaining junk and then install them when I got back. Looking for your thoughts. Should the stream be stronger or weaker with the t stats out?

 

[Chris1956]

Gee, I do not know the answer to your question. is your motor a 60* or 90* V4? If a 60* V4, you should get about 15PSI at idle, with the stats in. A pressure gauge threaded into the water jacket at the head, removes the guesswork.

 

[wwatson621]

It's a 90 deg V4. I had the stats out and got a weak but consistent stream out of the telltale. I just put them back in and now I have another problem. Good battery, but weak starter engagement so can't get it to turn over and start now. Ordered a new starter, but not really sure if that is the problem. Battery is good, got it tested and shows 1090 MCA which is over the rated for that model. Hoping the starter will get me back on track. Any ideas there? Starter will engage the flywheel but I hear a whining noise from the starter and the flywheel hesitatingly turns but not quickly enough to start. Start has been a gradual problem over the last few outings. Even removed all external connections to the battery to make sure had a good solid connection and still didn't get it to turn over. New problem. Got to solve this one before moving back to the water flow issue which I think is pretty much solved but can't test.