1979 175 hp V6 Mercury water pump???

[Striper Rig]

I bought a boat today and got the motor fired up and ran for maybe 10 to 20 seconds a couple of times, but no water coming out of water pump hole...
Made sure it was not stopped up, I only saw a very little surge of water...

My ? is can you try anything to get it to work?

Also if I have to put a kit in it, where is the water pump located and is it hard to work on?

The motor sounds strong no longer than I ran it...I did not want to mess the motor up by running it to long, but I know I ran it long enough to come through the hose and out the pin hole....

1979 175 hp V6 Mercury...thanks for your help...

 

[j_martin]

Re: 1979 175 hp V6 Mercury water pump???

Sometimes it takes 21 seconds.

Seriously, the motor has to warm up to operating temperature before there will be any output from the telltale, because all the water for the telltale goes through the thermostats first. If you can hold your hand on the head, it isn't warm yet.

Did you have it on a hose, or in the lake?

If on the hose, water will come out of the prop long before it comes out the telltale.

If on the lake, a little spray mist out of the exhaust relief ports indicates it's getting water.

Spiders and wasps have a way with tell tales, also.

To service the water pump you have to drop the lower unit. It isn't hard, but is a bit involved. Get a factory maintainance manual and have at it.
Water pump maintainance should be considered an annual event.


hope it helps
John

 

[Striper Rig]

Re: 1979 175 hp V6 Mercury water pump???

Thanks j martin, this does help me out....

I will go back and try again, plus I may use a half of plastic barrel to put the shaft down in....

 

[j_martin]

Re: 1979 175 hp V6 Mercury water pump???

Thanks j martin, this does help me out....

I will go back and try again, plus I may use a half of plastic barrel to put the shaft down in....

The best bet for quick testing is the muffs that fit over the water intake holes. You connect a garden hose to it, turn on the water full blast, and run the engine.

that way, you will see water out the propeller immediately if the water pump is working. It also makes a mean snarl exhaust note that is kinda neat.

A barell full of water will overheat in a few minutes of running. Idle fire in the motor is about 3 Northern Minnesota houses worth of heat. (WOT is about 30)

 

[Striper Rig]

Re: 1979 175 hp V6 Mercury water pump???

J Martin,

I talked about this a while back, I put a new impeller and gaskets in the footing...

I still have only about a 7 inch stream coming from the pee hole...ran about 4 or 5 minutes, head never really got hot...

The two little muffler holes at the back of the motor, pushes water out pretty good...

So that should tell me the water pump is working, what should I look for next? I thought there should be a good stream coming from the pee hole...

I have checked the hose to make sure it is free from dirt dabbers...

Thanks...

 

[Striper Rig]

Re: 1979 175 hp V6 Mercury water pump???

Anyone's help is appreicated....

 

[j_martin]

Re: 1979 175 hp V6 Mercury water pump???

Yer good. Here's the deal. Only when the engine is warm enough to open the thermostats is there any water in the line that goes from the thermostats to the baseplate. The baseplate end of that line is open to the foot for drainage. The tell-tale T's into that line. There never will be a lot of pressure there.

The best use of the telltale is this. When you start up at the lake, and you're all excited to blast out of there, you turn around and be sure the telltale is flowing some before you blast off, else you might cold-stick the engine.

If the engine were overheating, the alarm would go off.
If the engine were overheatging, you'd leave some flesh on the head.

Go burn some fuel. If you're really concerned, put a water pressure gauge on it. I consider a WP gauge indespensible on my boat. It gives me instant indication of the performance of my cooling system.

hope it helps
John