2000 50 hp 4 Stroke Mercury Outboard- No/little water discharge in neutral

Crabskiff777

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Joined
Aug 1, 2014
Messages
2
Hello!

I'm hoping someone can help me with a recent issue I've had after having my 50 Hp Mercury serviced by a local boat dealer in my area. I had a new water pump and impeller housing installed two weeks ago. When I took it out for the first time since the service, I started the engine in the water and no water was being discharged from the p-hole. I called the shop and put the boat back on the trailer and took it back to them. They hooked up the engine with ears around the intake and turned the hose on and the motor and immediately, it was discharging water (good stream too). They raised the engine and brought over a tank, started the engine, then noticed it did the same thing that happened to me out on the water. No water was coming out. They then revved the engine and the stream slowly came back up and had a really good flow again. They dropped it back into idle, then neutral, the stream stopped.

They mentioned that there's two ports on this engine for water intake. The main, and then just above the prop. They said most people plug the area above the prop as its used as an "accessory". We watched the engine temps, it never went above 145. I took it back out on the water, again, no stream when at idle/neutral, but then when running at speed, a steady stream was coming out.

I seem to have mixed reactions to this. Before I took it in, it streamed all the time. I ran the boat on the water after taking it back to them and it ran really well, no alarms, etc. We tested the overheat alarm as well to make sure that was functional.

Is this normal for this engine to do that? They mentioned when connected to a hose, there's greater PSI to deliver the water to the engine, thus there's a strong flow when its connected to the ears. Should I be concerned? Thermostat also checked out fine too.

Thank you!
 

Crabskiff777

Recruit
Joined
Aug 1, 2014
Messages
2
After a few times out on the water, I noticed if the motor was running for at least an hour, if I went back into neutral, the overheat warning was turning on and the engine was revving high in neutral. I called the place that replaced the waterpump and it ends up that there's a pipe that needed to be replaced. It was causing exhaust to come out of the p-hole in neutral and cut down on the amount of water that could go to the engine. Luckily this will now be fixed!
 
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