[huskyhoops]

I am thinking of buying a 1998 Mariner 135hp. The dealer ran it for me and I noticed it took a long time (30 sec or more) for water to come out of the weep hole (tell tale). and when it did the water was very hot (almost too hot to hold your hand under) I was told that this is normal for this engine because it has a thermal controlled pump and only shoots a steady stream when the engine is up to temperature. It this true?Thanks in advance!

[rodbolt]

hello partly true the pump does not care about engine temp the discharge from the t-stats is the tell tale water when on the muffs as well as when in the water. you may get tell tale water slightly quicker in the water. but it takes a while. and its about 140 degrees when exiting the heads. good luck and keep posting

[huskyhoops]

thanks rodbolt! All the outboards I have owned were lower hp and always had a steady stream from the tell tale when operating properly. I just wanted to make sure the dealer was being truthful.Thanks again and take care!

[schaiss]

I bought a boat with a 1997 150 hp merc V6 at the start of last season. I noticed the same thing with my engine as yours (no tell tale flow with the engine at idle when cold).A buddy of mine has owned a Yamaha for over ten years and when he saw my engine last year he thought I was in for trouble, because his engine pisses like a race horse as soon as it's fired (in the water or on muffs). I assumed he was right so I replace the water pump ($60-being a used engine I figured it should be done anyway). Still no flow at idle though. Next, I replaced the t-stats ($12 each). I fired the engine with the t-stats out and WOW-BIG Pisser! Put new t-stats in. Flow started after engine was up to operating temp (140 degrees water temp on my engine)