problem with cooling

Hello,<br /><br />first of all, sorry for my bad english, i'll try to make it clear:<br /><br />The patient is 20hp 1965 Mercury. There is no water coming out from "tell-tale". I have checked the water impeller (like new, elastic) and that the pump is attached to the water tube that goes up to the engine. <br />How to make sure that the engine is cooling? I had the engine running for about 10 minutes at 3/4 throttle, and it wasn't getting extremely hot.<br />I am not very familiar with outboards, so please keep it simple with your instructions.<br />I'm also wondering if my Merc does have a thermostat that controls the cooling? If so, where does it locate? <br />What's the use for the "flush" -hole at the bottom cowl? <br />Any suggestions?

Re: problem with cooling

The flush hole is to clean out the engine after salt water use, not to run the engine on, it sounds like the telltale is plugged on the engine, if you have a flush adapter you could hook it up and ck the telltale out, if not run it a barrel o the lake to ck it

Re: problem with cooling

Its not uncommon for certain insets to lay eggs in small openings then plug them up with mud. Happened to the tell-tale on my motor twice last summer. First time motor was new to me and I couldn't understand why I wasn't getting any water out. Just by chance I happened to see the mud in the opening. Stuck a piece of wire into the hole, cleaned it out and everyting worked fine. Now I check it frequently.

Re: problem with cooling

Guess I'll have to check if the pee-hole is plugged with dirt or something. <br />Does anyone know if my Merc has a thermostat or not? Where should it be?<br />Anyways, this 40 years old ******* is running well and i'm not going to by a new outboard, since they are nothing compared to this.<br />Viva Kiekhaefer!

Re: problem with cooling

The thermostat should be on the top of the housing above your cylinders. It would be a cap with a few screws that has a slight buble shape.