Alpha 1 water pump ?

I fired up the engine today to test the new gears out to make sure it would shift allright before taking it to the lake. I then noticed water shooting out of the drain hole on the case of the Alpha. I've never noticed this before and pulled the lower to make sure everything was ok. Everything seems ok, water pump upper and lower base, gaskets, impeller are new and installed per the Merc #6 drive manual.

Is there supposed to be water coming from this hole? Leaking water increases with rpm. My other Alpha 1 has the hole in question covered when I installed the nosecone. Is my water pump leaking? Or is this normal? I would imagine water would enter this hole when cruising down the lake at 70mph.

I also took a few pics of the lower base. What is the small pinhole in the water channel for? What about the small channel that leads to the vertical driveshaft?

Thanks for any help.

Re: Alpha 1 water pump ?

That Hole drains the lower unit Case,.......

There's Usually Water on Both sides of that hole......
On the Muffs,..... The Expelled Water,+ the Exhaust are both on the other side of that Hole,.....
And Water coming out of it is Normal.......

About the only time Plugging it on your other drive would be a Problem,.....
Is in Freezing weather........

Re: Alpha 1 water pump ?

Bond-o said:

That Hole drains the lower unit Case,.......

There's Usually Water on Both sides of that hole......
On the Muffs,..... The Expelled Water,+ the Exhaust are both on the other side of that Hole,.....
And Water coming out of it is Normal.......

About the only time Plugging it on your other drive would be a Problem,.....
Is in Freezing weather........

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help.....

Yes, the hole drains the cavity in the drive behind the shift shaft. The boat has thru hull exhaust so there is no water from the exhaust. Unless the water pump is leaking, where would the water be coming from? Does water shoot from the small pinhole in the lower base?

Hydromotive said to not worry about filling in the hole unless you boat in cold water. Our boating season ends in September here so there's no chance of freezing.

Re: Alpha 1 water pump ?

Well in that case,......

You Might have a Leak in the waterpump Housing, or in the Line that runs up thru to the motor,.. Leaking around the Muffs,..??..?..??...

Re: Alpha 1 water pump ?

I'm going to pull the drive back off the boat and tear it down once again and check for leaks. I'm thinking it's either the water pump assembly, water tube or the top water pocket in the upper housing or worse yet a cracked case.

I'll keep ya updated on my findings.