1979 Merc 40. No water coming out of pee-hole

I just baught a 79 Bass Tracker. I put the rabbit ears on the motor and it fired up after a few cranks. It runs ok just no water coming out of the weep hole. Could it be because there isn't enough pressure from the rabbita ears? Is it better to submerge it and then test it out? Also, is the weep hole up by the motor case? Thanks!

Re: 1979 Merc 40. No water coming out of pee-hole

I had similar issue - not enough pressure in hose to rabbit ears so motor didnt spit out the tell tale - switched to running in a bucket type setup and tell tale running at full force. Good luck

Re: 1979 Merc 40. No water coming out of pee-hole

Also it could just be plugged up near the exit.
I have a 40 hp and a 65 HP They both scared me a couple of times with no water from the tell tale. In the end, some kind of bug (maybe a mud wasp) had made a nest just inside the opening of the telltale.
I figured it out dockside by taking the cowl off and pulling the telltale hose off of the little plastic fitting that exits under the starboard edge of the cowl. Started it up and had great flow from the hose. Ran a wire through that fitting and all was OK

Re: 1979 Merc 40. No water coming out of pee-hole

Had a '79 Merc 40 myself this summer that would just dribble out of the telltale. Ended up being a thermostat issue. After checking the impeller and blowing everything out good I put a pressure gauge on the motor and it had good pressure - it just wasn't coming out of the telltale. Removed the thermostat to test it in a pan of water on the stove and discovered that it wouldn't open until about 170 degrees. Ran the motor (on muffs) without the stat and it spit water fine so I picked up a new one and all was fine.

A pressure gauge with an 1/8" pipe thread will let you know for sure that your pump is working and getting water to the engine.