Ok - I just finished doing a complete powerhead rebuild on my 1987 110 evinrude. While I was at it i put in a new waterpump rebuild kit with housing & a new thermastat kit. Put the put he powerhead back on (thing runs great) "BUT" I seem to have water coming out of the base in large amounts. When running I do have a good stream of water out the hose. I took the lower unit off again and put a garden hose to the water pipe & the water just comes out from the base of the engine. I used all new gaskets & can see there is no gasket where the water is coming out.
I belive the engine is getting cooling water for I ran it about 10 minutes so far at an idle & my overheat horns did not sound. When I put the garden hose on the water pipe, the engine is off. The water seem to be going up the water pipe & then dumping out at the base. I am guessing the thermastats stay closed until the right temp opens them letting water flow into the engine - Correct??
Yes, the block will fill with water from the pump, then pass through the thermostat housing on it's way out and down the midsection. The valve body in the thermostat housing has a small hole in it. That hole bleeds water to the stats and will cause them to open when the water gets to 143 degrees. Is your water leak at the (base gasket) powerhead to midsection adapter mating surface? Did you install that base gasket?
Received an interesting call today from a customer with exactly the same problem you describe-same engine. After some lengthy discussion, he decided that it was likely that he may have put the powerhead base gasket on backwards. That could cause a leak that you describe. His comment was that in following the manual, it said to mount the base gasket to the underside of the block, before lowering it onto the midsection adapter. In following this procedure, he thinks he flipped the gasket, as it was not so visible and he did not carefully note it's orientation in relation to the water passages. He just noted that all the bolt holes lined up... I've aways put the base gasket on the adapter first, so it's orientation is obvious. Did not know I was doing it wrong all these years.