25HP Johnson not circulating water into head

mnwolftrack

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Aug 15, 2009
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16
Disgregard this post. The shop took one more look at it before I picked up the motor and they found the problem today. There was a piece of grit stuck under a plate under the impeller. Once that was removed, all is good.

Forgive me--I forgot to jot down the exact year of my engine, but it's a mid 1980's 25HP Johnson long shaft with electric start.

I tried starting up the motor this year with the boat tied to the dock, and the motor got hot within about a minute and I noticed there was no pee stream (can't remember if this one had that or not?).

I brought the motor into a repair shop. They gave up. They replaced the impeller, water pump, and t-stat. They can blow air through, so there does not seem to be a clog, but it will not suck water up. Motor otherwise runs fine and the shop said compression was good.

Ideas? I'm basically on my own now since the shop gave up.
 

tashasdaddy

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51,019
Re: 25HP Johnson not circulating water into head

well it does not suck water up the motor, it pushes it. did you check the inlet and passages in the lower unit. remove lower unit, attach water hose to water tube. also the remove the pee stream hose, they get clogged by kritters nest. pinching the rubber grommet between the water tube and water pump will block water also. are you sure the key is between the drive shaft and the impeller.
 

mnwolftrack

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Aug 15, 2009
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Re: 25HP Johnson not circulating water into head

Thanks for the help--I didn't check anything myself--a local shop did. The motor used to run fine, though it's been a couple years since it's been run. I am just relaying what information they told me thus far. I didn't have time to deal with it right now, so I tried bringing it to a professional (and they of course give up). I'm not sure what else they did (or did not do) besides what I said. I just know it's now going to be up to me to figure it out.

I'm not sure about the key between the drive shaft and impeller since I didn't pull it apart myself (yet) but I will look for that. I will also ask if the shop already tried sticking a garden hose on the tube to see if they could force water up. I know they tried air, and air would flow threw. I would think if water were actually leaking out somewhere, it would be quite obvious. So, if there's flow from the tube on up, the lower unit and it's passages must be where the blockage is.

I don't have a repair manual. Is taking the lower unit off fairly straight forward? I am quick competent with mechanical repairs--I just haven't done much on an outboard before (never had to until now). About the most I've ever needed to do before is change lower unit oil and plugs. Never had an outbboard motor that actually had a problem before.

If the pee stream hose is blocked, will the block ALL water flow up into the head? Or is the pee stream hose just a secondary flow that simply tells you if you have flow or not?
 

mnwolftrack

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Joined
Aug 15, 2009
Messages
16
Re: 25HP Johnson not circulating water into head

Problem fixed. Disregard this post--the shop took one more "whack at it" before I picked up the motor and found the problem (mentioned above in bold in the first post up top).
 
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