OMC Sea Drive Water Flow

New to this Forum so any assistance provided will be greatly appreciated:

I have a '87 OMC Sea Drive 1.6 Litre (V-4) and need some urgent assistance on the overboard "tattletale" connections - There is a Wye connector that dumps to the discharge through the housing. Connected to it are 3 hoses:

1) 1/4" which appears to run down from the thermostats.

2) 3/8" which comes from the Starboard cylinder house or possibly from the head

3) 3/8" connected to the Wye but not connected to anything at the orher end.


I thought I pulled "3" off of something by accident but have looked & felt all over the engine & can't find a connection. I have run the motor up in both neutral & in gear to about 3000 RPM and no water flows out of the open end or from anywhere on the motor. Does anyone have an idea of whether this hose gets connected somewhre or is it an emergency overflow ?

This concern came to light as I am having a problem with seawater getting into the housing, turning to steam, and killing the motor. I was setting out to "water-proof" all through housing fittings when I "accidently disconnected" the hose -

Thanks all

Re: OMC Sea Drive Water Flow

This should be like a duck bid shape and is there fro over pressure and allow the water to flow our kind of like a vent if it is like mine. Your flow should be a very good solid stream if you are not getting flow there could be several problems first is pump and or thermostats.

Re: OMC Sea Drive Water Flow

Thank you ! Yes it does look like a open duck bill the way it is cut - I do have excellent waterflow through the "tattletale" overboard and nothing through the duckbill hose -

After looking at the Wye (or Tee) if you prefer is begs the question: Is it a checkvalve? or just straight through flow?

I greatly appreciate your resolution - if you can answer the second question as well I would again be most thankful

Re: OMC Sea Drive Water Flow

That hose sits in the pan. It doesn't connect to anything. It will siphon any water out of the pan in case some gets in there.

Re: OMC Sea Drive Water Flow

Thank You guys very much - I am quite relieved now knowing it's purpose. This forum is great & I am glad I joined/came here for assistance - I hope some day I can be of assistance to someone ....

Re: OMC Sea Drive Water Flow

The 1.6 I had did not have a great flow and never did get it resolved ended up burning s cylinder the motor never ran hot so I think it was a fuel issue. I replace that motor with and 1990 evenrude and it water flow is excellent. From what I have learned the hard what these motors need to have timing correct and if you run lean at all you can easily burn a piston. I did not know about the pick up water thing but makes sense these are simple motors and tough if you do the right things do you have a manual i got one on eBay for lest the 20
By the way do you know how much fuel you burn my 120 burns 12 gal an hours pushing my 21 foot proline at around 22 miles an hour.

Re: OMC Sea Drive Water Flow

The OMC SeaDrives were pretty much identical to JohnnyRude outboards.

You might get better help in the JohnnyRude Forum.

I will move you.