Suzuki df 15 possible problem - video

MCL

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Messages
109
Hello

I recently bought a 14ft frb boat with a 2004 suzuki df15 short shaft outboard.Im a bit worried the engine is running a bit hotter than it should.I havent measured the temperature on the engine itself but im getting steam out of the upper exhaust port,also underway the temperature of the exhaust leg is maybe 70C(170fahrenheit),I can barely keep my hand on the exhaust leg for longer than a couple of seconds. Would this be considered normal?Im not getting overheat alarms but im not sure if this engine even has it.On my bigger boat the exhaust manifolds and risers are almost as cool as the lake water.

Here is a video of the engine while i was flushing it for the winter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbX6HeY2Hvk
There is alot of water coming out of a hole on the front side where the gear linkage adjuster is.Is this normal?

The impeller was 5 years old and had lost half of one of the vanes.I found a little piece of it restricting the flow of the tell tale stream. Replaced with a new oem one but made no difference
I had the thermostat off and tested,did not measure the temperature but it opened completely way before boiling.
I have good flow of water out of the tall tale,also engine is working flawlessly.
Am I getting worked over nothing and all of this is completely normal?Im new to outboards.

Otherwise Im super impressed with the boat and engine.When I bought it was doing 23 mph. After a new prop and some engine height fiddling I was doing almost 26,5mph,I then realised i had filled a void in the boat with 70lbs worth of water and was doing 27,5mph after emptying it out. There is still some rpm left in the motor with the sharpened solas saturn prop so I have reglassed the transom for more height and smoothed out some hulls bumps to see if I cant get a few more mph out of her.
Has really good holeshot too,managed to pull a 165lbs wakeboarder straight on with motor power only without bigger problems.
 

tommarvin

Ensign
Joined
Nov 22, 2015
Messages
999
Your good, if you think shes hot she probably is ,170 sounds hot better get a temp gun to be sure,
You should not be getting steam out the exhaust port.
I think you didnt get all the impeller vane out and you have a partial cooling blockage.
Drop the lower unit make sure the water tube going from the water pump to the power head is clear.
Maybe remove the stat and run the motor to move any old pieces of rubber vane past the stat?
remove the water pump housing look for rubber pieces lodged in holes.
A piece of vane made it to the tell tale stream, not good theres more in there,
last resort remove the exhause cover plate,if she doesnt cool down.
.
 
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