I have a 1986 Yamaha 25 SJ (on a 14' Winyah) that is giving me some problems. I put it in on Friday for the first time in a month. Got it going, ran to my apartment (on a lake joined by 2 big creeks and a river here in S. GA)then headed out for some joy riding. After about 5 minutes running wide open(just enough time to get it warmed up good), I noticed I was starting to slowly lose power. I turned around and headed back towards the apt. It started making a clicking noise and shut down. I put my trolling motor down and trolled back to my apt. I removed my cowling, and noticed that the back top, near the hand hold that you pull up on was hot as hell, abnormally hot, which I saw was on top of the head( or whatever it is called, not mechanically inclined or engine savy) which lead me to believe it was overheating. I went inside my apartment drank a few beers then went back out to my boat. I decided I'd try to crank it up and it turned over on the first or second try. I decided to putt around for a bit so I put it in gear and idled around. It was getting dark so I decided to head back and work on it on Sat morning.
Sat morning I got up and got in the boat. It fired right up and I decided to go for a run. Ran up a creek about 10 minutes running wide open and it did the same thing: lost power slowly and shut down. I put out my anchor and let it cool down for about 20 mins. I got it fired back up and headed back towards the apt. By this point I decided that it wasnt cooling properly and kept an eye on the stream coming out. I also felt the water coming out right before it shut off, and the water was really hot, to the point that you dont hold your hand there and it still stings for a second after you remove it from the stream. It seemed to be pissing weakly and I got a few hundred yards and right before it powered down, I noticed the stream stopped. I got back to my apt and called a few friends to get thier opinion. I pulled it out of the water this morning and did a little research on the internet.
I decided to take off the lower unit and look at the water pump/impeller. I got everything off( this is my first boat and the first time I had ever worked on an outboard engine, let alone take off the lower unit) and took it into my apartment. I opened the water pump housing and saw that my impeller was chewed up(the ends/tips). I figured this might be part of the problem so I just ordered a water pump repair kit( a new impeller and new gaskets). After talking to a friend of mine who knows a good bit about outboards, he led me to believe that it might be more than the impeller because of the way it overheats and then throttles down and shuts off. It is an 86', so I dont think it has any auto cut off features built into it. He thinks it might be something else besides the impeller. I figured I would post this up and see what ya'lls opinions are. Sorry for the long drawn out story, but wanted to describe everything. I dont have a lot of extra cash to take it to an engine repair place, and was going to try and diagnois the problem myself and then let a friend of mine help me replace everything. Thanks for your input.
Sat morning I got up and got in the boat. It fired right up and I decided to go for a run. Ran up a creek about 10 minutes running wide open and it did the same thing: lost power slowly and shut down. I put out my anchor and let it cool down for about 20 mins. I got it fired back up and headed back towards the apt. By this point I decided that it wasnt cooling properly and kept an eye on the stream coming out. I also felt the water coming out right before it shut off, and the water was really hot, to the point that you dont hold your hand there and it still stings for a second after you remove it from the stream. It seemed to be pissing weakly and I got a few hundred yards and right before it powered down, I noticed the stream stopped. I got back to my apt and called a few friends to get thier opinion. I pulled it out of the water this morning and did a little research on the internet.
I decided to take off the lower unit and look at the water pump/impeller. I got everything off( this is my first boat and the first time I had ever worked on an outboard engine, let alone take off the lower unit) and took it into my apartment. I opened the water pump housing and saw that my impeller was chewed up(the ends/tips). I figured this might be part of the problem so I just ordered a water pump repair kit( a new impeller and new gaskets). After talking to a friend of mine who knows a good bit about outboards, he led me to believe that it might be more than the impeller because of the way it overheats and then throttles down and shuts off. It is an 86', so I dont think it has any auto cut off features built into it. He thinks it might be something else besides the impeller. I figured I would post this up and see what ya'lls opinions are. Sorry for the long drawn out story, but wanted to describe everything. I dont have a lot of extra cash to take it to an engine repair place, and was going to try and diagnois the problem myself and then let a friend of mine help me replace everything. Thanks for your input.