Re: 1992 Force Outboard Alarm
What about the key that holds the impeller to the driveshaft? Was it there? It should have stayed on the flat spot of the driveshaft when you pulled the housing, or perhaps it would have fallen down onto the wear plate.. Hopefully not down the slot into the water intake, but...lol If the key was missing somehow, that would allow the driveshaft to spin *inside* the impeller without actually turning the impeller.. If that's not it, umm...what about the plastic tube that connects the top of the waterpump housing to the water intake pipe on the motor? Still there? If not, water would just be spraying up inside the lower leg and not really making it to the engine..
It's not like it's a bad idea to go ahead and put a new impeller in it -- that can only help things -- but what I'd do as soon as that's done is start it up on a hose to get an idea of the volume of water coming out through the prop.. If it's pumping just a little bit of water and the overheat buzzer goes off, I'd start looking for some kind of restriction in the water jackets.. If it's pumping plenty of water that's maybe bathtub warm and you can still touch the motor without burning yourself and the buzzer goes off, I'd be looking at the overheat sensor..
I'm *NOT* an outboard mechanic, though.. I'm just a fellow Force owner with a bit of knowledge of the cooling systems on these engines, applying a bit of logic to the problem as described, and going through what I'd be doing if I were you.