86 Force 85hp thermostat installation

[GuitarGuy]

Hi ya'll, I'm new to the forum, and what a great source of information here. I have two questions. I just replaced the impeller on my 85 Force and, I figured I would check the T'stat too. I took the cover off and the T'stat came out in three broken pieces, all corroaded. Now I'm not sure which way it is supposed to go when I install the new one. I've had one guy tell me that the long end with the spring goes into the T'stat cover, and another guy tell me the long end with the spring goes into the head. I don't want to put it in backwards for fear of overheating. Help !! Question #2: Should water come out the 2 pee-holes all the time at WOT? It gushes out at idle, and slow speeds, but when I get up to half throttle or full throttle it's just a dribble, and maybe a few spurts now and then. Thanks for any info you guys can provide.

 

[RRitt]

Re: 86 Force 85hp thermostat installation

after much asking around I decided to take the thermostat out of my engines entirely and have never had any problems. but ... I live in south florida and don't use the boat during tourist season. so the water is always 80 degrees or warmer. I talked to other boat owners with fishing boats and removing thermo is a fairly common practice across all variety of outboards. getting shed of the thermostat is one less thing to break and our water is always fairly warm.

at WOT my engines had a lot of air coming out of the pee-holes. it wouldn't look like a lot of water because the exhaust would blow it out so fast. If you put your hand behind them then there was definite stream of hot water being blown out. I would guess that with 20" shafts there would be even less water at WOT. Roscoe would be the guy to know.

 

[GuitarGuy]

Re: 86 Force 85hp thermostat installation

RRitt, Thanks for the input. I've heard so many things about NOT having a T'stat in the motor that I'm afraid to run it without one, cold seizure, and all that stuff. The water temp here in Tennessee is about 68 right now, still pretty cool. Maybe 'Roscoe" could give me some input like you said. Thanks much RRitt

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: 86 Force 85hp thermostat installation

If you decide to put in a thermostat, The long end with the spring is the part that the water heats to expand. So, with the therm closed, there is no water (Ok, I'm exaggerating to make a point) in the head. So, the spring end goes in the block where the hot water is. If you look closely, you will see a weep hole in the therm plate so a constant flow of water passes it and heated water will flow over the copper expansion plug inside the spring.