Motor said:You shouldn't be getting steam if the pee hole is just plugged. Sounds like you're not getting water to the powerhead. The water tube from the pump to the powerhead may be plugged or not in place. Try dropping the LU again and see what you can see. You don't want to push anything that's in the tube up into the powerhead, but you might try suction on the tube (shop vac?) to see if you can clear it. If the old impeller was missing chunks, that could be the problem.
You can check for water circulation to the powerhead by seeing if the exhaust cover is getting hot.
There is also the simple possibility--if you don't have the leg deep enough in the water, the pump won't draw. Water in your test tank should be above the pump, not just the intake.
rhomesteader said:Motor said:You shouldn't be getting steam if the pee hole is just plugged. Sounds like you're not getting water to the powerhead. The water tube from the pump to the powerhead may be plugged or not in place. Try dropping the LU again and see what you can see. You don't want to push anything that's in the tube up into the powerhead, but you might try suction on the tube (shop vac?) to see if you can clear it. If the old impeller was missing chunks, that could be the problem.
You can check for water circulation to the powerhead by seeing if the exhaust cover is getting hot.
There is also the simple possibility--if you don't have the leg deep enough in the water, the pump won't draw. Water in your test tank should be above the pump, not just the intake.
Thanks for the reply. I put more water in the barrel, no change. I have now taken the lower leg off again and taken the pump apart. (I and that little key are getting to be buddys.) every thing looks fine. The line from the water inlet to the pump is clear. I have blown, by mouth and plastic tube, from the conection on the powerhead back through the telltail.That's clear. I also blew from the conection on the power head back, almost no restance. I thought I was blowing back through the head and out the copper tube that sticks down the leg from the power head to the Water Tube Gide. However when I put my finger over the end of the copper tube, I could still blow with almost no restance. Where is the air going? When I blow from the end of the copper tube back toward the powerhead there is considerable resistance. Why? I need help with this.
emckelvy said:Water goes up the copper tube to supply the powerhead. If you can't blow air into the tube, something's plugged and that's the reason you can't get any water to the powerhead.
Most likely place for the blockage is the rubber grommet at the top of the water tube, under the powerhead.
Unfortunately you'll have to pull the powerhead to get at the grommet for replacement.
One thing you might try as a last resort before pulling the powerhead is to remove the water jacket cover over the spark plug holes. If there's a lot of silt built up inside this cover, you'll get poor circulation thru the block. If there's nothing in there, time to remove the powerhead and check that grommet out.
You should be able to find a parts breakdown with illustrations for your motor at this website:
http://www.dougrussell.com/partscatalog/collections/index.cfm?fuseaction=collectdetails&colid=01
HTH.......ed
Motor said:Removing the water jacket can result in broken bolts that will need to be drilled out and the holes re-tapped, so don't go there too quickly. Compared to that, pulling the powerhead might not look so bad!
How do you know the air is going into the leg? You might try water under very low pressure from each end to see what you can see. Watch the pressure, don't
want to blow out the gaskets on the water jacket or
exhaust cover.
On some motors, you can pull the copper tube loose from the rubber grommet on the powerhead. I think you may have a plugged tube. Water can come out of the exhaust relief ports on the leg if the tell tale is plugged, so I suspect that is where the air is going. If you can't pull the tube, you might try a thin wire up there, gently, just to see if you encounter an obstruction. If so, don't push it up into the motor. If you do find a blockage, you might try to hook it and pull it back down--make a corkscrew on the end of the wire.
Motor said:1. The motor is designed to let the water come out the eshaust relief port in the event the pee hole is blocked--or at least older 110's are. This is usually referenced in the owners manual where it talks about checking for water at the pee hole. So, it makes sense that blowing in the pee hole would let air out in the exhaust, which means in the leg. So, no, it doesn't necessarily indicate a gasket problem.
2. Check the parts blowup and make sure you don't have a thermostat. Again, older 110's did not, but I'm not positive about your 1983.
3. I have had the copper tube come out of the powerhead end when pulling the LU on a 1970's Merc 200, and was able to look up the leg with a flashlight and just stick it back in, no problem. Again, I can't be certain about your 1983 110. But if your next option is to pull the powerhead, it doesn't seem like you have much to lose by seeing if you can wiggle it out of there. But first I'd run something up it to see if it is blocked, so you know if that is where the problem is. If you do pull it, take a measurement first so you'll know how far you need to push it back in.
I'm sorry I don't have any direct experience with such a "new" motor--I hope some of the others here are keeping an eye on this discussion and will chime in if we're missing something.
Additional diagnostic questions may also help: Were there any missing pieces of the old impeller when you removed it? They are a likely candidate for the source of your trouble. Also, was this motor run in salt water or a lot of silt? When did the problem first appear? Was it pumping water before you replaced the impeller? If not, did it stop suddenly, gradually, or is the motor new to you so no idea?
Keep us posted!
Motor said:Thanks for the update--we live for this, hearing about motors running again!
I'd be interested to know how the 9.8 Merc and Johnson 15 (what year?) compare to each other on the same boat. Some say the 9.8 was intentionally under-rated so it could be used on lakes with a less-than-10hp limit.
