90HP 4-stroke.. easy way to check if tell-tale is plugged?

[norske5]

I've got the following Mercury motor on a pontoon boat:

Model 2005 90ELPT SW
SN 1B185926

I've only owned it for 3 years and it only had ~80 hrs on it when I bought it. Now... maybe 240 hrs.
As part of my first winterization, the plastic water pump impeller was changed - and I'll have it done again this year.

As I read in the manual, the tell-tale on this one is on the cold side - so either the pump isn't working or perhaps the tell-tale (or tee or tubing) is plugged. The inlet has no visible pluggage.

This is used on a lake that gets pretty low and has quite a bit of sediment on the lake bottom.

Q: With the motor cover off, is there an easy way to determine if the tell-tale is just plugged?


Thanks in advance,

Terry

 

[Stamey]

Re: 90HP 4-stroke.. easy way to check if tell-tale is plugged?

Generally, I take a piece of trimmer line, fairly stiff but flexible and small enough diameter to fit in the tell tail hole, and feed it in there, breaking up the stuff the mud dobbers have built in there. This is what generally happens on outboards. If you cannot feed the line in there then you may have to disassemble a bit to get the hose disconnected inside and make sure it's clear.

Chris

 

[norske5]

Re: 90HP 4-stroke.. easy way to check if tell-tale is plugged?

Thanks, Chris... I'm heading out now to give it a whirl.

Terry

 

[ondarvr]

Re: 90HP 4-stroke.. easy way to check if tell-tale is plugged?

Why do you think it may be plugged? If all you want to do is make sure it's not plugged blow some air through it. Sometimes you can feel something in the tube when using a probe, but not always, it just flows after that.

 

[norske5]

Re: 90HP 4-stroke.. easy way to check if tell-tale is plugged?

John -

I was mostly hoping it was plugged and not something more serious... and would be an easy "unplug" job to get a few more weeks of boating in this season.

Checked more thoroughly today and there was zero evidence of mud daubers or anything else on the outside of the tell-tale, and I didn't have anything super-suitable for rodding it via the exit point - but tried with a bit of wire and another flexible piece of plastic that fit.

I don't have an engine or water temp gauge - so have no way of knowing if it's getting hot short of waiting for the audible alarm.

I'll speak to the guy that winterizes it tomorrow...it's in the lake now and I'd need to run it about 20 mins at low RPM to get it to the marina where I can get it out onto its trailer.

Terry