Well I still don't understand fully how this thing works. I think it's a place where coolant water and some exhaust is discharged. However on a 1970 Merc 110 9.8 I'm still not sure of it's purpose. Looking in my parts manual there is a hose which discharges coolant water on the left side of the cowel. I get that heated coolant water out of mine. The tell tale(on the back, middle) on this engine is only blowing exhaust. I can run a stick up this hole (not the rubber hose, water comes out of this fine) about 8" and move it from side to side as if it just opens up to the inside of the lower unit. Hmmmmm. So I guess I'll leave it at that unless some other 9.8 owners can help me out. On a Evinrude 15hp I'm working on now it blows water and exhaust from this location. So maybe it's just this small mercury that does this.<br /><br />In the mean time for all you 9.8 owners I put the parts manual on a web site for you to download. It's about 25 pages in PDF format and is about 4.5meg. So if your on a dialup it'll take a while. The numbers are still good because I just purchase some parts.<br /><br /> 110 9.8 Parts list <br /><br />Thanks,<br />Rob
