Mercury XR6 150 Steam from pee hole

[zlm_us]

I have a 2001 Mercury XR6 and the overheat alarm went off. I replaced the impeller, poppit valve, and thermostat. We went to the lake this weekend and it overheated again. This time there was steam coming out of the pee hole. I brought it home flushed the motor checked the impeller cleaned out all the sand. I was previously using water muffs and today we started it in a barrel of water so we could see if it was sucking water. The motor started up with no problems the pee hole started squirting water and I let it run for for a few minutes. I then seen steam and no water coming out of the pee hole but the overheat alarm was not coming on. I killed the engine anyway. I have ordered a complete water pump and going to replace anyway. I am just curious if it is possible it maybe a head gasket causing the problem. I have checked all the lines and nothing is leaking. I know its getting water because it pees in the beginning and then goes to steam.

 

[zlm_us]

Re: Mercury XR6 150 Steam from pee hole

Never got any replies but based on the views I decided to post how I solved the problem. I reinstalled my old thermostats, removed the LU and flushed through the thermostats and poppet valve assembly. I replaced the complete water pump assembly even though the impeller was new and I didn't see any damage to the housing or base . I even removed the exhaust divider plate plate but didn't see any obstructions. I put it all back together and spent all day yesterday at the lake with no problems except a sunburn. I'm almost positive the water pump assembly fixed the issue but I wont rule out it was the thermostats too.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Mercury XR6 150 Steam from pee hole

Steam means your block water temp exceeded 212F. The stats have their opening temp stamped on the pellet and 143F is a common number. The OT alarm switch is set to 190 something, 196F I think.

The popoff valve works at higher rpms as the stat can't pass enough water on it's own to satisfy engine requirements.

Since you saw steam, if your pee is plumbed off the back of your thermostats, like some are, then the stat had to be opening for you to get anything. The fact that you saw steam tells me that your problem was the clogging that you flushed out, or something about your water pump repair. If you put it back together the second time as you did the first time then one would think that you knew what you were doing and didn't make any mistakes and that your problem may have just been foreign objects.

Mark