Overheat - weeds got in water intake

tboydva

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Thread starter
Joined
Mar 29, 2008
Messages
167
Was out this AM. 1995 60HP Evinrude. Was running ~4,500 RPM when the overheat horn started screaming! Ramped down to idle and shut off engine. Saw steam coming out of the pee-hole! Took a look and I had a wad of vegetation that was clapped down on the intake. I removed it, waited, then fired her up - pee started and horn did not come back on. Felt the head and it was hot, but not on fire. Motored back in (about 2 miles) sweating like crazy, but there were no issues. It ran just fine.

So, after reading up here, I re-torqued the head (it was fine), inspected the spark plugs (they looked fine), peered into the cylinders (nothing unusual), did a compression test (all three cylinders were dead on 120 PSI which is what they've been since I owned the motor), and inspected the gaskets (they look fine). The nice shiny black paint I used on the powerhead is fine without any dulling or visible signs of cooking.

So - I'm inclined to say we're all good and go forward without worry. I haven't found anything aside from these checks (unless one fails, then there's lots of follow-on advise). Am I missing anything? Did I dodge the bullet?

Thanks!
 

Cofe

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
1,883
Re: Overheat - weeds got in water intake

Looks like you did a good follow up on your over heat situation. :)

I run my motors in weeds/moss conditions a bunch. If you take care of the situation immediately when the temp alarm goes off, things will usually be ok.
I have had it happen once, that weed material clogged up my thermostat, but that was just once.
 

tboydva

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Thread starter
Joined
Mar 29, 2008
Messages
167
Re: Overheat - weeds got in water intake

I've run through kelp when I lived in CA and now weeds in the Potomac. I've had 'em bunch up all around my skeg - but never once actually restricting water flow. When I motor through the weeds, I always go slow and keep a watchful eye on the pee-hole. I did again today and after getting on the channel, I pulled up the motor and defouled it... I think I must have gotten something in the actual channel that just hit it right (or wrong actually). I think I was lucky I had a 50:1 mix running through the engine (in addition to the OMS) which I was trying to use up.

Well, I'm going to count my blessings and hope nothing is seriously impacted on the motor. Thank you OMC for the alarm!

TJB
 
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