1970? 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

mxtaylor

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Jul 13, 2008
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Yesterday I bought this little motor. It had just been tuned and runs perfectly. I installed it on my boat, and conntected the throttle control cable. I ran the motor in a bucket (proper water level) several times as I was installing it and it worked fine, spilling lots of water with the exhaust. A few minutes ago I ran it in the bucket again, putting it in gear long enough to test the remote throttle lever. It spun up to high throttle fine. But when I started it again I noticed there was no water with the exhaust all of a sudden. I filled the bucket up to the top again to be sure, started her one more time, still no water. I never ran the motor in the bucket for more than 30 secs to one minute. Am I being paranoid? I am worried that I screwed something up by having it in gear in the bucket to test the throttle (again, only about 20 or 30 seconds). I have had trouble with motors in the past and I don't want to overheat this one. Again, last night - plenty of water with the exhaust. This morning - only a little white smoke as exhaust. The engine otherwise runs fine.

Should I be worried? Did I mess up my water pump?
 

woody66912

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Jul 12, 2008
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Re: 1970? 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

if you blew all the water out of tank and sucked air at wot very good chance you smoked the pump pull L/U check pump it just remeber it's better it happend there than going wide *** open with no overheat alarm.
 

mxtaylor

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Re: 1970? 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

if you blew all the water out of tank and sucked air at wot very good chance you smoked the pump pull L/U check pump it just remeber it's better it happend there than going wide *** open with no overheat alarm.

Man that is what I was afraid of. It only ran for a few seconds. I have very little experience at this and I hate to pull the lower unit of a perfectly running motor I bought yesterday.

If I pull the lower unit, how will I know if the pump is bad?
 

woody66912

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Re: 1970? 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

chunks will be missing or hub of pump will be spun or pump will be melted to housing or pump will have taken what we call a set. blades will be bent if this is the case pull blades backwards check for cracks .
 

jbjennings

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Jul 18, 2007
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Re: 1970? 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

the blades of your pump should stand out nice and straight like he said. If anything else is wrong it should be obvious in the pump. Don't feel too bad about having to pull it. Most folks replace an impeller on a new-to-them motor just to be safe anyway. It's also a procedure you definitely won't regret learning. There's all kinds of old threads that will show you how to do it. Don't lose the impeller key--it's tiny! Your water level should be about 3 or 4 inches below the exhaust for the pump to work. Using a bucket is a BAD idea. I always use a big trash can (a 55 gallon drum now). If any of your impeller blades are missing, you need to look for them and account for all of them or they may be in the water tube or water jackets inside the power head which could block a passage and overheat your motor.
Good luck,
JBJ
 

mxtaylor

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Re: 1970? 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

Thanks. I did some reading on it and will give it a shot after I get the specific manual for my motor (was reading an old Johnson manual for a 60s 40 horse I have). Are parts readily available for these old motors? Will it be easy for me to find a new impeller?
 

mxtaylor

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Re: 1970? 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

I should have said that I was running it in a 33 gallon trash can (as opposed to a "bucket"). And only had the throttle up for maybe 5 seconds, and only running at all for maybe 30 seconds. I will pull the lower unit tonight and see what is going on.
 

mxtaylor

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Re: 1971 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

Re: 1971 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

I bought a water pump repair kit from the local NAPA, and pulled the lower unit. I am not sure if there was anything wrong with the impeller, it was intact, but the grommet between the water pump housing and the water pipe was pretty badly damaged and could have been blocking the flow. I replaced the impeller and grommet anyway and put her back together. The water pump is definitely working now, but, I suddenly the powerhead won't start.


Grrrr. I am startting to feel like I may not be meant for boating.
 

cocotower

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Feb 20, 2012
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Re: 1971 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

Re: 1971 25hp Evinrude - no water from exhaust

I bought a water pump repair kit from the local NAPA, and pulled the lower unit. I am not sure if there was anything wrong with the impeller, it was intact, but the grommet between the water pump housing and the water pipe was pretty badly damaged and could have been blocking the flow. I replaced the impeller and grommet anyway and put her back together. The water pump is definitely working now, but, I suddenly the powerhead won't start.


Grrrr. I am startting to feel like I may not be meant for boating.

This is why the boat motor got sold. :) I also bought a used boat with a 71 25hp Johnson 25R71 and it, too, just suddenly quit spitting water out of the exhaust hole, and I have a big trash can filled with water with the hose going wide open every time I crank her.

RIGHT when I got the points set to where the motor cranked and running smoother, the water quits pumping Right Then.

These motors seemed to be plagued with a bug that hops from one needed component to another, or so each depends on the others and it just seems that way. :)

What's costing me money is my never-quit attitude. I'm determined to get the motor tuned up and once I did it quits pumping water. It's a money pit at this point, but it's a 71 motor so things are going to be bad on it.

Out of all the things I've fixed so far, removing the lower unit and replacing a pump or impeller really scares me.

And where is the oil in this thing? Surely the gears need oil.
 
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