Tell Tale water is hot

[trukngary]

Hello everyone just bought my first boat this season and would like to thank everyone at this site, it is very informative and great people on here. Now for my question I have a 1979 ranger 1750 aztec with a 115hp mercury on it and have rebuilt the carbs and everything sounds great, I have taken the boat out last evening and noticed that the tell tale water coming out was hot not scolding hot but pretty warm and there is a good stream coming out of the pee hole, beings it is a 2 stoke motor I did not know if the water should be luke warm or if its normal for it to be hot, also the top of the lower unit is hot also, any input would be greatly appreciated I would hate to ruin my first motor.

 

[Nater1300]

Re: Tell Tale water is hot

Not sure if it's normal, but I just rebuilt my carbs yesterday on my Merc 115hp also and my water was also very warm. Keep in mind I am running it out of water so I am sure I am not getting a full flow of water through it

 

[jhodge]

Re: Tell Tale water is hot

Some one else will cime in if I'm wrong, but on my engine the telltale starts up after the thermostat opens, so it is expected that there will be some heat in the water. What you don't want is steam flowing out the telltale. You should be able to touch the head area of the engine and not be burned for a short time, after a moment it gets hot. Then all is normal. JH

 

[emckelvy]

Re: Tell Tale water is hot

If the motor's the same year as the boat, it's an Inline Six and has no thermostat.

The water coming out of the telltale should be cool or no more than lukewarm. The water pump needs servicing anyway if you don't know when it was last worked on. I'd also blow air or flow water up the water supply tube, with the lower unit off, to ensure there are no blockages in the powerhead.

If the motor is a later-model Inline Four, it has a thermostat. The block should be warm but the large flat cover on the Port side (the exhaust manifold cover) should be cool or lukewarm to the touch.

If the exhaust man cover is hot, change the impeller and check the thermostat and poppet valve.

HTH..............ed

 

[trukngary]

Re: Tell Tale water is hot

Thanks for the input everyone and yes it is a 79 merc straight 6 not inline 6 I have the seloc manual for the motor and will check and see if there is a tstat on the motor as far as cool or luke warm the water was probably between 125-150 degrees again I was on the lake at an idle and might I ad I was in the idle zone all day wasnt able to open up the throttle at all that day and that was my thought also was to replace the impeller but my next question would be should I also replace the water pump while I am at it with the lower unit off and isnt there a heat warning alarm horn on a 79 merc cause it never went off?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Tell Tale water is hot

a '79 inline six has neither a thermostat or any warning alarms. If the telltale is warm on the hose or at idle, you have a problem. The impeller is the only moving part of the waterpump. Drop the lower unit, inspect the water pump cover for wear, and if it needs it replace the cover. Always replace the impeller, stainless wear plate and the two gaskets on the wearplate.

 

[trukngary]

Re: Tell Tale water is hot

Ok just put the ear muffs on it today and ran it and nothing it was cool water coming out of the tell tale and didn't even get luke warm I let it run for approximately 20 minutes and didn'e even try to get warm, so I guess my question would be could it be a impeller or water pump going bad or could it be I forgot to flush it with ear muffs the last time I was on the water and I flushed the crap out of it or could it be the lake temp was above 80 so the water coming in was already warm, I apologize if I am asking stupid questions just new to boating and trying to figure it out