New to the forum. I found a very similar thread here doing a search so starting a new thread at the moderators request. Find the closed thread with similar title very close to this one in the list. Great description and pictures there. It's the small circular restrictor plug that supposed to fill a hole near the exhaust baffle. I've got the same issue. Motor purchased used and former owner says there were no issues. Not sure I trust that assessment after doing a more thorough examination in other areas of the motor. I've not had it in the water yet aside from running in a barrel so can't speak to the performance. In the process of changing water pump and found this issue. Mine was rattling loose inside the housing with 2 of the three legs broken off. Since it clearly wasn't performing it's function I managed to twist / bend it enough to get it through the hole. I've read the text and comments in the previous thread. I also have a 86 model 9.9 that has the same hole in the housing but nothing in it. I bought this motor new (the 9.9) so I know that nobody has been in there. I'm going to assume the designers had a reason for it to be there (likely increase back pressure on the 15, maybe at high speed) so want to replace the function at least. Would like to avoid pulling the power head and entire housing to install from the inside so wondering if anyone has found a simple solution to plug the hole securely from the outside as seen in the picture above. Would appreciate your ideas and experience. Thanks.
