Quick question Bosunsmate. I was just looking over the service notice you posted. It states it applies to Models 1986 (CD) - 1994 (ER) , 1987 (CU) - 1994 (ER), and 1989 (CE) -1994 (ER). Are we sure this applies to my motor 1983 J60ELCTB. It is not on that list?? Water does come out the telltale right when it starts.
Yes it definitely needs doing on your motor. I know that cooling system on it fairly well due to working on my one from piston rings up.
What happens is that the tell tale comes off the bottom of the exhaust housing and then the telltale hose loops over the top of the head, air gets into the water intake ie from starting the motor up or when the engine goes over a wave or just from having the engine being full of air at the beginning every time you start it.
That air gets pushed up to the top of the crankcase where it sits above the waterline and all the water that comes in gets pressed against it and this then means no cooling water can get around the top of the cylinder. The telltale outlet at the bottom of the exhaust housing can do nothing to help with that as its in a totally different part of the motor and is also at the bottom of the engine, ie not where the air bubble is. The outlet from the head is also at the bottom of the head and water jacket where the thermostat and poppet valves are and so water goes out but does not take any air with it.
So moving the telltale to the top of the crankcase means that any air that comes in is sent straight out the telltale and that whole area then fills with water, which is the hottest part of the motor.
The impeller is pretty easy. The hardest part is removing the screw for the gear lever which is under the carburettor. Make sure you do that first, you dont want to have the gearbox hanging from that.
Also do not undo the phillips screw on the lower leg, that undos the gears in the lower unit and its a massive pain to fix. The two other screws are your gear level fluid check. You must check them too. The gear oil probably needs changing too.
So so long as you dont do those two things you will have a fine time changing it
