Blocked water intake on lower unit

[Augoose]

Something bizarre occurred during my summerization process this season, so I figured I share. After doing all the normal maintenance including a new impeller, I noticed that the engine temp would begin running up past 210 and rapidly approach 250 while running in the driveway on muffs.

Prior to shutting it down to avoid damage, an inspection of the hoses established that although the main incoming water supply hose felt cold, there was little pressure felt in the remaining hoses downstream of the thermostat. Thinking I had either botched the impeller job or had a bad thermostat, I began troubleshooting.

Long story short, ants had made a home somewhere inside the water intake on the lower unit and their nest was blocking the majority of the water from passing through and up into the cooling system.

I ended up disconnecting the main water intake hose where it fed into the water pump/impeller and, with a garden hose, forced water back out through the hose- thereby blasting the ants and their nest out of the lower unit. At first there was trickle of water coming out and then all of a sudden....woosh. Ants and mud came flying out.

I suppose from now on I'll cover the intake holes with masking tape.

Anyone ever had that happen?

 

[Maclin]

I have had bees in the bilge. Carpenter ants ate one of my boats once. But none ever just brought their own dirt into my outdrive! Actually pretty amazing. How far into the water intake system did they get, could you tell?

 

[Augoose]

I don't know how far up they got. I suspect not past the outdrive as the impeller I replaced looked fine. I'm hoping that I didn't burn up the new impeller running the boat for a short time with minimal water. We went for a short cruise and the temp stayed down - crossing fingers!

 

[Bob_VT]

That is one of the reasons I run a water pressure gauge with my outboards. A discarded plastic bag can do you in but if you have a gauge you will see the drop or total loss of water pressure

 

[Augoose]

Do you have a remote to a gauge at the dash?

 

[Old Ironmaker]

It happened to my kicker last year. I cleared it out with a long piece of weed whacker line. You should be fine.

 

[R055]

I'm assuming your skeg was touching the ground?

 

[crazy charlie]

at least you didnt have the issue someone had years ago when he couldnt get his motor to crank and when he pulled a spark plug, kernals of corn came out from a family of mice that had taken up residence over the winter.

 

[Augoose]

I'm assuming your skeg was touching the ground?

Nope! Still scratching my head on that one. Why they decided to work their way up the trailer tires and into the lower unit I'll probably never know.

 

[Willyclay]

Anyone ever had that happen?

Pulled about a pound of dirt-dauber mud/nest out of my 100HP Johnson lower unit. I now use a piece of aluminum screen to slid down the prop shaft and cover the through-hub exhaust hole during storage. Critters can be challenging!

 

[roffey]

I just hope you found a new home for the ants, :violin:

On a serious note, a friend of mine had a family of racoons setup home in his boat. The ministry of natural resources told him he could not remove the racoons and to just put a radio on and maybe the voices would drive them away. They completely tore apart the upholstery to make a nest.

 

[Augoose]

I just hope you found a new home for the ants, :violin:

On a serious note, a friend of mine had a family of racoons setup home in his boat. The ministry of natural resources told him he could not remove the racoons and to just put a radio on and maybe the voices would drive them away. They completely tore apart the upholstery to make a nest.

Unreal!