How long should it run before it pees?

[mwe-maxxowner]

Just finished up changing bellows, putting my motor in, aligning it, putting my drive on, etc.

Finally fired it up today, it doesn't idle very well, so it was tough to run it at a safe rpm for any length of time. It would run for a few seconds and cut off or I'd shut it down to walk back and look at everything.

It never ran more than a minute, and collectively ran maybe 2 or 3 minutes. I never saw it peeing any water out. The last few fires, though, when I shut it down there was a trickle out of where it should come out.

Does the motor need to run a few minutes and warm up before it pees? Or should it pee as soon as I fire it up?

If it should be peeing immediately, does that mean the problem has to be the water pump in the lower unit? All hoses are in place and not leaking. I have a spare drive here with a suppsedly good water pump. Should i swap them and chexk then?

Motor is an 87 4.3 drive s an alpha one.

I guess it may also be worth noting that there was no residual water in the motor from winterizing.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: How long should it run before it pees?

I waited for what seemed like an eternity for the water to come out of the exhaust when I first fired up my 454 after a rebuild. It was probably 2-3 minutes . . .

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: How long should it run before it pees?

OK. Those will be some nerve racking minutes! I can't remember if my temp gauge works properly. Is there a way to check it with dome sort of temp gun?

I certainly don't wanna tear it back apart. I struggled to get it all together alone the first time.

I'm just frightened I did something wrong. It is not a new water pump, but it did pump at the end of last season.

 

[Don S]

Re: How long should it run before it pees?

Give it a little throttle with an engine driven pump. It takes suction from the pump to pull the water from the drive to the pump. There is minimum suction at low idle until water gets there.

I use dish liquid to lube the impeller and it lasts fine till the pump gets water.

Even with an alpha, a little rpm pull water from the hose up to the pump and gets the water out the exhaust quicker.

It should never take 2-3 minutes. Big blocks take more water, but shouldn't take that long with some rpm.

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: How long should it run before it pees?

Alright. I will try to rev it up a little and let it run a few minutes next time. If nothing happens I guess I'll separate the lower unit from the upper and check out the pump.

As a side note, if the o ring on the end of the gimbal housing was moved out of place while getting the drive in place, could that cause this? Maybe I should double check that.

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: How long should it run before it pees?

I thank you fellas. That was it. It finally quit raining so I went back out to it. I needed more rpms and more patience. Revved it up then brought it down to a steady 2000 rpms and it started peeing like an incontinent old man after a case of malted beverage. Many thanks!