I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

[rosscopeeko]

I brought out my 2002 yamaha 15 today to test it before a long 80km journey through 2 lakes on a boat access camping trip. I gave it one pull and it fired right up. I was testing it in my yard with my hose running a muffs on the leg of the motor. When the motor fired i had no water exiting exiting the tell tale hole or whatever it's called. I waited about 15 seconds and then shut it down. I could see a little exhaust coming out of that hole while it was running. I fired it up again and ran it for another 10 seconds and still no water. I felt the cylinders and they were hot. After a third start it finally started to pee water and cooled down immediately. It seems to be working fine now, but i'm worried i might have fried my water pump impeller. I have no time to look at it because i'm leaving tomorrow. I have a spare impellar i might bring with me. Do you think i should be concerned? My trip is 22 km up one lake, through a 1km stretch of fast narrow river, and then another 22km down the second lake to our camp. Can you offer some insight? If it appears to be working fine now will i be ok? Thanks

 

[rodbolt]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

typical neglect.
bring oars your probably gonna need them.
before a trip like that I would have cleaned the carb,rebuilt the fuel pump,flushed the tank and lines,replaced the tstat and water pump and pressure tested and changed the gear lube.
thats just cause I hate oars.
ya just cant toss the motor in the shed wait a few months and bust it out for a long haul.
kinda why them thar NASCAR folks dont run on recapped tires and last years fuel.

 

[rosscopeeko]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

Thanks for suggestion, but i have no time to do all that. With that being said i keep my motor in great shape. I always run the best fuel, good oil at 50:1 instead of the 100:1. I flushed the tank yesterday before i fired it and i cleaned the fuel filter not long ago and it was spotless. The motor maybe has 40 hours on it. I changed the gear oil about 20 hours ago which was 2 years ago so probably not good. The plugs are new with maybe 4 hours of run time and i did check those and fog the cylinders before i cranked it over yesterday. Ultimately my reply is this, i do not neglect my yami, i love the thing. I've just had to juggle work and getting everything else camping wise ready, and the motor came last after trailer bearings and other stuff. I know, my fault and poor time management from before. I have oars and i'll have my fingers crossed. Thanks

 

[rodbolt]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

but when was the last water pump and T stat maint, its every 200 hours OR once per year WHICHERVER occurs FIRST.
that is maint not run it till it quits.
80Km is roughly 40 miles, an incredibly stressfull event for a piece of rubber thats been dryrotting since 2002.
uncontaminated 2 year old gear oil is ok, 50/1 is good as is fresh fuel.
none will help a cooling system failure.
I understand about the juggling, I work full time,run my business part time and spend to much time typing here.
that and I got remarried last year and bought a house.

 

[99yam40]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

No wonder you do not have time for running you boat or fishing, I still think you need to readjust your priorities, you only live so long.
But as long as you are happy that is all that counts

 

[rodbolt]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

who you talking to willis

 

[99yam40]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

don't know who willis is but I was talking to you Rodbolt.
life is good as long as you get all you can out of it

 

[rodbolt]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

well I have time this mornig but between my foot is killing me and the wind is smoking SW at about 25 I guess Ill try to go pull a set of engines out of a 27 albamarle I recently purchased. could not pass the deal.
now I am up to 5 boats again and 4 actually run.
I just hope the original poster has good luck on this trip and changes that impeller asap.

 

[99yam40]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

Yea, I would have changed it at the house before going on the trip.
Its a lot easier there than on the water and you know you never have all the tools needed when out on the water

 

[rodbolt]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

beaware on the 15 if you manage to pull the shift shaft out of the housing it requires propshaft and bearing carrier removal to reinstall it.

 

[rosscopeeko]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

So i made it back safe and sound and my little yamaha ran like a top again. Now that i'm back i want to change out my impeller but rodbolt you mentioned beaware if i pull the shift shaft out of the housing. Is this on the lower leg? If i seperate the lower leg and i'm careful can i do this myself, or should i take it in? I hate wasting money because i'm fairly handy. Basically, my question is : is the shift shaft going to come out of the housing when i seperate the lower leg from the skeg? I'd rather know for sure before i do this. Thanks

 

[rodbolt]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

eaisest way is to shift to reverse while rotating the propshaft, hold the barrel nut with a 10mm open end and loosen the jamnut with another 10mm open end.
then unthread the barrel nut so it moves up.
once the barrel nut clears the lower shaft unbolt the gearcase bolts.
carefully lower the case making sure the jam nut doesnt hang on the edges of the hole.
then its simple.

 

[rosscopeeko]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

Rodbolt, thanks for all your help.

 

[rosscopeeko]

Re: I'm worried about my 15 2 stroke, please read

Just finished changing out my water pump impeller and i realized how lucky i was on my long camping excursion. I had 1 impeller tang ripped off and it was partially blocking the water pump passage. I'll be doing this every 2 years from now on even though this motor only sees 5 hours or less of usage every year. Thanks to those who offered help, and a special thanks goes out to Rodbolt. My little 15 fires up with 1 pull every time and i have extreme trust in it, but now i realize the importance of checking that impeller more than ever.