No water flow on my Johnson 9.9 4 stroke electric start for 20-30 minutes

[Pfbobbo]

After not having my boat out for about a month, I wanted to make sure all was well. I filled up trash can with water and fired her up. All was really good until I walked away to get my coffee. Welp, you guessed it, I forgot that I left it idling. When I sat the motor down in the can, the fin punctured the bottom of trash can. I filled it up before i walked away and it leaked out below the intake while i was away which was 20 minutes or so. When I returned i noticed the water below the intake and that it wasn’t peeing. After cussing myself I immediately turned it off and let it cool down for several hours. After that and checking the oil, i replaced the trash can and made sure of no leaks. Started right up and began to pee without any burnt smell. Idled good and giving it throttle was fine until at the highest level of rpm when it began to lose a little bit of ummmph. Did I screw up and ruin my motor? Please don’t rub it in because I feel like a moron Any thoughts are gratefully appreciated.

 

[clemsonfor]

Starting up easy is a good sign. I'd at a minimum replace the impellor cause it for sure is worn/shot without water/lubrication. If you put it in a trashcan how were you running it wide open to know it lost "ummph"?? In gear it would blow all the water out in a second or two?. You can do a compression test to check for damage, and or pull the head. But if it starts and idles fine I'd be inclined to just replace water pump and put it on the water for some short trips near the ramp to see how it behaved, if fine you dodged a bullet. A compression test will let you know easy. Gauges are $20 on Amazon or you can borrow/rent one from the auto parts store.

 

[Pfbobbo]

Starting up easy is a good sign. I'd at a minimum replace the impellor cause it for sure is worn/shot without water/lubrication. If you put it in a trashcan how were you running it wide open to know it lost "ummph"?? In gear it would blow all the water out in a second or two?. You can do a compression test to check for damage, and or pull the head. But if it starts and idles fine I'd be inclined to just replace water pump and put it on the water for some short trips near the ramp to see how it behaved, if fine you dodged a bullet. A compression test will let you know easy. Gauges are $20 on Amazon or you can borrow/rent one from the auto parts store.

Thanks Clemson man . Spouse and I just about choked on our drinks when you stated “running with ummmppph in the trash can”. No I just put the throttle to it . Thanks for the reply. Ya know I really don’t know how long it went w/o water flow cause it had to pump the water out to go below the intake. Big 55 gal can. It just did a little sputter when i applied a heavy throttle. Thanks again

 

[racerone]

The oil in the sump does help as a heat sink.