Water coming through my throttle assembly

[Brian 26]

Hi all, new to the forum and I have a question about a new to me boat. Sorry if this has been answered before but I tried to search for it and did not find anything.

I recently bought a 2002 Glastron sx195 with a Volvo Penta 5.0GL and SX outdrive. When I drive the boat water drips out from behind the throttle, the faster I go the more water that comes out. Does anyone know what might be causing this and how to fix it?

Another symptom that may be related is sometimes the boat takes a while to shift into reverse. A couple of times it's been maybe 5 seconds after I put it the lever in reverse that it will actually go. Other times it's immediate as it should be.

I've been around boats all my life and pretty handy when it comes to repairs, I took the cover off the outdrive to inspect the shifter cable and it appears fine to me.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Brian

 

[gbeltran]

Re: Water coming through my throttle assembly

You might check the tube for the speedometer, might be leaking especially where it connects to the speedo head, and may just be running along the tube and dripping at the lowest point. I haven't heard of water traveling thru the cable, but that doesn't mean it cant happen.

 

[insttech1]

Re: Water coming through my throttle assembly

Did you have someone actuate the shifter cable while you were inspecting?

Since you have two problems--water and shifting--I would suspect something amiss with your shifter cable.

If the water is coming from the speedo tube, then you can disconnect it at the pitot assembly (where the tube meets the speed sensor) and block off or tape the tube completely shut so water can't get in.

If you still have water, then it's coming back thru your shift cable assembly (can't be thru throttle cable; that's all in the boat).

If you don't have any water coming in, then the speed sensor/tubing is the issue.

Have you disconnected the shift cable from the drive completely and hand-actuated the lever from forward/neutral/reverse to see if anything feels strange on the drive itself?

Just some ideas to look into.......and you may as well look at the drive fluid level while you're there.

 

[Brian 26]

Re: Water coming through my throttle assembly

Bingo! I thought the speedo worked off pressurized air, I didn't realize it actual filled with water. I found a 1/8" hole in the speedo tube and cut that section out, replaced it with fuel line I had laying around and will water test it tomorrow. We plan on being out all day and I'm glad I got this buttoned up before that. Thanks a lot guys I really appreciate it. It always helps to get a fresh pair of eyes on a problem.

The odd thing is my speedo worked, it was usually on the low side and sometimes it would not work but it did work most of the time.

For anyone else that might come across this problem, the way I found it was by having my wife use the air compressor to pressurize the tube and I stuck my head under the dash until I found the air leak.

 

[Brian 26]

Re: Water coming through my throttle assembly

Have you disconnected the shift cable from the drive completely and hand-actuated the lever from forward/neutral/reverse to see if anything feels strange on the drive itself?

Just some ideas to look into.......and you may as well look at the drive fluid level while you're there.

No I have not but I certainly can. When you say drive fluid do you mean the lower unit oil - dip stick on the top of the out drive? I checked that when I first bought the boat and it was full and clean. However it did smell so is probably old. I think I'll change it with amsoil and see if that helps but it's not a real big priority for me right now just kind of a nussense. Unless you guys think there might actually be something wrong that needs to be addressed...