Brand New Suzuki Outboard - No Water from Tell-Tale

[mdweber1]

Hi Folks,

Just joined the forum and am looking for some advice on a brand new Suzuki DF20A outboard.

Today I started my new outboard for the first time to find that no water was coming out of the tell-tale (pee hole). I read on a forum that it the engine might need to warm up before water would come out, so i ran it for 5 minutes on idle. Almost exactly at 5 minutes an alarm went off, and I shut down the motor immediately - no water had come out at all during the 5 minutes of run.

The engine was in a bucket of water up to the anti-cavitation plate the entire time. When i eventually put this on the boat, the engine will sit with the anti-caviation plate about 1 inch below the bottom of the boat (per the manual).

Any ideas on why no water is coming out? I am also not positive if the alarm was related.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[VicS]

Almost certainly not deep enough in a bucket

Find something deeper like a dustbin, wheelie bin old water tank etc

Mount it so that the water is well above the joint between gear case and leg to ensure that the water pump is submerged and try again.


Trouble is that if you have run it with the water pump dry you may well have f*****d the impeller. But try it anyway


Does the instruction manual say that water only comes out of the telltale when it's warmed up ? Or should it come out immediately? Comes out immediately with most but not all. Nevermind what you have read on the forum might happen. It's what the manual says that matters

 

[RichardS]

I'm sure that on my little 2.5 Suzuki the water intake slots are below the cavitation plate so water up to the plate is deep enough. That's still deeper than a "standard" bucket though.

On mine the water starts to pee out as soon as the engine is started. I must say that any other arrangement seems like pure folly as waiting for the engine to warm up before the pee-ing starts sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Surely no engineer would design an outboard like that?

Richard

 

[C08]

Vic is correct -i have tried to flush a number of outboards and the water has to be quite deep before the water will pump, certainly much deeper than a bucket.

 

[mdweber1]

thanks guys. I opened up the water pump, and the impeller looked fine. Unfortunately the gasket tore in the process - looks like it melted a bit and adhered to the housing and the stainless base plate. Other than replacing the gasket, is there anything else on the motor that i need to inspect or replace before starting again?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[VicS]

I'm sure that on my little 2.5 Suzuki the water intake slots are below the cavitation plate so water up to the plate is deep enough. That's still deeper than a "standard" bucket though.

On mine the water starts to pee out as soon as the engine is started. I must say that any other arrangement seems like pure folly as waiting for the engine to warm up before the pee-ing starts sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Surely no engineer would design an outboard like that?

Richard

The water intake slots of the DF20 are below the AV plate too but the water pump itself is right up on the very top of the gearcase . Several inches higher than the AV plate. See the parts diagrams. If the pump is bone dry, as it could be if its sat on the dealers rack for months since being prep'd for sale, It might not prime immediately that far above the water and wreck the impeller before it does

As I said the telltale pees immediately with most outboards but there are a few where it does not pee until the thermostat opens and I am sure where that is the case it is as the design engineer designed it. ( Merc ? Yamaha ?. One I was reading the manual for a few days ago but I forget which.)
Remember its only a tell tale to indicate that the pump is working. The pee stream is more or less independent of the cooling water flow through the engine.

 

[RichardS]

Remember its only a tell tale to indicate that the pump is working. The pee stream is more or less independent of the cooling water flow through the engine.

I understand that ..... but surely when you first start an engine is the time when you need an indication that the cooling pump is working. If you don't get any indication that the cooling pump is kaput until the time it's actually needed, then it seems to me that you are courting disaster.

A bit like a car - turn on ignition, start engine, dashboard light goes out. If the light doesn't go out you know to stop the engine and check immediately whether you have a water-pump belt!

Richard