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2.5 HP cooling system

greyowl

New member
Just bought a 2 year old 2.5 outboard. My question is , should there be a water stream or at least water "puffs" coming out of the 2 holes in the back of the shaft 9 like the 2hp evenrude I have) . There appears to be fuffing airstream only from these holes. There is some water circulation about the prop gearbox , even at idle. Is this normal operation for this motor? Runs great, but there is just no visible water stream or "tell-tale" .

Thanks / appreciate your comments
 
we bought a 2.5 new a year and 1/2 ago. the two holes you mention only one puts out a little water idling. when working both will put out a steady stream. the tell tale plugs up very easy. we carry a small peice of stainless wire to clean out. we were told that it would perform like a 3.5 and it does. we broke it in in a barrel per instructions, run no ethanol gas, on a 14' ganoo. very nice light,quiet, and fuel eff. package. just my $.02
 
i've got an '06 2.5 Suzuki. i'm the original owner, purchased 5/06.

i also have the 6 year warranty.
now...regarding the poorly designed cooling system...
- like you, i immediately noticed a minimal flow of water from the two exhaust ports. Suzuki said it was designed that way
- this model does not have a "pee-hole" to check for water cooling
- i didn't have any immediate overheating problems, but rarely ran a full throttle for an extended period
- when i did, i noticed that the motor would steam from the exhaust ports
- after 6 months of ownership, i received a recall notice. faulty water pump design, new components replaced
- during the next 4 years i logged very few hours on motor, mostly at low speeds
- then 1 year ago i moved to a home on the water. i now used the '06 2.5hp Suzuki everyday
- when i travel at full throttle the engine consistently overheats. that is, steam comes out of the two exhaust holes (although water is flowing as well), and the engine dies.
- then after a minute or two, i'm able to re-start and continue on at a slower speed
- bottom-line, this motor is fine if i travel at 1/2 throttle speed or less

the impeller has been replaced twice. once w/ a four blade, and recently w/ a five blade (new Suzuki design for the '06-09).
none of the impeller replacements are under warranty. so i'm to the point that i no longer want to put money into this motor.
hindsight is 20/20, but i've already spent $300 and it still doesn't work correctly.
it is truly a manufacturer's defect, i'm convinced of that.
i can probably sell for $250-400, then go buy a new one for $699 + no tax + free ship on the internet.
that's where i'm at today. stay tuned....
 
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Update...

well, we've run it alot in the past few days. although it seems to run very hot, we can't get it to "officially" overheat. that is, generally, when it overheats it just shuts down until it cools a bit. and then restarts (albeit, difficult to restart).

currently, we run it a full throttle for a mile or so, then immediately drop accelerator to idle. notice that it'll die if i don't consciously keep it running, by revving up. and while i keep it running, there is noticeable steam coming from the dual ports. it's definitely on the thresh hold of overheat, but not enough heat to do so.
water is definitely flowing (spitting) from the exhaust ports as described in the manual.

so, will continue to use and will update as conditions change.

i still feel that the cooling system is not designed correctly.
 
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