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1985 Johnson seahorse 4 hp - water pump / no tell tail?

C

cheesybear

New member
Hello, I just picked up a 4 HP johnoson seahorse... got it cheap, guy said it didn't run. Spark plig wires were reversed, and carb was gunked up, but it's running now.

Only I don't see the 'tell tail' that I'm acustomed to seeing on engines. I ran it for a few minutes and the block seemed to get warm fairly quickly. I hear some engines don't have tell tails, should I be concerned?

Was going to check out the pump, but as is usually the case, the shift rod is being challenging, can anyone tell me how to disconnect/reconnect it?
 
Hi,

I have a 72 6hp evinrude. If it is like mine, put gear in forward, remove four screws to drop the gear case. remove the linkage screw completely. Should drop out.
 
oh, not at all? As in you might know how it drops out?

BTW, anyone know what a safe operating temp is for this engine? I have an IR thermometer, but have no idea of what a good range would be that would indicate it's cooling.
 
Trust Racerone before me. I'm a newbie and he has helped me before. My advice is to buy a service manual. I ordered one from this site. Top of the page. Again, from my manual, operating temp is between 125 and 163 fahrenheit.
 
Thanks for the operating temps... I'll give it another shot today and see where it's running at. Not really interested in a manual, I'm turning this engine around for a friend of mine, it's already running well, just want to ensure it's got cooling before giving it to him.
 
Ran it for about 3 minutes yesterday, and it got well outside of this temp range. Splashing water on the block caused the water drops to boil off, so I'm probably up in the 300F range or so. Some sealant on the intake plate also seemed to get gooey, so I shut it down as I'm thinking I definitely have a cooling problem, so any tips on removing the lower unit would be greatly appreciated. I tried removing the power head, but that was stuck on pretty good too on the shaft (i.e. couldn't lift it off, with some gentle tapping). Also tried moving the shift lever back and forth with the lower unit up tight, or slightly loose, and didn't get anywhere either.

Someone please throw me a lifeline.
 
BTW, here's the other details on my test rig. THe water level is probably only about 3" above the pump, so in reading other threads, maybe I'm not high enough? I also saw some exhaust appear to be bubbling from the intake ports after about 2 minutes or so... I guess exhaust pressure could be working backwards through the system, but this seems to indicate a break in the system somewhere to me. How high should the water level be?
 
But like any outboard, I sure would feel better seeing the impeller for myself, so any help on dropping the lower unit would be greatly appreciated.
 
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