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1947 Elgin questions

user151

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"My Elgin seems to be overheat

"My Elgin seems to be overheating.
It is a 1947 3-1/2 HP water cooled model 58521

It will run fine for a few minutes then stop... it will re-start easily but stop again. I cannot hold my hand on the hot cylnder head.

There is a little hole in the lower elbow fitting at the tube on the left side (as you face the engine). See the photo. Warm / hot water squirts out of there in a strong stream.
Is that the pee hole / tell tale?
Does water squirt out there after it routes through the power head? If so, does this indicate that the water pump is working OK and that there is a blockage to the hot water trying to exit the motor? And where / what would that be and how to fix?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Tom
292120.jpg
"
 
"OK guess no one knows about t

"OK guess no one knows about these old ones so I checked out my own motor:

YES that is the pee hole, water goes form the impeller through the power head, down the tube (where the pee hole is at the lower fitting) then to the exhaust.

I disconnected the lower fitting and ran the motor momentarily, water gushed out nicely which shows the impeller (water pump) is fine.

By the way everyone seems to ask about oil mixing, for this engine on the tag it says 3/4 pint of 30 weight oil per gallon, or 1/2 pint for trolling."
 
"Don't forget that tag was

"Don't forget that tag was printed when car oil was good enought to get 60 thou out of a new motor. You wouldn't want a brain opperation using 1940's equipment? That engine did have bronze bushings for main and rod bearings, so would not run lighter than 32/1 and would lean towards 24/1 oil mix with modern marine 2 stroke oil. If I recall, that motor did run pretty hot round the cylinder heads and put out a strong stream at the pee-hole. Some may have had a di-cast pump which would work till you tried to take it apart.

You might try to slow down the water going thru the tube to the exhaist. This will sometimes help the cooling process.

Then you may have an obstruction in the cylinder head gasket (you may not be able to find one). So if your still concerned, try taking the exhaust cover off (you can make that gasket) and run a wire thru the galley going to the cylinder head and see if there is an obstruction."
 
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