New member in need of Honda help

Hello to all,
I posted my dilema on THT and some of the guys suggested I run this by you guys. It's kinda long winded but it explains where I'm at so bear with me. This is a copy from THT...
I sold my Striper awhile back. After some seaching I purchased a 2002 246DC World Cat. It has a pair of 2004 150 Hondas with 260+ hrs. During the pre-puchase test ride I noticed the starboard engine didn't pee as good as the port engine. Then when pushing revs up over 5000 for a bit the overheat alarm would sound. I figured it was probably a tired impeller and after taking it to a Honda dealer and having him check things he gave me a thumbs up. (for what thats worth, his shop was near the selling broker and I lived 1200 miles away). Well, when I got the boat home I did a lot of work on it. I replaced both water pump impellers even though they didn't have much wear but had a lot of "set" in the fingers just from age. I put all 4 thermostats through a hot water opening test and the one for the block on the starboard (overheating) engine failed to open even when the water was brought to boiling. I replaced that one and the engine now does not sound an alarm when run at full throttle. The thing that baffles me is the pee stream is still almost as weak as it was when I surveyed it. I would guess that it is flowing about 60 percent of the other engine. When I flush using the garden hose fittings I use a "Y" so I can do both engines at once. It's the same deal, the port engine pees real good pressure and the starboard just dribbles, barely makeing a stream. I removed and cleaned the flush valves and the bypass valves located under the head. No improvement. The one main clue I have is the port engine that pees good has a lot of water loss out of the pick-up screen while on the flush hose,while the one that won't pee right has very little water coming out there.I am hoping someone here has experienced this and found their problem or maybe someone understands the cooling system well enough to throw me some possiblities. Thanks for any help.

So there it is, one thing I might mention is when I replaced the impellers I did not replace the tube seal at the top of the pump housing. I wish now I would have.

Anyway, it's good to have found a group with the same equipment as mine and hopefully we can drink a toast to my solution.

Simple things first.

First pull the water intake screens on the bottom of the unit and make sure they are clean and there are no obstructions inside the intakes.

While the motor is on muffs, run a piece of 400 lb. monofilament (or string from a string cleaner) up and down in the pee hole. This will dislodge and obstructions in there.

If no improvement, remove the cowling, remove the hose to the pee hole, and look for any obstruction in the hose or the nipple it connects to.

If no improvement, remove the top thermostat and use a garden hose to attempt to back flush the engine. Stuff a rag tightly around the hose nozzle and the t-stat opening to get as tight a seal as possible. Flush for up to 30 minutes.

If still no improvement, tape up the exhaust posts, water relief holes and all other places water exits the engine, tilt the engine all the way up and pump in a strong mixture of Salt-Away into the cooling system via the top t-stat opening and let it sit for a while IAW the instructions on the bottle. Then flush thoroughly.

If all of that fails, replace the entire water pump.

BTW - I forgot to mention that just because you do not have a strong pee stream does not mean that the engine is not cooling properly. If you have a heat gun sensor, check the heads once they have heated up to normal operating temperature. I think they should level out to about 180 F. Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong about the temperature for the 04 150.

Temp is right.

Do you have a Water pressure gauge?

Thanks chawk_man, I did check the pee hole and tube for obstructions. Just this afternoon I pulled the lower unit and checked the tube above the pump for obstructions then I did pull the thermostats and ran some water water down them but not under pressure. I will use your pressure trick tomorrow morn and see if I get anything out. I do have a heat gun and will check the temp next time I splash.

Docksidemarineservices said:

Temp is right.

Do you have a Water pressure gauge?

Click to expand...

Yes I do have a pressure gauge. Not built into the boat but I can get a temporary one in the system. What should it be?

it should be better than 20LBS with the rpms pushed up.

OK, thats great you guys. Now I have some direction to focus on. Thanks a million. I will get back here with the results. Chris and chawk_man you made my day. Great place here.

All good ideas..

Thermostat for the head opens at about 140 deg F and for the block at about 158 deg F. There are two different thermostats and values.

If the monofilament line does not clear it, sometimes just a a couple of good blasts of compressed air into the pee hole as the motor is running is enough to breakup whatever is in there.

It is also possible that the pressure relief valve (part #15) http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Outboard Engine/2004/BF150A4 XA/MOUNT CASE/parts.html is caked with salt and stuck open. It is located near the rear of the starboard side of the engine next to the large exhaust tube. You will probably have to take off the starboard side panel to get to it.

Mike

Thanks for the temps for the thermostats. While I have them out I will check for the right openening point. I did remove the relief valve and all seems well there.
I appreciate the help Mike. With all the help I'm getting here, I'm sure I can conquer this.


John

I wanted to ad that ANY attempts you make at clearing out the pee passage should be done with the hose off and the nipple fitting (if it has one...I don't know this engine) removed from the block. I find just doing that contributes a good 70% or so to the success rate of dislodging crud from that passage.

Good luck and I hope you get it....I KNOW this is a little something that would drive me NUTS too!

Well Gentlemen we have success. This morning I removed the thermostats and dropped off the lower unit. I removed the squirt nozzle of my garden hose and held it alternately on the head and block thermostat openings using a rag to help seal. My well pump is set at 65 psi so there was a considerable gusher out the down tube in the leg. After a few minutes I stopped and checked around the concrete where the water was hitting and found a quite noticable amount of sand and bits of scale looking pieces like half the size of a dime. When I pinched them between my thumb and finger they desentigrated into sandy grit. I think the blockage was soft enough that the heavy reverse flow was able to break it up because now when I put the hose on the flush fitting it shoots out the pee hole with gusto. Before putting the stats back in I put them through the hot water opening test and they were right on hondadudes temp numbers. There was one moment tho that made my heart fall for a bit. When I got everything back together and the lower unit back on I picked up my hose adapter with the quick turn shutoff valve on it and hooked it to the engine fitting. Then I connected the garden hose to the the adapter. Pressured up the garden hose and when I opened the quick turn valve to put water in the engine I heard an odd sound and only a little trickle was coming out of the intake screen. Basically nothing. I thought "Holy S%$t" what the hell did I do wrong. There is a big oak tree in my neigbors yard and I figured Murphy was sittin up there somewhere. Watchin me...that bastard. Anyway after awhile I gave up looking for him and layed my gun down. Back at the engine the first thing I did was pull the check valve off and found that a damned lizard had went in the hose adapter to hide and when I put the water to it he was rammed right up into the check valve and was squished to smitherines. His guts caused a pretty good seal in the check valve. I got that all squared away and with the water on the pee hole stream was great. I know when I splash it and run it there will be no more worries about water pressure. I know it's my turn to buy whisky for all you guys that chimed in on this. I wish I could, thanks a million. It was a great help.

Now wait a minute there FishPirate! If you're offering free whiskey, you better tell us where you live! I've been known to collect.

Glad you got it fixed. Flush your engine for at least 15 minutes after every use.

chawk, thanks for making me realize that I was so intent on my problem that I forgot to fill out my detail page. Thats a true offer to set em up if you get down this way. I live in Venice FL. and there are TIKI bars all around. If you ever get down this way we can go out and bend a rod. By the way, I see you live in Virginia so don't worry about the time of year cause I just winterized my boat...I threw a long sleeve T-shirt in the boat.

Maybe next year I'll get down that way. Currently I'm camped out at Hatteras through March. However, my boat is still stuck in Virginia due to very low tides and an iced in ramp. Waiting for weather to ease up so I can run back home and get my boat down here to chase some blue fins.

I read your post and it sounds like you might have some kind of blockage or debris in the system. If you have an air compressor try blowing some air through the pee hole while you are running the engine on your rabbit ears. You might want to check to make sure that your water exhaust hose isn't pinched or kinked under the casing - I recommend taking it off and checking your water lines and connections. Also check the ports on the engine where your water lines are attached - the blockage could be in there and running some air through that may help. And I agree that you should check your water intakes on the lower unit. Does the pee stream improve when you increase RPM's?

Whiskey?!! Who NEEDS whiskey! That SQUISHED LIZARD story is WAAAAY better than a shot a whishkey! I might even name my next band SQUISHED LIZARD!....first album?....Ridin' A Honda Plane!

THANKS for the "new one" to add to the books, FishPirate! :~)