Tohatsu 40 2T cooling questions.

Hi everbody. First post, so forgive any protocol swerves..
Friends have asked me to look at the above engine. It is around 20yrs old? and mounted on a 21ft boat they use for little pic-nic cruises on the Charente river. Most of the time it is puttering, as the river has a 6kt limit;
Now, we were out yesterday and there was water coming ot of a hole on the front side of the leg, it was cool and if I put my finger over the hole, water came out of the leg higher up, splashing around just under the lower cowling. There is an 'exhaust' port at the back of the lower cowling that I thought was the dribble indicater. But now just vents fumes.
SO, we obviously need to strip the leg, but, has anybody any idea of what we are looking at?
History has it just being used on the river in fresh water and at low speeds. It performs as normal, but I doubt that the cooling is going as normal.

Thanks
FB

We need the actual model: M40C, M40D, MD40A, MD40B, etc. Is this a 2-cylinder, or a 3-cylinder motor?
The 40D has a telltale (pee tube) as well as an idle relief port. Both will have some water coming from them. The idle relief port exits through the lower apron, so that is normal, and you will get more water through there if you block off the pee tube. There is also a drain hole in the front of the drive shaft housing that will spill water when running; that is also normal.

Hi Paul, thanks for replying.
It is a 3cylinder, I don't have the actuall type number right now, but will in a couple of days.
The port in the lower apron only vents fumes and the pee hole nothing.
Glad to hear that the lower hole in the front of the leg is supposed to spill water. But that is the only water coming out above the surface level.

Ok, if it has carbs, it's a 40D. Maybe a D2 (extra ring on the D2). If water pours from the drain hole, yet nothing from the pee tube, it may be clogged. If so, when running, push a stiff wire into the pee tube to see if that clears it. The idle port may not spill water, depending on conditions. You may not really have a problem at all. If you can get use of an infrared thermometer, check the motor temps near the head and block; should be in the range of 150F. If really high, say 180, you are overheating, and will need to check water pump, etc.

Yes, triple carb set up. I will be down there tomorrow with a bit of wire! One of the bits that started this was a bloke passing the dock that said that he thought that all the water coming out of the lower hole indicated that the cooling was not working properly, so they asked me. My experience is mostly on sub 10hp engines, so, without a manual, not too sure about how it worked.
Thanks for your help
Andrew

It's always possible that if the LU was recently off, the water pipe is not seated correctly in the water pump grommet. If so, the pump would fill the drive shaft housing, instead of sending water to the power head. Definitely a good idea to check the actual temp with an IR thermometer.

The LU was off, but about 4 or so yrs ago, so I doubt it is that. I will try a temp test, it will answer the question.
Cheers.