Newbie here - water pump tube help

Hi all - i just purchased a 1986 Merc 35 horse more or less sight unseen and started taking a look at it tonight. When i dropped the lower unit after draining what little oil had in it i noticed the water pump tube came with it and then i heard a piece drop inside the upper half. as you will see in the picture i believe it is the grommet that holds the water pump tube in place when installing the lower half back on.

Anyone have any ideas on how to fix or have see this happen before? you can see in the pic where it appears the grommet should be and is no sitting by the exhaust tube.

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks! Matt

Looks like the copper water tube fell down from above. You'll have to get it back up there, and have it held firmly in place.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff! is there a trick to get it up there and to 'stay'? it appears originally the grommet may have been bolted up there? any tips, tricks, ideas or easy way to access that area where it connects to the upper portion?

Thanks again!

You may need a new water tube housing the little one with two bolts item #79799. You may get lucky and just glue the tube up but it looks like it needs replaced. You will need to pull the powerhead and exhaust plate to properly install the tube with a new housing? The

kimcrwbr1 said:

You may need a new water tube housing the little one with two bolts item #79799. You may get lucky and just glue the tube up but it looks like it needs replaced. You will need to pull the powerhead and exhaust plate to properly install the tube with a new housing? The

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Thank you for your response - i appreciate it. when you reference gluing the tube or replacing the tube or you actually referring to the tube itself or the housing needs replaced? Gluing the housing back on seems the easiest however i am not so certain as there isn't a bunch of room to move around. Being a novice how difficult is it to remove the powerhead? does the flywheel need to be removed?

Thanks again! Matt

You might try tapping it back up there with a bolt stuck inside the tube to beat on. If it falls back out, the power head will have to come off.

Sorry.

Jeff

Run a wide bead of permatex #2 on the end of the tube about 1/16 inch thick and let it cure for a few days. Dontget any inside the tube then push it up into the hole up top and install the lower unit. You may get lucky?

thank you both for your help. i am going to get back after it this weekend and let the group know what process turned out to work for me. Stay tuned and thanks again.