BF30 alarm/temp problem

My 2014 BF30 has seen very little usage of the last year. When I tried starting recently I would get an alarm after about three minutes of running. I pulled the thermostat and put in a new one. Old one was a mess. We fired up the engine and ran it around our marina and all seemed well. Today we took it further out in the bay and when we opened her up and got it plan the alarm came back and the engine slowed to idle. I would shut it off and wait a few minutes before turning it back on. If we kept it at idle it was fine. It seems to be peeing good but I'm wondering it a worn impeller could be not supplying enough water and I'm still getting an overheating problem. Thoughts?

The only other weirdness on the engine is the dipstick grommet that holds it in place has come loose and now has to be seated with a screwdriver. But the oil is full and no water is getting under the cowling.

Thanks for any advice. I'm pulling out my hair on this!

Hi tgr23,

It very well could be that it's pump time but with your thermostat being "a mess" I'm guessing that your coolant passages may be a bit messy too. You probably need to drop the gear case and check the pump but while it's off, do a thorough reverse flush from the top down by removing the water jacket cover that the stat sits in. You will likely find much the same look behind that cover as you saw with the old Tstat.

Clean that chamber and the passages you can get to physically as best you can. There are special "tube brushes" you can get online or Harbor Freight to swab out passageways and cavities.

Vinegar can help a little with dissolving some mineral deposition and many people use Salt Away for cleaning out the cooling system deposits. I've never used it myself.

If you do find heavy mineral deposits you will not want to get too aggressive with gouging and scraping because you can remove metal if you play too rough.

Finally...replace the the pump with a new COMPLETE KIT while you're in there. The Full Monty kit Honda sells will ensure 100% pump efficiency that you may not be getting with your old one.

Good luck

Thanks JMGO. I think you are right about the passages. I'm turning the work over to the Honda dealer. He talked about seized on bolts on the water jacket cover and I didn't want to get into that.

Thanks again for the response and help!
Travis

Well, I hope they can get you fixed up without too much trouble.

Please let us know how it works out.

Good luck.