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2016 Suzuki DF200 no waterpump telltale flow

suzuki32137

New member
I'm having an issue with the water pump telltale on my DF200ATX.I bought the motor new in 2016. As I'm a snowbird, when I'm up north for the summer the boat sits on a lift for about 6 months. Several years ago, I had a similar issue, but it was easily remedied by cleaning out the rubber line with a zip tie. When I ran the boat for the first time 4 months ago, I had the same issue. I tried cleaning out the telltale line and still no water flow. With the engine idling in the water, I opened one of the flush ports and clearly had plenty of good water flow. I then ran the boat carefully on several trips for a total of 10 hours, without any overheating issues. Last week I pulled the boat and performed the yearly maintenance, that included a water pump impeller change. The impeller I removed look almost as good as a new one, I could have left it in. So, I did the complete water pump overhaul, removed the upper cowling's and checked all the 3/8 hoses on the outside of the motor’s water jacket. I also removed and replaced the 5 zincs on the block. There was some salt buildup, but not more then what we all thought was normal. The inside of the block looked pretty clean otherwise. The 3/8 hoses including the one that feeds the telltale fitting are all clear. I try to blow air through the hose after I reattached it to the block and it won't let 130 PSI through. with the hose removed I try to feed 200 lb. mono through and it won't make it into the block more than an inch or so. I look in the hole and I see shiny metal, or the inside of the water jacket. I called two dealers, and looked online for hours and nobody has a clue. I ran the motor for about 30 minutes and popped the hood and it doesn’t seem to be hot, anywhere on the block. Also, no alarms. Cracked open a flush port and good water flow. The motor has only 140 hours on it. Someone must have run into this before. Any ideas?
 
Having same issue discussing with my relative ....looking for any reliable solution

It is a very odd problem, I've yet to find an answer. Only thing I can figure is it must be some salt buildup inside the block, even though it appears reasonably clean. I'm flushing it out every time I run it with salt away. So far this hasn't solved the problem. I will post the solution here if found.
 
Please tell me you found an answer running into the same issue.
I'm the OP and I still haven't found a way to fix this. I'm still under warranty but Suzuki said it isn't a warranty issue, its a service issue. Before I leave for the summer I'm going to find a outboard repair service that can take the block apart and get some estimates. It really sucks that I have to have the motor opened up to fix this, but that looks like where this is going.

Has anyone found a fix for this yet?
 
Remove fitting on the block .----Look for debris plugging / blocking the flow of water.----Agreed this is a service issue.
 
There is no removable fitting on the block, the nipple that the hose that routes the water to the telltale is pressed into the block. When you remove the hose you see the shiny inside of the block. I tried 130 PSI air, and 200 pound mono to try and clear, no go. I'm thinking the block has to come apart to get to the problem. The motor runs fine, no hot spots detected, only issue is going to be if I try to sell it...
 
I brought the motor to a marine machinic to fix the problem. He said the problem is a clogged water passage in the oil cooler. He said the water passes through the oil cooler just before it goes out the telltale. I can't find an oil cooler in any of the parts list for this motor. Does anyone know where the oil cooler is located?
 
Telltale flow Problem now fixed. I found a good local mechanic who was familiar with the problem. He said it is the lower area of the block that gets clogged with salt deposits. He found that he could drill into the water jacket and clear out the salt deposits without having to remove the cylinder head from the block. He claims that this is a common problem with Suzuki outboards that have the oil cooler built into the block. He spent 6 hours working on clearing out the salt deposits. His hourly rate is high but he got the job done.. I just pulled the cover of the motor to check the oil and his work, and couldn't find what he did, I would think I would have to remove the bottom covers to view the lower water jacket area he drilled into and then plugged when done. I also can't find an internal view of the motor anywhere online to verify the location of the cast in oil cooler area he is talking about. As I'm 73 and can't work on this stuff anymore I'm just glad to have everything working 100 percent again.. Anyone have a picture showing the internal area of the block we're talking about?
 
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