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What happened? Evinrude 35hp 2-stroke overheated?

bigtime_mcalpine

Regular Contributor
Strange thing happened to us over the weekend. Took the boat out for a spin. Took it out for about 20min in some moderate Lake Ontario waves without issue. Docked in for a few hours and then went back out.

Waves were once again moderate but prop wasn’t coming out of water except on very few occasions. About 5min into the ride back the motor started to rev up and down. At first I thought it was just the prop coming up a bit too high but then after having raved up and down about 5x it tried to give it some throttle and it just died. Then a bunch of steam came out from under the cowling and I thought, sh$t…I just fried the powerhead. I let it sit for about 4-5min, started it back up and it ran fine. Water coming out the back was not that warm and I progressively ran it faster and gave it a test as we came closer to shore. No issues. Tested for compression the next day and all three cylinders were in the 140-ish range.

Wondering if maybe something got stuck in the water intake? I of course had the head temp sensor disconnected (not sure why) so there was no way of knowing if temp went up significantly or not.
 
Inspect tell tale hose for a leak.-----If motor is a white version is there any paint discolored ?------Remove cylinder head and inspect cylinder walls.-----Install a new impeller or pump kit.-----Shame to possibly ruin a wonderful motor by having temperature alarm disconnected.-----And is oil injection in service or has it been thrown away like on most of these 25 / 35 HP motors.----What part of Lake Ontario?
 
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Yeah, tell me about it (temp alarm disconnected!). Motor is black but a close-up visual reveals no blemishing/discoloration etc. I replaced the impeller at the end of last season and motor has not had many hours of use since. Water comes out nice and strong. No oil injection. Long ago removed. Steam WOULD suggest insufficient water circulation though...could it be a stuck thermostat maybe?

Inspect tell tale hose for a leak.-----If motor is a white version is there any paint discolored ?------Remove cylinder head and inspect cylinder walls.-----Install a new impeller or pump kit.-----Shame to possibly ruin a wonderful motor by having temperature alarm disconnected.-----And is oil injection in service or has it been thrown away like on most of these 25 / 35 HP motors.----What part of Lake Ontario?
 
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