Just got back the lower unit foot of my 1974 Mercury 50hp from the shop. They replaced the drive and shift shaft seals and the water pump impeller.
So I reattached the foot, no problems with shifting. Put cups the water intake and fired it up in the driveway. No problems, water was coming from the tell tale port but was rather weak flow, but his motor has always had a weak flow out that port.
So, dropped it in the river (bad idea) and drive upstream and then down stream. Was watching for cooling water and it looked ok. Ran it to top speed for about 10 min, then idled about 4 miles down stream to the dam. Just as I started heading back upstream, the motor started running rough and I shut it down. I noticed steam coming out of the tell tale port.
I let it sit for about 30 min, then removed the cowling cover. It was HOT! Let is sit about 20 more min and then started splashing some water on the engine to cool it down further.
I then tried to start it again and it would run upstream at only 1500 rpm, anything more seems like it was pushing it.
About 2 tenths of a mile later, it started running rough again and no water, just steam coming out of the tell tale.
So, with no other choice, AI repeated the 45 min cool down and short slow speed hops just to get me closer to civilization.
Luckily I ran into a guy who towed me 3 miles back to the boat landing.
My question is: what kind of damage could I have done to the motor and how likely is it to be permanent?
Once cool it sounds ok, but after getting too hot it was getting rough and just just itself down. Does it have any built in protection?
I'll be tearing it apart tomorrow to check the cooling system. Is there a way to check for impeller parts inside the motor without pulling the power head?
Thanks for any advice...
So I reattached the foot, no problems with shifting. Put cups the water intake and fired it up in the driveway. No problems, water was coming from the tell tale port but was rather weak flow, but his motor has always had a weak flow out that port.
So, dropped it in the river (bad idea) and drive upstream and then down stream. Was watching for cooling water and it looked ok. Ran it to top speed for about 10 min, then idled about 4 miles down stream to the dam. Just as I started heading back upstream, the motor started running rough and I shut it down. I noticed steam coming out of the tell tale port.
I let it sit for about 30 min, then removed the cowling cover. It was HOT! Let is sit about 20 more min and then started splashing some water on the engine to cool it down further.
I then tried to start it again and it would run upstream at only 1500 rpm, anything more seems like it was pushing it.
About 2 tenths of a mile later, it started running rough again and no water, just steam coming out of the tell tale.
So, with no other choice, AI repeated the 45 min cool down and short slow speed hops just to get me closer to civilization.
Luckily I ran into a guy who towed me 3 miles back to the boat landing.
My question is: what kind of damage could I have done to the motor and how likely is it to be permanent?
Once cool it sounds ok, but after getting too hot it was getting rough and just just itself down. Does it have any built in protection?
I'll be tearing it apart tomorrow to check the cooling system. Is there a way to check for impeller parts inside the motor without pulling the power head?
Thanks for any advice...