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Water Strainer stuck in engine block - Mercury Optimax 115

H

holme70

New member
I have a Mercury Optimax 115 hp from 2005. The motor has had a full service where the impeller was replaced with a new one. During the first use of the motor after service, I got an overheating alarm. Since the impeller was new I proceeded to replace the thermostat and the poppet valve with new ones.

I cleaned the engine with a descaler fluid and all went well when I did a test run on land. But in the water I still got the overheating alarm. I then proceeded to clean the water strainer but it broke off when I tried to remove it from the engine.

When we tried to remove what was left of the strainer the plastic that was left in the threads was so frail that the strainer tube fell into the motor.

Do you know the easiest way to get the strainer tube out from the motor?

Best regards,
/Erik
 
Shop vac hose over the hole and try to suck the pieces out or bent wire to form a hook to get a hold of it. Not sure if pulling the powerhead would give access to the pieces from the bottom, but that would be last resort I guess.
 
Thanks for the quick answer. I found this quote on another forum: "The strainer is sitting in the water supply passage (under the powerhead). It would usually fall to the adapter plate, but could bounce (probably worst case would be having to pull the powerhead)."
Can I get to the adapter plate by dismounting the lower unit?
 
No, you have to remove the powerhead,(engine block assembly) the adapter is between the base of the powerhead and the midsection. It's not that big of a job, but you'll need a hoist, lift ring, replacement gaskets and some basic hand tools. Is your engine the 3 cylinder or V6 version?
 
Update: I have been trying to get the last parts of the stuck water strainer out from the engine but without any success. Therefore I need to re-thread the inlet where the water strainer (Mercury 8348084) is located. I got this not so great answer from the Mercury Marine Team: "Unfortunately, we do not have this measurement available in the system so you need to measure the specific part." So I need to know the thread size of this part. I have it at home and the diameter over the threads are 17 mm. What size of thread tap do I need for the job?
 
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