[drewzim]

I have a 135 Opti. Fished Sunday, when I left the house it was a balmy 25F. Dropped the boat in Shipping Creek and started her up. Noticed no water out of the tell-tail. Hoped it was just blocked with ice. Watched the temp gauge and it steadily went up. Let it idle. After a couple of minutes sure enough she started spitting water and temp went down. I remember the same thing happening at the CBBT last January. I always store the engine down when the temp drops. Is this a normal thing? Can the impeller or thermostat get frozen? Is this something I need to worry about?

Thanks for any help,
Andy

 

[hdrunk5]

My 200 Merc EFI did the same thing on Sunday. I'm guessing ice was the culprit.

 

[smellslikefish]

When was the last time you had your impeller changed??? Do you ever start the boat without water attached to the lower unit??? I am not an outboard mechanic(auto mechanic) but I replace the impeller on my 20hp pretty much every year or every other year........impellers are rubber and are very plyable when new but get harder as they age.....rubber by nature also hardens during cold weather. Could just be a combo of cold temps and an impeller that is just not as plyable as it once was and It's taking some time to pick-up the water.

 

[drewzim]

I have never run it with no water to it. The impeller is less then two years old and I haven't had a problem with it picking up water. I really think something was just frozen up, just not sure what it was or to what extent I should worry about it.

 

[CONTENDER21]

Little birdy told me to raise and lower your outboard a few times to get all the water out of her after use. Not a bad idea i guess.

 

[catman]

Mine did the same thing. I let it run a minute and turned it off. Started it again and it started to pee. I'm thinking ice...................

 

[Seahunter]

Mine was peeing but the water pressure guage was frozen until noon or so.

Never had that before. Might have something to do with the fact that it was all of 15 degrees when I left the house.

 

[bridgeman]

I fish all winter here in PA with no problems, when you bring the boat out lower the outboard down and let the water drain out while your stowing your gear or whatever. Pull your lanyard and bump the starter for a second or so and it will clear your impeller case.

 

[drewzim]

I fish all winter here in PA with no problems, when you bring the boat out lower the outboard down and let the water drain out while your stowing your gear or whatever. Pull your lanyard and bump the starter for a second or so and it will clear your impeller case.

I do lower it after I pull it and keep it lowered in winter months for storage. Bumping the motor doesn't sound like I bad idea though. I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks and welcome to the board. :thumbup:

Andy

 

[Reel ExCuse]

My F225 did the same thing Sunday morning. I let it idle for about five minutes, then stuck a piece of #80 mono up the pee hole (better the outdrive then me ;-) ), fired her back up and within 30 seconds she was peeing like she was on flomax. Tends to to happen this time of year.

 

[JoshKaptur]

well as long as we're talking about flossing momo up the pee hole and what not, here's what I do (keep your minds out of the gutters)...

After I flush my yamaha (using the flush attachment, not the muffs), I trim it all the way down until all the water drains out. I then blow into the flush attachment with my mouth... and believe me with the sound it makes there is still quite a bit of water in there. When I blow on it, water ALWAYS comes out of the tell-tale as well as some other places.

So yeah, I blow it to clear the pee hole , but I strongly feel that it purges water from the internal hoses where gravity can't.

 

[Captbuckster]

Little birdy told me to raise and lower your outboard a few times to get all the water out of her after use. Not a bad idea i guess.

I do it twice after flushing. the second time lets more water drain out.

 

[27 sailfish]

If you get a chance to look at an exploded view of an outboard cooling system- you will see how some water can be left in the motor-even though it is stored down.There are alot of small passages that curve around and these can hold water and freeze.Best to lower the motor all the way down-then trim it up/down once or twice.This will help drain it.

You can also buy a screw on anti freeze attachment.It connects right to the hose and will put anti freeze in the block.

Be careful pushing things into the pee hole - do not force too hard.

 

[Chesapeake TJAM]

I'm shaking my head, Blowing through the pee hole? Josh this is a family board. (good idea though)

 

[res ispa]

I have a 135 Opti and the exact same thing happened to me Sunday. I had left it tilted up, the boat was in the water. Ran about 4 or 5 minutes the started pumping.

 

[Spearo]

Towing the boat on the highway when the temp. is already low can make the H2O solid in small out of the way places too.

 

[JoshKaptur]

I'm shaking my head, Blowing through the pee hole? Josh this is a family board. (good idea though)

Hey, I put enough disclaimers on there didn't I.

Actually, I blow into the flush attachment, not into the tell-tale. Water always comes out of the tell tale when I do this. I think blowing into the tell-tale would just push the water the wrong way.

By the way I do this AFTER I've trimmed the motor all the way up/down a few times, and it definitely still purges water that's trapped inside.

 

[bunger79]

This got me thinking. I winterized my boat just yesterday. Ran the engines on the muffs for about 15 minutes. When I ran antifreeze through gravity fed nothing came out my tell-tale. Is this ok or should I get a pump and do it all over again?

 

[drewzim]

Well, from what I've read this seems this is relatively common and nobody seems to have had any major problems other then a slower start to get to the fish. I was worried about internal damage to the moter. I might make up a small length of tube with a hose fitting on it to blow it out. I think blowing the motor will go under the drews job discription. :eek2:

Thanks for the tips. :thumbup:

Andy