Outboard Questiion

parared · Post by **parared** » Sun May 23, 2010 2:08 pm

Hi All,
I launched Dia Dulce yesterday, and while puttering out to the mooring I noticed that something didn't quite look right on my outboard. My motor is a used Tohatsu 5hp, so I don't have an owner's manual for it. I used it for 5ish trips last year, and she didn't seem to have any problems.

What I'm noticing is alot of air bubbles coming up from the lower unit. Also, there is a little drip tube hanging down under the engine, and last year I seem to remember a constant drip from it when the motor was running. Now a drip forms and just hangs there.

Today I went out and just let it run for over 45 minutes, idling at the mooring, and she seemed fine.

So, I video'd her

Here is 20 seconds of what I'm seeing. Can anyone tell me if this is SOP for an outboard, or perhaps an indication of a problem?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo6AmKLRcsQ

I was about to go and drop 1200 on a new outboard, but when she happily ran for 3/4 of an hour, I started thinking that I might be misjudging what I was seeing.

trev · Post by **trev** » Sun May 23, 2010 2:19 pm

I'm no mechanic but I would say your impeller is not working to pump water up to cool the motor.

Take a look at this video and you can see the water coming out of the tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6_dPwDg ... re=related

Here's a post on a similar motor from Sailnet with some possible fixes

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-main ... water.html

parared · Post by **parared** » Sun May 23, 2010 4:01 pm

BTW, isn't she pretty

http://www.flickr.com/photos/parared/4633855168/

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Sun May 23, 2010 4:04 pm

You sure don't want to run that motor hot !

The bubbles at the prop should be normal, the exhaust exits there. If I'm seeing right you also have bubbles coming out at the gasket where the leg meets the gearbox and that is not right.

Looks like pickup for the water is right above the prop on those motors, and the impeller is right there in the gearbox area so an air leak there would prevent the pump from having a vacuum, and no water would go up the leg.

A leak there also could result in water getting in the gearbox oil, not good.

Have a look for a manual at this site, I wasn't sure which (if either) of the years list you had.

http://www.internetoutboards.com/PartsCatalogMenu.htm

Good Luck !