Thanks to Mys Terry, Dave Doe, and Robert and Karen Swarts.

Local advice is that there's probably nothing wrong with the impeller.
I was told that the water coming out the back of the engine has never
actually circulated through the engine and that its hose connection is
frequently stopped up by pieces of "chit". My expert informant said
that you could completely stop the flow of water through what he called
the "pee hole" and that it wouldn't affect the flow through the engine.
Is this what is meant by the "indicator"? How hard is it to inspect
the impeller?




Mys Terry wrote:
On Thu, 6 Apr 2006 14:14:22 +1200, Dave Doe wrote:

In article ,
says...
I've got an old Evinrude 6 hp outboard which is in like new condition.
It has probably had very few hours of running time on it. I had no
problem starting it up even after it had been in storage for possibly
fifteen years! But yesterday I noticed that there wasn't very much
cooling water coming out. When I first started the motor there was a
more or less steady stream of water. But it was actually just dripping
out yesterday afternoon. I continued to run the engine at a moderate
speed (I was out on the lake when I first noticed the problem, and there
was no wind) and it performed normally and didn't seem to be overheated
when I got into the slip. Anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to
ruin that little motor!
Before you replace the impellor - what about pokin a bit of wire up the
'indicator' - might just be a bit of chit stuck in there.

After that many years, the impeller should be replaced even if it appears to be
working perfectly. If there is a "bit of chit" stuck anywhere it is probably a
piece of the impeller.