"mmc" wrote in message
ng.com...
My little 1993 6hp Johnson got hot last weekend when i tried to take the
Mrs on an afternnon sail.
Luckily noticed the lack of "pee" from the little outlet that let's one
know the cooling system is doing it's thing before it actually overheated
and shut it down.
Anchored off to the side of the canal leading out to the Banana River and
immediately a young couple offered a tow.
Nice people, boaters. Not all but more than not.
Ordered a new impeller (knew I was pushing the age on the old one) and
replacement parts for the thermostat. When I disassembled the thermostat,
it was clogged with salt, cleaned it up and replaced all parts. On
inspection, the parts didn't need replaced so I have spares. The impeller
was old and stiff but hadn't failed. Reassembled everything.
Fired it up in a bucket and after a few minutes the pee stream stopped
again. Pulled the lower unit again and rigged a small bilge pump (powered
with a jump start power pack) to flush the cooling system through the
water tube that normally goes to the water pump. Flushed the system with
vinager for about 3 hours. Cleaned the thermostat again and this time it
was fouled with sand, which I guess had been trapped from an old grounding
(I've had the motor for 3 years and always on the sailboat whose rudder is
about 2 foot deeper in the water than the motor so this must happened in
the distant past on another boat) so I guess the vinager flush dissolved
the salt that had the sand trapped in the system.
Flushed it all a couple more hours and reassembled. Fired it up and it
pees freely now and is cooling well.
So, my new plan is to flush EVERY DAMN TIME I use the motor in salt water
like I know I'm supposed to and do a periodic vinagar rinse.

That's what I do on my Johnson 25...maybe after 2 or three times if I'm away
from home.