On May 17, 8:13*pm, wrote:
On May 17 Phantman wrote:

Except for the part that says it's still ok when it's not squirting.... unless severe damage occurs lol! *I think Salty said it best ... "Truly bizarre".
On Sat, 17 May 08, Jay wrote:
I don't recall that statement (...it's still ok when it's not
squirting.... unless severe damage occurs...) being in the manual.

I wasn't quoting directly, I was combining what it stated in two
separate paragraphs.

Paragraph 1. "Cooling water is intermittently discharged from
the pilot water holes at medium engine speeds. *Water is not normally
discharged at other speeds even when the engine is operating
properly"

Paragraph 2.."CAUTION *Never operate your outboard
motor when there is no water coming out of the pilot water holes or
severe damage can result".

First it says water isn't always discharged, that's normal, then it
tells you to not operate your motor "when there is no water coming out
of the pilot holes". That looks like a conflict to me. You may be
right that they may mean "in gear" or whatever, but it's still
ambiguous to say the least.

The "bizarre" part, is, when nothing is being discharged, how are you
supposed to KNOW the water pump is working? THAT's what I would ask
the mechanic. Surely you're not supposed to go through that whole
"water pump check" routine every time it stops discharging if that's
supposed to happen intermittantly during normal operation. All I'm
saying is that would make no sense. Not that anything is wrong with
your water pump at the moment. But if you're getting no pilot hole
stream..... how are you supposed to know before the thing overheats?

I'm not knockin' your motor. Suzuki has a good reputation. But there's
something here that makes no sense to me and I'm just trying to
understand what it is.

I already did contact a Suzuki mechanic and he confirmed that
Suzuki calls them pilot holes, not pee or tell-tale holes and that
they serve the same purpose as pee holes and/or tell-tale holes. *I
agree that sometimes things appear "bizarre" but sometimes they do
simply because some are not aware of them, not because they are
necessarily in error.

I didn't mean to suggest that there's anything bizarre about calling
them Pilot holes.

Perhaps there's a difference between having the motor idling in
neutral and operating the motor under stress in gear in regards to the
functionality and/or creating possible damage in regards to the
cooling system?

Possibly. But I think you may have missed my point. Probably my fault
for not communicating clearly and I hope I haven't muddied the water
even more with what I've tried to get across here.

Rick

Rick, I agree there is some ambiguity in the manual (as in many
manuals translated from another language into English) and I'd like to
get this cleared up ASAP. I fully understand the logic regarding the
need to see that water squirting out of the pilot holes at all times
the motor is running and still trying to ascertain why THIS motor,
according to it's poorly-written manual, doesn't find that necessary.

-Jay