Lunker777 Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Hey everyone, Last night was the night to get the boat ready to go. I put the motor on, filled up the garbage can with water and tried to fire it up. Well after a few pulls it fired up but I noticed no water coming out ? I shut it off right away.... Now when I put it away last fall, the water pump was working fine. The motor sat in the Garage over the winter, its a heated garage ! Now I did drain the bottom end of the motor and it sat that way till last night when I put the fresh oil in. But I dont think that would have anything to do with the water pump would it ? The motor is a Mercury 18XD tiller. Thanks for any help ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walleyemen Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Hey everyone, Last night was the night to get the boat ready to go. I put the motor on, filled up the garbage can with water and tried to fire it up. Well after a few pulls it fired up but I noticed no water coming out ? I shut it off right away.... Now when I put it away last fall, the water pump was working fine. The motor sat in the Garage over the winter, its a heated garage ! Now I did drain the bottom end of the motor and it sat that way till last night when I put the fresh oil in. But I dont think that would have anything to do with the water pump would it ? The motor is a Mercury 18XD tiller. Thanks for any help ! Before you go and replace the impellar take it to the lake and try it with the boat still on the trailer, sometimes it can't suck enough water to make it work i found this out on my 05 50 h.p merc,garbage can no flow, ears no flow ,in the lake perfect! try it first then check the impellar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeter Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 no that had nothing to do with it. when you change the impeller you dont have to drain the oil cause it sits above the lower end. but leaving it empty is not a good idea cause it can and will start to rust inside the lower end. did you take the water hose off of the tell tail spout and blow threw it to see if it is blocked? when you blow into the hose you should have lots of air bubbles in the garabage pail. in thats good then check the tell tail spout to see if its blocked. if its not blocked, then start the motor back up and wait a minute to see if the water comes out , it might take 30 seconds or so. if stillno water then you should change the impeller. it is not hard to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBW Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Do you have a compressor? If so, blow some air in the hole as a spider may have gotten in there and it is clogging the hole. Go get a set of “earmuffs” as well as that works much better then the garbage can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trapshooter Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Sometimes the hole can get clogged with sand or dirt. This has happened to me twice before and the fix was simply to shove a piece of wire in the hole and dislodge the sediment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunker777 Posted April 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Thanks for the advice ! I went and picked up a set of muffs last night. So I am going to try that tonight. I will also try and blow through the hose ! I figured that maybe a spider had gotten up in there or something. I cant remember 100% but im almost positive that I had the impeller changed this time last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushart Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Had a yellow jacket blocking mine once in my 50 horse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 blow it through with an air compressor first... regardless change the impeller on a merc if not every year, every other year... they are much smaller/weaker compared to Johnny-rudes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fang Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Had the same problem with my 2002 115 Merc last year. Spider web was completely blocking the port. Took it inot the marina thinking I needed a new impeller. A good blast from an air compressor fixed it right away. Compressed ait may not be strong enough depending on where the blockage is. Mine was in the lower end and pretty big from what the tech told me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallyboss Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 (edited) You have to let it warm up a bit, some (or all motor) have a thermostat that has to reach a certain temp. to open up. Or you might have to rev up the engine a bit to get it to open. I am not a mechanic but I had a Merc 20hp that did the same thing , a bit of revving and it started peeing. Edited April 7, 2010 by wallyboss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmer Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 Put it into the lake for sure. I had that happen with a 9.9 and thought I was going to have to change the impeller after it didn't work in the garbage can. It worked fine in the lake. Don't ask me why though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevy727 Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 You should fill your bottom end with fresh oil after you drain the old oil. It's not good to sit empty. It will rust inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Buck Posted April 7, 2010 Report Share Posted April 7, 2010 i get her "pissing" on the muffs... 1975, 150HP merc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aplumma Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Hey everyone, Last night was the night to get the boat ready to go. I put the motor on, filled up the garbage can with water and tried to fire it up. Well after a few pulls it fired up but I noticed no water coming out ? I shut it off right away.... Now when I put it away last fall, the water pump was working fine. The motor sat in the Garage over the winter, its a heated garage ! Now I did drain the bottom end of the motor and it sat that way till last night when I put the fresh oil in. But I dont think that would have anything to do with the water pump would it ? The motor is a Mercury 18XD tiller. Thanks for any help ! I think I found your problem........Console rules Art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 (edited) When's the last time you changed the impeller? It should be changed regularly, once every 3 years (max). An impeller failure at WOT will fry the engine very quickly...sometimes before the overheat warning buzzer is heard. And leaving the lower unit dry is NOT a good idea. Edited April 8, 2010 by Gerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flappn Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 Sometimes depending on the outboard make the hose gets pinched when putting the cowling back on....I've done it and sweated trying to figure out why it's not spitting water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheaptackle Posted April 8, 2010 Report Share Posted April 8, 2010 i get her "pissing" on the muffs... 1975, 150HP merc Don't fall into a false sense of security just because it works on the muffs - thats pressurized water being forced through the system, the impeller could still be too weak to draw from the intake. Keep a close eye when you launch - if it ain't working (peeing) within about 30 seconds shut her down and change the impeller - make sure you use all the parts that come in the kit for your particular motor even if the old ones "seem" good or you'll be doing it again in short order. (in other words, learn from my mistake - I found out the hard way!) Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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