Normal cooling?

[Timothy Berlinski]

2000 amberjack 290, bravo 3s. I just noticed this today and wonder if it's normal. Was rinsing motors and doing salt away. While I was down by the drives every once in awhile water would come out the exhaust along and it squirts out the muffs like it's cutting the water off. I thought water flows through constantly?

 

[Lazy Daze]

2000 amberjack 290, bravo 3s. I just noticed this today and wonder if it's normal. Was rinsing motors and doing salt away. While I was down by the drives every once in awhile water would come out the exhaust along and it squirts out the muffs like it's cutting the water off. I thought water flows through constantly?

Can you re-explain? I don't understand what you're saying. Is this with or without the engines running? What is "along" and... squirts out like "what" is cutting the water off?

 

[Timothy Berlinski]

Engine running, muffs on. I start the water, go and start the boat, let the water run the with the salt away kit I switch from rinse to salt away but I noticed this. No water squirts out of the muffs, it all gets sucked in and comes out of the exhaust but once in awhile it's almost like the engine stops pulling water, water starts to squirt out the muffs and less comes out the exhaust. No issues with cooling it just seems wierd.. it's a new storage facility so maybe not enough water volume

 

[Espos4]

If water is squirting out of the side of the muffs AND they are properly fitted, then you've got excess water volume, or maybe a restriction in your salt-a-way contraption.

Another possibility, the muffs are slipping slightly out of position, possibly from the weight of the hose, and that would allow water to squirt out the sides.

For reference, when I am running on the muffs, there is no water squirting out of the side, every bit of it is drawn into the outdrive.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Keep in mind the external water pump & BIII plumbing is really substandard from an engineering perspective. Basically, the pumps cannot develop enough head (vacuum) through the drive housing and hose to draw water properly. So you may have the supply hose running with too high a flow, the drive housing may be fouled (barnacles, weeds, etc.), the BIII hose may be kinked, or the plastic fitting that is on the transom assembly may be clogged, and finally the pump may be shot. But why don't you trying by turning the faucet down a little on the garden hose first. Long term if you begin to develop over heating issues, you might consider adding a throughhull fitting as a water pickup for the engine which would give you a dedicated port for flushing and desalting.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Engine running, muffs on. I start the water, go and start the boat, let the water run the with the salt away kit I switch from rinse to salt away but I noticed this. No water squirts out of the muffs, it all gets sucked in and comes out of the exhaust but once in awhile it's almost like the engine stops pulling water, water starts to squirt out the muffs and less comes out the exhaust. No issues with cooling it just seems wierd.. it's a new storage facility so maybe not enough water volume

It really shouldn't "stop" pulling as much water. The fact that there's less coming out the two exhaust ports means that less is physically going in. The part about water squirting out means there's some type of restriction happening (which of course then also verifies why there's less coming out the ports). I don't think this is a supply hose issue - if the pressure all of sudden dropped or increased, it doesn't match with what's happening.

What happens if you don't use the SA kit? I don't see this being the issue, though, since that's a possible external issue and it seems you have an internal restriction.

I'd start by removing your t-stat and looking in there - possibly a piece of an old impeller blade is caught in there and flapping around causing an intermittent restriction.

Does the same exact thing happen on both engines?