Cooling Water Telltale Honda 4 Strokes

[Captains Cat]

When I put Capt's Choice in the water last weekend (on Saturday) had good flow from both Honda 45 telltales. I've periodically had to push a little wire up the hole to get that but they were just fine this time.

On Sunday when I went out, about an hour out in the River, I noted that the Stbd engine had no telltale flow. I stopped, attempted to get it flowing but had no luck. Took off the engine cover, removed the rubber hose from the spout and tried to get that cleaned. No dice!

Even though I had no water there, the engine was obviously getting cooling, no overheating indications, I know the warnings work because I had a pump failure last year and the red light and buzzer came on!!

Any ideas of cause/cure?

Thanks - Charlie

[Les Lampman]

Hi Charlie,

The tattletale hose connects on the engine end to a little brass nipple which is set 90-degrees to the cooling water channel it gets its water from; often I've found some crusty bits in there when I've removed the hose from the nipple and inserted a WD40-style red straw or small diameter wire. Poke around in there and see if you can't free things up. Also pinch the hose it's whole length as I've sometimes found obstuctions (scale, salt, etc) there as well.

[Captains Cat]

Thanks Les, I'll give that a shot at the pier next weekend. Was too hard out in the middle of the river and they were running great, and cool too!

Charlie

[Chuck S]

If you're in seawater the heat of the engine will precipitate salt ouf of the water and it can build up in small passages. We had this issue on the Neuse River (NC). Even though the water is technically fresh water I can taste the salt in it.

This is the reason inboard engines usually use cold thermostats and they sell all those fancy salt removing rigs for the exotic boat trailers. We ran a cold thermostat and still had to "boil" out the cylinder head every couple of years.

If Les's suggestions don't work see if you can remove the nipple and replace or clean it. If possible run the engine less nipple to flush out anything loose.

-- Chuck

[Captains Cat]

Thanks Chuck. We are in salt water, near where the Potomac hits Chesapeake Bay and it probably gets saltier but not much. The boat had only been in the water for 24 hours and, as I said, the first day, lots of cooling water. Had a good flush here at home in fresh water in the test tank a week or two before. Must be that something inside came loose and clogged the nipple.

Will try removing it if the wire doesn't work. Need to keep a wire on the boat for just such a purpose!

Charlie

[Captains Cat]

Les and Chuck. Thanks for the advice, a coat hangar into the brass nipple on the block fixed the problem! Have a piece of that hangar in a prominent point now.

Now I need to figure out why one of my 45's has three hoses coming out in that area where the telltale is and why the other one has two. Time to dig out the manual again or hear from Les if he survived the weekend!

charlie

[Fairbro]

I have been down this road many times as I run constantly in the dirty water of the Mississippi. The last time the stream was weak I needed to remove the brass nipple(12mm with a swivel and an extension, then hold your breath and give her steady hard tourque) I always am relieved when it budges. I then ran the engine for ONLY a couple of seconds to flush out any debris. I figure with the nipple out the cooling water won't stay as high in the water jacket as it should so this is why I am very careful to just give it a brief flush. I only go this far when the wire doesn't cure it. I have over 400 hours on a previous Honda 40 without an impeller replacement. I'm not saying that is wise but it is the case.

[Butch]

Charlie, I carry an aersol can of air used to blow dust from electronics such as computer key boards. I had the sam issues on my Mercury 90. The motor was not "peeing" as my grandson so informed me, however, I had pressure on the gauge that fluctuated with the RPM's and the motor did not over heat.
I just pulled the hose off the engine fitting, stuck the 6" long nozzle in the 1/4 tubbing, squeezed the nozzle and tube opening with the thumb and forefinger, and then gave it a blast of compressed air.

Did the trick. Now I keep a fresh can on board each season. Butch

[Captains Cat]

Gary, thanks. Hope I NEVER have to take a brass fitting (or bronze) out of a block. Have had too many problems with spark plugs in heads. It shouldn't have to come to that!

Butch, thanks for that tip on the aerosol can too. So far the coat hanger works fine, don't want aerosol around where the temp sometimes gets to 120deg plus in the summer. Kaboom!!

Anyway the problem is fixed, makes me wonder if I needed to get the water pumps rebuilt last winter after all... $$$$

[UncleRichie]

Hi,
On the water flow coming out the telltale, I have found the cause of most of the problems seems there is a small bee that thinks that little tube is a perfect condo to lay there eggs in. Then they seal it up with a mud patch, around here they are called carpenter bees they can have several eggs and mud seals in just a couple of inches of tubing. On my 8hp honda I have to clear it several times during the summer I just carry a short length of wire and run it up the tube and work it around works ever time. They have even did this to the big moter a few times if I don't use it for a couple of weeks. Thease critters are in most states and seem to perfer talltale tubes as nest sites. I don't know any way of keeping them out just have to put up with them I juess. So far this year have cleaned out nests twice on the little motor and once on the big motor. I hope this helps.
Richard

[Sea Wolf]

Uncle Richie- Your experience is similar to mine which I've pointed ut before one one of these threads, although I didn't identify the specific creature involved, which could well vary from geographic area to area.

What one needs to do is to invent a soft rubber/plastic tube end fitting that would fit over and/or replace the end fitting on the tell-tale vent that would progress from a round tube to a flattened section that will open up to a round tube when water pressure is applied from inside the tube. Tempo makes an automatic drain plug for the transom that looks like this, only much bigger, of course (Tempo part number #370030). This would shut out the pesky little devils! Joe

[C-Sick]

At low rpm I was getting no pee out the telltale.

Cleaned out the openings with a paper clip, removed the brass nipple and put a coat hanger down the shaft.

It started to pee again.

Got out on the Lake and the alarm went off.

Tried a second time and it would pee but the water was not as strong as the other engine (both bf40s) and the water was hot coming out.

Got home and tried to flush it. Refused to pee at any rpm now.

Any suggestions before I cart it off to the Honda Mechanic?

[Sneaks]

Kidney stone?

[C-Sick]

The impeller went. Usually from running without water. Could be related to ear muffs don't know for sure.

So in the end it was a Kidney stone made out of plastic.

[C-Sick]

I got the word from C-Dory today that they need to replace the impeller and install a new water pump kit.

Have any of you had this job done? Most likely cause is running the engine without water. This happened once this summer pulling into Blakely it was so shallow I lifted the starboard engine up out of the water and then immediately shut it down. I ran it for many hours after with no problems.

It is a mystery to me because my problem started last week with a plugged telltale. Any insights appreciated. Can a plugged tell tale screw up an impeller and pump?