water pressure

[tant dowell]

Ok I have a 2006 Merc 200 Optimax w/ warranty till 2014 (bought new in '09). I took it out 2 weeks ago and ran fine w/ water pressure guage working. we have been flooded out here in Nashville so the rivers and lakes are a little dirty but finally went to Hickory yesterday and noticed that my guage was not showing any water pressure. However there was a very strong "pee stream" out of the motor. Question, is the guage faulty or could it still not be getting adequate water to the motor even though it is peeing....it ther a hole that could get clogged like the speedo or what. your thought are appreciated

 

[Jim in VA]

Water pressure is typically taken off of the engine block. So it doesn't sound like you should have a clog like with a speedo where the pick up is on the leading edge of the outboard. You might want to take off the cowl, see where the water line to the gauge is hooked up and make sure its still connected or not kinked/clogged. Having a pee stream doesn't necessarily mean you have sufficient cooling so you'll want to track down the cause before running the engine too much.

 

[VA Chris]

If you have a strong water stream you are fine. Most of those gauges are pretty cheap and there can be any number of reasons for them not to operate. obviously they operate on water pressure but the pee hole and line to the gauge are not mutually inclusive. Most likely you have a small obstruction in the line to the gauge. All that gauge does is keep you from turning your head around once in while to double check the pee stream.

 

[VA Chris]

Well there's conflicting advice eh Tdow? Jim may know better so listen to him, better safe than sorry.

 

[andy durda]

Gages are very cheap. They are just made of a thin tube curled with a needle on the end of the tube. Any pressure applied to tube makes the needle move. Any water that makes it to the gage can render it useless. Opti has all the bells and whistles and should be ok if no allarms went off. The gage is probably a fraction of the cost of an hour of labor cost. Should be flushing that opti after use in dirty water. just watch your hose pressure.

 

[tant dowell]

so flushing after you go out in dirty water.....are you talking about hooking the muff's up to the hose and running clean water through it or what..........i've heard that Merc's are bad about getting dirt and stuff in them because the intake is in front. I've always ran Yami's and never had a problem at all.

 

[andy durda]

Muffs of use remote hook up hose located in in front of motor. There is a section in your owners manual about this.