Reply To: 1983 Evinrude 15 HP

[Don]

Bill is right on….Those darn crushed grommets may show water flow, but it is not enough….The classic symptom is starting the engine, seeing water flow until it starts to overheat, then it will suddenly blast steam out of the telltale and really heat up. Keep in mind, some of these engines have two of these pesky grommets, if it has the open inner exhaust tube. I surely don’t want you to rip this thing apart for nothing, but the grommet(s) will have to be addressed at some point if cooling issues can not be resolved with simpler inspections/repairs. The grommet/water tube set up was improved over the years, but even some of the “improved” set ups get crushed as well. Needless to say, this is more of a salt water issue, but does happen on fresh water engines also.
And, like Bill says, running an engine on “muffs”, means very little. Other than “it runs”. Keep in mind that the high pressure from a garden hose can be enough to overcome restrictions posed by some crushed grommets….D