First run

[pecan_john]

I started the forty-plus I bought on ebay several months ago for the first time today. I mixed a cup of gas and oil at an eight/one ratio, poured it in and the little motor started on the second pull. I put it in a tank of water and ran it for about 45 seconds to a minute. No water came out of the port on the head. Following the suggestion in Don Meyer’s book I blew compressed air the port and had bubbles coming out the water intake ports. I re-fired the engine but still no cooling water flow. I guess the next step is to get a new gasket and pump rotor and see if that fixes the problem.

John
Alabama, USA

[charlesp]

Before you take it apart..

Did you take the prop off first?

Did you have the leg at the correct depth?

And were you running at more than a third throttle?

Forties usually don't pump water at tickover; and any water pump can be defeated by the rotation of a prop in close proximity in a tank. Worth checking these things out.

After that, it is rarely the water pump itself - rather more likely to be the waterways in the block choked up.

Good luck

[John@sos]

Hello John,

Have a good read of the FAQ page!

You will find the suggestion of Don Meyers was from a very early Seagull leaflet. After about 50 years they realised it was pointless directing compressed air through there, as it will compress to go throught a pin hole!

Water on the other hand does not compress, so a garden hose works, as Seagull themselves admitted later!

Do not fix it till it is broke, as Charles knows, he too has read the FAQs!

Save yourself a lot of grief!

Regards,
John
SOS

[pecan_john]

I did as you both suggested. First I read the frequently asked questions and then built a rudimentary flushing devise and back-flushed the engine. There was good water flow out of both intake ports so I’m pretty sure the cooling passages are not blocked. I pulled the prop drive spring and ran the motor at fairly high RPM for about a minute. There is a dribble of water coming out of the cooling port, but not enough to inspire confidence. I did learn to keep my scotch more than three feet from the test tank while running the motor because the exhaust splashes enough water to give it a bit of an off taste.

Thanks again,
John, Alabama, USA

[John@sos]

Sounds as you have an impellor or rotor problem and will have to split the waterpump housing from the gearbox...

Rare!

The fastenings will not be easy to remove unless you are very lucky.

Use a blow lamp on them for 5 minutes, then an impact screwdriver is the best tool.

Good luck.

Be interested to hear what is inside. I have new rotors on the shelf, no problem.

Regards,
John
SOS

[40TPI]

Be interested to hear what is inside.

If this turns out to be a u/s rotor /impeller I think some of us would be very interested to see what is inside it if you cared to record a few pics John.

[pecan_john]

I took the water pump housing off today. The pictures of what I found is at this link: http://john-cindy.com/waterpump.htm . There is some wear and abrasions on the pump rotor. The driveshaft is also very rusty. I’ll clean things up and install the new rotor. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

John, Alabama, USA

[John@sos]

Looking at the pics of your rotor I would say it was in as good a condition as I would expect on an old motor and should pump like fury!

I think you are going to have to look further, however if a new rotor works then I would suspect there is a partial blockage still and given time, the problem will reoccur.

Rust on the drive shaft is sadly normal, and not a problem unless really bad, when the rust will actually break the rotor!

Hope it works for you. Remeber you are looking for a flow as thick as a pencil from the outlet.

Regards,
John
SOS

[pecan_john]

I got looking at all the parts and noticed that the rotor had worn its way through about half of the thick gasket. I remember reading in the repair manual that it should sit about 1/16 inch above the gasket. I tapped the old rotor up the shaft to gain the proper clearance and reassembled the motor with the new gasket. A quick run still produced very little water although I had forced water from the bottom up using the hose with good results. It had to work but didn’t. I had the exhaust about 2 inches under the water surface like the books said, but the water pump casing was only half covered. I added water to bring the level to the top of the casing and fired up the engine again. A nice steady stream of cooling water resulted. I feel a bit foolish for not trying this earlier, but until I saw how things went together, I didn’t have a good understanding of where the water entered the pump body. I had read over and over in books and user-group posts that the engine won’t start if the exhaust is too deep. Thank you John for the speedy parts delivery and thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions.

John, Alabama, USA

[John@sos]

I can see straight away from you reply, why it did not pump water!

The water level must be 2" up the straight tube of the exhaust, not from the outlet hole!

Bet you have hours of fun with it,

Happy Seagulling!

Regards,
John
SOS

[steve66]

Hi Pecan John,
I had a similar problem with a forty plus.I did everything you have donewithout success.I found the problem by removing the engine block from the crankcase then giving it a blow which found it to be partially blocked.I tapped the sides of the block very lightly with a hammer and kept blowing and loads or rust came out.I put it all back together and hey presto fixed.
Hope this helps,
Steve

[Clifford Pope]

I went through exactly this sequence some months ago. I could not get any water out running it in a tank.
But last weekend on the water for the first time there was very powerful jet of water out of the hole. It doesn't pump at low speeds, and it needs the motion of the boat through the water.