 Boating 101 Tip |
Water Pump, |
It's another great day on the boat. Before un-tying the mooring lines, you start your outboard and verify that the cooling water indicator is flowing water as usual. What? It did the other day but today there is no water flowing out. Before assuming your day is over due to a bad water pump, taking a little time to check things out could save the day.
During the months of June and July primarily, Dirt Daubers or Mud Daubers, sometimes called Mud Wasps are prone to plug the hole with their saliva and mud mixture, making for a very strong blocking material.
On older outboards it may just cause the upper most cylinder to run a little hotter than usual. On newer style outboards, the cooling water is used to cool critical components like the fuel pump, voltage regulator, power steering module, and most importantly, the engines onboard computer, referred to as the Engine Management Module. In some cases you may receive a component overheat warning or check engine light, and if ignored can result in an extremely costly repair should any of these components overheat and short out.
Generally the blockage can be cleared with compressed air directed into the water indicator hole. In other cases you may need a small wire or tool to clear it and clean all of the mud blockage. On outboards with larger 1/4" to 1/2" water indicator holes, you can look into the hole and possibly see the mud block right at the opening. Doing the cleaning with the engine running at idle can help with the cleaning process.
Remember, water pumps do not fail from just sitting a few days or over night. If water is all of a sudden not flowing out the indicator, chances are very high that you had a visit from a Mud Dauber.
