Pro Max Engine Temp Question

[bottomfisher]

1998 225 Pro Max, Serial# 0G610464

This past weekend my motor sucked up sand through the entire cooling system. I had to pull the lower unit to clean out the clogged water pump and also had to remove the thermostats and high pressure relief valve to flush everything out which took forever to get it clear. So after reassembling everything I cranked the motor and had water pressure back. For some reason the right side of the motor (cylinders 1,3,5) are way hotter than the left side. Not sure if this is normal as I've never payed any mind before. I can hold my hand on the left side and can hardly touch the right side it's so hot. Only issue I see is I will need to mess with the high pressure relief valve some more because it has water continuously leaking from the weep hole on the cover. I pulled each thermostat and cranked the motor to verify water flow and all seemed well.

So are the hotter temperatures on the right side of motor normal?

[leonreno]

I would recommend a new water pump if you didn't do that, every bit of that sand was sucked and run through that impeller, had have cause some wear on it. One bank is usually warmer but not sure about as much as you describe. I think normally 10 degrees at so warmer.

[90 5.0]

Sand and gravel will stick in the heads, exhaust divider and block passages making proper cooling flow impossible, this will cause one side to get much hotter if it's not flowing good enough on that side.

Pull exhaust divider and heads and get all the junk out.

I have to do it a lot because if the areas I run in

[bottomfisher]

I ran it on the hose yesterday for about 20 mins or so and all seemed well. Motor was definitely hotter but I was dripping water on the head and block and the water wasn't boiling off. Prolly have to replace the high pressure relief valve bc it's still leaking from the weep hole on the cover. Reused the original gaskets when I put it back together and that's probably the issue there. So I'll most likely go ahead and change thermostats, gaskets, and water hoses also. I just need to verify all the part numbers with Don before placing the order.