Water Pressure TOO high?

[McGreavster]

I’m having a weird issue on my 1988 XP 150. I installed a water pressure gauge last year and would get around 2-6 psi idle and just over 20 at WOT. This spring I changed my impeller (old one was still in great shape) and now I’m getting closer to 10+ psi idle and 25-28 psi at WOT. At first I was happy with extra PSI until I looked back at the tell tale during my supposed 28psi at full RPM and the tell tall really didn’t look that strong at all. The tell tale looked really strong during idle and even into the 4K RPM range but at 5k+ she looked a little weak so I backed off the throttle for the day and tried to keep in under 4K rpm.

When I got back to the ramp I noticed a little water draining from the inside the cowling, my Tee connector for the water pressure gauge was all wet so I figured I just had a to re tighten my hoses and zip ties and I would be good. However when running it on muffs I noticed water was leaking from the exhaust cover on the back of the motor. I tightened a few bolts and the problem seemed to go away. I’m still getting 10psi at idle on muffs (when I lowered water pressure I was getting closer to 2-4psi).

I plan on heading to the lake in the morning but I have bad feeling when I look back at my tell tale at WOT it’s still going to be weak. Any ideas what would cause this ?

Thanks!

[SEAHORSE]

You cannot troubleshoot a cooling problem on a flusher with a garden hose. The engine has to be in the water for accurate testing and troubleshooting.