Loss of water presure Mercury blames on 6 year old Gambler set up

[Gamblerpilot]

Guys I need help…please tell me one of you experts has an idea………..
After a 6 month trip to Asscrackistain, I got back and my motor (2004 225 EFI) was overheating at WOT after about 10 minutes of running. Also normal water pressure but not peeing. Mechanic cleaned out the pee tube and flushed and found a small piece of grit holding a thermostat open. Ran fine for a month. Then on the 6th day of a weeklong tournament I went to run from the weigh in to the trailer (about two miles) and lost all water pressure above 3000 RPM. (out of the blue). Replaced water pump and housing. It appeared somewhat worn. Thought we had it fixed. Smart gage says about 6 at idle. Went to 15 if you jacked up the rpms while running in a tank. At blast off the next weekend, upon getting on plane and getting to WOT, water pressure dropped off to zero. Spent the rest of the day below 3000 to get by. Have about 7 psi on the smart craft at 3000 RPM. Highest temp I saw was 127. But obviously did not run it long or far. Since then we have done several things to try to find the problem but now this has gone from bad to worse and Mercury is giving illogical advice to my tech.
We again removed the gear case and totally inspected lower passages for blockage. None found. Put it back together and took the boat to run it with lap top installed and tech in boat. We did the tests Mercury recommended.

Let me state this first before I give the results. I bought the boat two and a half years ago with 32 hours on the motor. Nothing about the set up has been changed. Not even the prop. The boat has always had excellent hole shot and WOT speed of from between 78-82 MPH at 5700-5800 RPM depending on load and conditions....WITH 15-20 PSI water pressure. This is with the jack plate at 3.5 both on the gate and the tape on the actual jack plate. This two reading still match up. The boat and motor performed flawlessly until I hit 140 engine hours. SO I can factually say NOTHING has changed with the set up for 108 hours with this exact set up......the set up Gambler did for this custom boat.

Here are the results of multiple test runs. At 3 to 3.5 on the jack plate the water pressure bleeds off to less than 5 PSI above 3000 RPM. At 2.5 on the jack plate it starts to get better (about 10 PSI) above 3000 RPM. At 2 on the jack plate we get 18-22 PSI WOT BUT......the boat will not get on the final pad, will not run above 5200 RPM or 70 MPH. Additionally it does not handle properly in turns with that much motor in the water. Clearly there is a problem.

Mercury says it is my problem and the motor is too high because the set up is too high for the stock EFI lower unit. When asked how it ran for 140 hours without this problem he said “it was lucky". Now they want me to tape off the top to inlets and try everything again. I feel they have me and my mechanic chasing our tails.

Anyone have anything better than this to offer?
Thanks a ton,
Keith

[21XDC]

Sounds like a motor issue to me. Copy and paste this in the Merc forum for Don Weed to advise you.

Plugging the top holes wont hurt anything.

[low slung cruiser]

definately need to plug the top 2 holes....you're sucking air...
my dad's 02 225 efi on a 01 intimidator 2000, we had to do the same thing...plugged the top 2 holes, and water pressure went right back up and will hold....his also runs best on 3-3.5...

[Gamblerpilot]

Thats encouraging to hear. Any idea why it would start this after 140 hours? Any idea where to find the plugs?
Thanks
Keith

[21XDC]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Gamblerpilot &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote"> Any idea where to find the plugs? </td></tr></table>

I think most just use SS set screws in 5/16 and some lock tite if I'm remembering right.

[rwalker221]

also check your poppet valve.

[CRIMSONGAMBLER]

As stated above, check your poppet. Don can sell you everything you need to plug the holes. May also be blowing the pump seal up the shaft, there is a larger version of it that don has in stock.

[Gamblerpilot]

Just called my guy and asked him to bring me a Poppet valve tommorrow. That having been said the guru at Mercury claims the Poppet valve becomes ineffective above 5 PSI and has nothing to do with my problem. But I am with you all and its getting changed anyway.

[CRIMSONGAMBLER]

I'm thinking that if it hangs open 5 psi is about all you'll get.

[jrbritt]

yep had the same problem, change the poppet valve, and plug the top 3 holes.

[Gamblerpilot]

One month later....still going....
Returned from a work trip and picked up the boat yesterday with new popet installed. Old valve looked fine...no blockage, no deterioration and no carbon build up to point towards a exhaust leak in the adapter plate area.
Ran the boat this morning. With jack plate at 3.25, Again normal operation & WP thru 3500 RPM but by 4000 it fell to about 3 to 5 psi. Let it run a few seconds while accelerating at the water presure built to about 13 or 14. By WOT it was bouncing from 13psi to o psi and then back to 13 then to 20 then back to zero. Aside from the fact that it appears the popet valve had a partial effect (is this possible?) when I make a very slight strearing input to correct left or right (not an actual turn) the water presure increases...to AS MUCH AS 25 PSI! To me this points to hydrodynamics with the lower unit but both Gambler and Mercury say "NO".

Mercury now recommends that I pull the lower unit again and use a hose held against the water take up tub and run the motor past 4000 rpm to effectively eliminate the lower unit as a problem.

Thoughts?

[Matt Mc]

I had an issue several years ago with a 150 supermag that I had bought after it had been sitting for a while.

The powerhead gasket had deteriorated and a small piece of the gasket had blew out causing it to run hot over a period of time. But the gauge indicated that the water pressure was a little low but not too bad.

Just a thought

[ldbass55]

mercury is always going to tell you the motor is too high...i went through the same thing with my xb several years back...you have a blockage, or a seal bad somewhere...i would get with don on the merc page, and start trying to eliminate problems...mercury isnt going to help you...and i must say this...the symptoms do look like the engine is too high..just saying...
but if it had pressure before, it should have it now...period..hope you got a mechanic that is willing to work with you.....and regardless, i would still block the top holes off....it wont hurt...
LD

[rwalker221]

also check and make sure that the seal over the water pump housing is good.

[Gamblerpilot]

Just to catch you all up on this never ending drama....................culprit has been identified. We figured it was time to bite the bullet and pull the power head to inspect the adapter plate gasket. Ordered one first so I could continue to limp the boat around and fish. After a 3 week back order it arrived. (Good news here is there is an upgrade to the gasket…I think it is the same as the pro xs gasket that has more ‘Beef” to it). We pulled the power head and found the adapter plate gasket was toast. Additionally we saw that the tuner gasket was also pulled out and shifted, so that is coming apart now while we try to get that gasket. My mechanics says he has only seen that tuner gasket pulled out by off shore boats that jump waves and create excessive torque on the motor. I run them hard but never figured that hard. He says the adapter plate gasket issue is a function of running to high an exhaust gas temp due to running the motor too high. Sounds reasonable to me….what say you? I will let you all know how it goes when we get it all back together.
Anyone here ever swap out a stock lower unit on an EFI for a torque master? Results? Anyone know the best place to pick up a re-manufactured Torque Master? I am hoping going with this lower unit I can run the motor where it needs to be without creating this problem, again?

[Matt Mc]

That's what I suspected!!

[WDBrand]

Keith, remember you can plug the top 4 holes on a 3.0 Liter Merc. (torque master or standard). Plugging the top 4 holes will reduce your chances of sucking air when your motor is running higher and causing overheating.

[JAZII]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Gamblerpilot &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Just to catch you all up on this never ending drama....................culprit has been identified. We figured it was time to bite the bullet and pull the power head to inspect the adapter plate gasket. Ordered one first so I could continue to limp the boat around and fish. After a 3 week back order it arrived. (Good news here is there is an upgrade to the gasket…I think it is the same as the pro xs gasket that has more ‘Beef” to it). We pulled the power head and found the adapter plate gasket was toast. Additionally we saw that the tuner gasket was also pulled out and shifted, so that is coming apart now while we try to get that gasket. My mechanics says he has only seen that tuner gasket pulled out by off shore boats that jump waves and create excessive torque on the motor. I run them hard but never figured that hard. He says the adapter plate gasket issue is a function of running to high an exhaust gas temp due to running the motor too high. Sounds reasonable to me….what say you? I will let you all know how it goes when we get it all back together.
Anyone here ever swap out a stock lower unit on an EFI for a torque master? Results? Anyone know the best place to pick up a re-manufactured Torque Master? I am hoping going with this lower unit I can run the motor where it needs to be without creating this problem, again?
</td></tr></table>

The torque master will bolt right up.
I had to run my 225 Pro XS with my 225 EFI standard lower unit untill I got a HP flow-torque hub and prop.

JAZII