mariner mercury 3 hp no water from tell tale

[simonafloat]

Hi all

I haven't actually used this little 2 stroke outboard for a long time but I start it up and check it over a couple of times a year. Anyway I just started it up and no water is coming out of the telltale. Checked the impeller, all fine. Any suggestions? It's not had salt water in it for a long time.

Thanks

Simon

[Fenlander]

Well.. I've a thread with pics I'm going to upload soon... just for the info... of a Mariner 4 that similarly hasn't been used for a while but I wouldn't have thought would have suffered from salt... however it was choked with salt crystals all around the powerhead water passages such that the pee stream had all but stopped.

[Nightfisher]

When I lived on the west coast, it was a no brainer that part of any fishing/leisure trip out in the Ocean included a fresh water flush at the end of the day. People who kept their boats moored either had it professionally flush at the end of the season or removed mid-size boats monthly to do just that.

Mean time it helped to keep the engine in the water (not raised) to limit the amount of air entering the lower unit and rapidly accelerating salt-corrosion build up at and inside the pump.

[Kev UK]

Get a length of strimmer cable and poke it up the telltale hole ---- don't use wire --- this cleared a similar problem we had on a small "get you home" Mercury.
Hope this helps.
Regards