Thermostat replacement
 

Last month...on first startup of my outboard, I thought the pee stream was kind of weak, and the water seemed a bit warmer than usual.
Wasnt sure these were actual symptoms of a problem... but decided to replace the thermostat anyway...just in case.

Corrosion was evident......had to scrape a bunch off the engine where it attaches... while I held a vacuum to prevent all that crap from going down and into the block. Easy job to do that may have prevented something worse. I heard a saying that "you are the best outboard mechanic that you know" Not always true, but doing preventative maintenance yourself is well worth the effort imo.

Amen to that !
Nice job Cap

If you do a thermostat, water pump and popet valve every 3 years, you will never have a water pump failure( unless you are one of the idiots that insist on starting the motor without a water supply).. I've been preaching it for years.. I've made alot of money off of people that dont listen.
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Thanks... good to know....complete novice here trying to learn as much as I can .....I had to look up poppet valve.

Me too…. :-)
and the thing is I have those parts that came with a winterization kit once and didn’t know what it was ! Dah !

Thanks Joe

I just ordered a new lower unit today… ouch 😣
I’ll be land locked for a couple weeks anyway…. Except for Wayne’s tel calls :-)