water pump leak
 

I have been having cooling issues on my 1988 mercury 150hp and have been eliminating issues one by one, but today I came across something I thought was odd and wonder if anyone else has experienced it too. So I dropped the lower unit and hooked up the water muffs to the intakes just to see how the water flowed figuring I could determine if my particular issue was in the lower or the upper half of the engine. Anyway, I noticed a lot of water leaking from somewhere below the pump upper housing - near the front of the pump. I was unable to stop or even slow it down no matter how tight I cranked the water pump nuts. I didn't want to go crazy tight on the nuts, but it was much tighter than I would normally go on a water pump housing. I replaced the lower half of the water pump a month ago. Not sure where to go from here. Any advice?

Thanks

Carl

something doesn't sound right, got any pics?

I can get some pics - but I don't have any now. I expected all the water to come out the top (discharge) of the pump, but water was coming out the from where the pump halves meet. There seems to be a slot in the lower pump housing that would allow water to run out. Is it normal for water to flow from places other than the pump discharge?

Thanks

Carl

sounds like you are missing a gasket and possibly have a warped water pump base