E-TEC 225 Observed Cooling System Water Pressure

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
jimh
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E-TEC 225 Observed Cooling System Water Pressure

Postby jimh » Sun Sep 17, 2017 12:25 pm

In 2011 I made some observations about my 2010 model year E-TEC V6 3.3-liter 225-HP engine. I noted:

Observed Cooling System Water Pressure
E-TEC 225


RPM     PSI RANGE   ENGINE TEMP RECOMMENDED PSI
750 3.8 - 4.4 180 3 - 5
1300 9.2 - 9.5 191 8 - 9
1300 9.0 195 8 - 9
1350 9.7 163 8 - 9
1400 9.6 - 9.8 189 8 - 9
3700 14.0 127 12 - 14
4200 13.7 - 15.4 129 13 - 15

The data show the engine cooling system was operating in the normal range, with a trend for engine temperature to be toward the high end of the recommended range.

Below is the recommended water pressure range for the 2010 E-TEC 225-HP:

Water Pressure Table E-TEC 225 2010

RPM   PSI
Idle 3-5
1000 7-9
1500 8-10
2000 9-11
2500 10-12
3000 11-13
3500 12-14
4000 13-15
4500 14-16
5000 15-17
5500 16-18

To follow-up on those observations, I recently recorded some new data in September 2017. Again, from the same engine, but now with 455-hours of run time, and a water pump impeller installed in 2014 (when the engine had about 330-hours run time). The impeller was installed with the improved procedure. (See below for link). The impeller has thus been running for about 120-hours and for more than three years. The seawater temperature for these observations was 65-degrees-F. The latest September 2017 observations are:

Observed Cooling System Water Pressure September 2017
E-TEC 225

RPM     PSI   F°    RECOMMENDED PSI
500 3.8 - 3 to 5 (engine still warming up)
1000 8.8 172 7 to 9
1250 9.9 168 8 to 10
1400 10.2 144 8 to 10
800 6.6 177 5 to 7


Based on the comparison of the water pressure and engine temperature ranges, I infer that the water pump impeller is still operating in the normal range of performance, even though the recommended three-year-interval for replacement has been exceeded. Operating temperatures are generally significantly lower than initially observed when the engine was in its second season ofoperation, probably due to the method used to install the water pump impeller in 2014. The procedure was revised a few years ago by Evinrude.

The recommended water pump impeller installation procedure is available as a PDF at

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/BRP/EvinrudeETEC_WaterPumpInstallProcedure_5001595_EN.pdf

Based on these observations, I recommend that any water pump impeller service be performed using the newer recommended procedure that is described in the Evinrude service instructions (see link above). Installing the water pump impeller with the recommended method will improve the engine cooling system performance.