Tell tale not telling its tale

[nicksharpe]

Hey. The past 3-4 times I've been out the tell tale hasn't worked at first. I've removed the tube at the top of the fuel pump and run a piece of wire coat hanger through, put it back together again and it all works fine for the rest of the trip.

What with the weather being so crap in 2023 it's been 3-6 weeks or so between each outing. Goes without saying that it's flushed properly after every run in salt water.

Anyone know what's going on? I don't even know what happens to water inside the fuel pump (does it just pass through?), so checking in for ideas before I make our local outboard dealer even richer.

[paddlers]

Hi, the fuel pump has nothing to do with the tell tale which generally is driven by a vaned rubber fan in a housing that is powered by a shaft running down from the powerhead . Circulates past a thermostat and exits via the tell tale.
Fuel pump pumps petrol .

[smallribber]

I had the same. I made a little video to help others. See below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTxzUcsPmFI

[A1an]

Originally Posted by paddlers

Hi, the fuel pump has nothing to do with the tell tale which generally is driven by a vaned rubber fan in a housing that is powered by a shaft running down from the powerhead . Circulates past a thermostat and exits via the tell tale.
Fuel pump pumps petrol .

some pumps do have a coolant feed to cool them.

[willk]

Originally Posted by A1an

some pumps do have a coolant feed to cool them.

^ Etecs had a saltwater coolant feed to the ECU, go figure!

[Steve509926]

Hi Nick I can't give any advice with regard to your telltale problem. However it may help those that can give advice, if you give the make, model and year of your outboard.

[jeffstevens763@g]

Pipes say made in USA guessing a merc, I would run the engine in a bucket with sataway or citric acid, I would also look in the thermostat housing see if it’s salted up

[ShinyShoe]

Or do you have insects crawling up to get to the wet stuff?

[smallribber]

Here is a better way to flush your outboard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wowDWWOqqs8

[smallribber]

The issue will just be larger pieces of debris in the system that are blocking the tell tale at the outlet in the block