running motor dry

[flagem2]

I hooked up my motor with the muffs and started it in the garage tonight. Just idling. I let it run about a minute at idle and noticed the hose came off the muffs during this time. I rushed over and turned off the motor. Once again, I was just at idle. Could I have ruined anything in the motor? No alarms went off and started fine again later. I'm guessing it was no longer than a minute if that.

Thanks!

[eyecatcher01]

you should be fine. did ya put the muffs back on get some water back through it? At worst may have been alittle hard on the water pump but cant see that any harm would have been done to the motor. i had to replace my water pump last spring cuz fall of 07 i did alot of fishing and dry ran my motor for several seconds to make sure all of the water was cleared out since it was sitting out side in freesing temps. i new the water pump was going out cuz at low speeds the eng temp buzzer would go off. at high speed it was picking up enough water to keep it cool but at idle it was just getting hot enough to set off the buzzer. no harm to the engine just cost me around 150 bucks...that was on a 50hp 4stroke. now i just turn the motor over cpl seconds with kill switch off so she wont fire.

[flagem2]

I did put the muffs back on with water going through it. I let it idle for about a minute and everything seemed fine. I got alittle nervous. I have a bit to learn about motors. Its a 115 4-stroke Mercury.

[Anthony E]

The repair manual for my Suzuki 4 stroke says that severe damage to the water pump impellar can happen in a very short time if it is run dry. A minute of run time dry would significantly damage the impellar per the manual. You may want to change out your impellar to avoid possible future motor damage. It would be cheap insurance.
Tony

[Keith Walters]

I hooked up my motor with the muffs and started it in the garage tonight. Just idling. I let it run about a minute at idle and noticed the hose came off the muffs during this time. I rushed over and turned off the motor. Once again, I was just at idle. Could I have ruined anything in the motor? No alarms went off and started fine again later. I'm guessing it was no longer than a minute if that.

Thanks!

If you had the water running into the motor when you first started it, you should have a good chance of no damage. The worst damage happens when the motor has been sitting a long time and the pump impeller is dry and sort of glued to the housing of the water pump. If it got wet before you started it, you avoided the damage at start up. If it didn't run long without the water, you likely have no damage. I would try it at the lake before any repair is made. Good luck.

Keith