Cooling System Question

Hello,
I have a '78 Nautique that I recently purchased. I have never owned an in-board before, so this boat is still foreign to me.

I had the boat out a couple of weeks ago and noticed that I had a water leak from one of the rubbert exhaust hoses. I replaced it (as well as a non-working temp gauge), and thought I would try it out in my driveway. I un-hooked the water intake hose and stuck my garden hose in it. However, I am getting no water coming out of the exhaust when I do this. I there something wrong with this technique to run the engine out of the water?

I don't fully understand how the cooling system works, but I assume that something is wrong. I imagine that the external water pump (unsure what the correct term is) should constantly be pulling water in. I assume that this, in turn, provides water for the engine water pump (the normal one in the front of the engine) to circulate it throughout the engine?

Could somebody point me in the right direction as to what to test, or look for? Also, is there an easy way to check that the cooling system is working properly (other than just watching the temp gauge). I apologize if this is a newbie question, but I am coming off a outboard where I would just watch for water pissing out of the weep hole.

Thanks for any assistance.     

Randy_in_Ohio wrote: where exactly do you have the garden hose hooked up? it should be after the strainer and before the raw water pump.

Before/after the strainer doesnt matter.

Zig, your assumptions are correct- the raw water pump is always pulling water into the motor. If the motor was dry, you wont get water out of the exhaust right away- how long did you run it for? Did you disconnect the raw water pump at all? Its easy to reinstall it backwards so it wont draw water.

Zig,

Inside the raw water pump is a rubber impeller. you should remove the pump and take it apart and inspect the impeller for damage. pay attention to which way the pump is installed, like Tim said, it is real easy to install this backwards.

zigman wrote: Now, my next question is, can the rubber impeller be replaced seperately, or do I have to try & locate a whole new pump?

you can buy them here http://skidim.com/products.asp?dept=1029