So the last time I was cleaning my boat for whatever reason I thought it would be a good ideal to flush my motor using the flushing port located next to the [censored] hole on my 2009 mercury Optimax 150. I hooked it up, turned on the water and water was mostly coming out the [censored] hole.. I continued to let water run while i was doing other things, I began to hear a different sound coming from the water hose. I looked at it and water and started coming out the exhaust port. I thought maybe this could be normal, that it had unstopped something maybe. However, upon going to the lake the first thing I noticed was lower water pressure on plane 5-8 psi where it is usually 10-15 psi. The idling water pressure was about the same 3- 5 psi but I did notice a lot of turbulence in the water coming from the lower part of the engine while setting there at an idle I think I usually just have a [censored] stream. The [censored] stream appeared to be normal and I did not get no alarm but the the pressure did not seem right and all the turbulence around the motor while idling did not seem normal. Did I possibly bust some kind of water or exhaust seal, gasket, or tube ? Any help will be appreciated, thanks.

Anyone have any ideas ?

On my Yamaha F115, the manual says to leave the engine off when using the flush port and actually mentions that damage to the water pump may occur if the engine is running.

I did not run engine while flushing it but the first use at the lake after doing this I noticed lower water pressure while on plane and then while just setting there at idle there was turbulence(lots of bubbles for lack of a better term) coming up from the submerged portion of my lower unit that I had never noticed before.

There is not really anything that could be damaged by flushing. When was the last time the impeller was replaced. Could be just a fluke and it just need a impeller. Those impeller last about 1 to a 1.5 years.....OPTI

Poppet valve could have malfunctioned.

It has been about 1.5 years. I think I will start there. Thanks