Mercury Outboard There Was No Water Coming from Tell Tale / not Working / Alarm OFF

I have a 2005 mercury 60 EFI it was taken out of the water last October without having the salt water of fuel flushed out, I started the motor for about two seconds and switched it off immediately as there was no water coming from tell tail, what should be my next step be ...Thanks

I’d run it in a bucket with muffs and a full bucket to put a little more pressure on the water inlet. If it still doesn’t pump I’d change the water pump. Give it a couple of seconds to try to start pumping before you turn off. If it is the water pump you won’t do any more damage than what has already been done running it for 10 seconds in a bucket.

The water pump has to be submerged in a bucket not just the intake fins. It is not a suction pump. You have to have water level above where lower unit bolts together. Also check the line where the water comes out sometimes a bug will block off the hole. If you have a air compressor blow back through the piss hole while running and see if it starts pissing

Pull the piss pipe off and blow it out. Its the tell tale hose.

that should not cause that , you probally just need to run a piece of fishing line up the pee holed.

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Hey guys posting on behalf of a mate
We were fishing up Fraser when his tell tale stopped working... got towed back to Hervey bay
Back at home We pulled impeller out and  flushed the line.  new impeller in,  pulled thermostate out new one in turned it on 

We have flow again but engine heats up and sends the alarm off once it's warmed up.
Any ideas of what it could be that we can have a look at
It's a 98' mercury four stroke 50hp
Any brain storming would be much appreciated
Cheers

- Was the old impeller missing bits of rubber?
- Next place to look is the thermostat

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Got my 94 60hp mercury tracker running, but now the overheating alarm keeps goin off. I had to replace the thermostat, but while it was off, I wanted to make sure the water pump was still good so I ran it without a thermostat for a little while. The water was coming out the top of the block, so the impeller was working, but the alarm was still going off. The water was extremely hot out of the thermostat hole and the tell tale, so idk what’s going on. Any suggestions?

-Install a new thermostat and replace the water pump with a brand new one. Leaving the thermostat out allows the motor to overheat. The thermostat circulates the cooling water through the outboard until it reaches a pre determined temp then opens slightly to allow the flow to continue. Without a thermostat there is nothing to slow down the water where it will pick up heat from the surrounding surfaces. It doesn’t have time to soak up the heat but rushes right through the motor. BTW most outboards are designed to run between 180-200 degrees F. This promotes fuel efficiency.