Yamaha F70 Speedo Pickup Tube Broke

[Bluesrx9]

I was removing the lower unit to rebuild impeller/water pump and the pickup cable broke. It looks dried out/brittle.

Can I run the motor without it. I don’t even have a Speedometer just an RPM gauge.
I’d like to get back on the water for the 4th and deal with it in the fall.

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Can't answer this question for sure, but looking at old pictures of my last impeller replacement the pump housing is gasketed separately from the pitot tube. In other words if water is shooting into that cavity it's not going to contaminate other areas of your LU.

That being said it appears to share the cavity with your shift shaft, not something that you probably want constantly flooded with water. If you can't replace it for now I would at least plug the pitot tube at the inlet (maybe a piece of rubber or wood like a skewer?) and also plug the broken section inside to prevent any water getting into that cavity. Maybe even throw some electrical tape over the pitot tube inlet as well, it might not last more than a few days but again you're just trying to mitigate any water getting into the cavity.