15 hp sea king impeller

[keith watson]

o.k. just purchased 1982 15 hp sea king (chrysler motor) off of e-bay. low hours of use by condition/appearence. it has great compression runs good with a water hose on it except i'm curious as to why the two ports just below the engine cowl aren't spitting out water...exhaust is coming out but no water. i do have water and exhaust coming out at the lower part of the leg by the prop. am i wrong to think both areas mentioned should be spitting out water? possible impeller problems or a blockage in port? or is it normal? please help.

 

[jrlogan11]

Re: 15 hp sea king impeller

You should have water coming out of both holes. I assume you are running the engine with muffs to know that there is water coming out of the lower exhaust port, because you couldn't tell if the motor was in the water. This could be due to a clog or perhaps a worn out impeller that isn't pumping adequate water, but I bet it's because your muffs aren't supplying enough water. I try to limit the time I ever run an engine on muffs for this very reason. Try and put it in the water and see if it then pumps water out of the pee hole.

 

[keith watson]

Re: 15 hp sea king impeller

i used a muff connector but it didn't seal really well and water pressure wasn't the greatest. i'm going to try it in a barrell of water when i run it next. how hard is it to replace the impeller on that mod. engine? thanks for the info.

 

[jrlogan11]

Re: 15 hp sea king impeller

I don't know about your motor specifically, but replacing most outboard impellers is basically the same. You have to pull the lower unit which simply requires removal of a few bolts and then physically pulling the unit out. This is usually easy, but there is a possibility if the engine hasn't been maintained that the driveshaft splines can be frozen into the powerhead. Just cross your fingers and hope the unit comes out no problem.<br /><br />Then you will see the top of the water pump housing which you remove with a few more bolts. You'll need seals, gaskets, o-rings, etc to put it back together. Anyway, take off the housing and there is the impeller which is driven by the driveshaft.<br /><br />Just changing the impeller is pretty easy, but I would do all the seals while you're at it. Leaking seals is the main reason lower units fail, and lower units ain't cheap!