1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

Malibu1921

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Jun 8, 2009
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Hello, I was doing general maintenance on a 50hp 4 stroke Mercury that I just bought with a pontoon. I have the service manual but it is pretty gray on how to disconnect the shift linkage in order to drop the lower unit. Is there something that I am missing?
Any help would be appreciated.
 

Expidia

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

I'm doing the same maintenance later in the week. I ordered the Seloc manual but another poster said it's also gray as to how to do it. I've not done this myself yet.

What I've found is a thread that said if it's electric start you may have to remove the starter motor to get at this clip at the top of the linkage arm which prevents the leg from releasing because of that clip.

Just follow the arm up to the clip and it said to rotate the clip to free the arm.

I've asked several questions about maintenance on Merc's with no responses either. This site is not what it used to be.

Maybe many members may have left and frequent other sites as it is so slow now to load. Seems the more I spend at iBoats (just spent over $300 with two orders) the slower it gets, so it's probably my fault :)

Let me know if this was the correct answer cause I have to do the same thing.
 

Malibu1921

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

Thanks for the reply. Once I slid the linkage clip over and up located in front of the powerhead it dropped like a charm. I think it was a little easier to reinsert that sliding lock pin if you are in forward gear.

My next issue is I did a complete impeller kit change by the book. Took the boat to the ramp and everything ran fine for about 5 minutes and the temp buzzer alarm went off under the dash. The spitter valve had a steady stream when I first cranked up but now had begun to become intermittent and the water was very hot coming out. Put the boat back on the trailer and dropped the lower unit and found that one blade had snapped off the impeller. Everything was lubed and the blades were facing the right direction when I bolted it together.

I don't know why one blade would just snap off a brand new impeller?
 

Expidia

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

Wow, that's tough. This is why I hate doing this stuff myself but I hate paying the rip off marinas and boat dealers even more.

Again, I've never done it yet. But my first concern would be a defective impeller. I just ordered my kit from iBoats yesterday and I would have preferred to get the OEM kit. I don't like to have to do the same job twice because of possible cheap knockoff replacement kits.

I wanted to use Mercury parts express but their site is a joke to search for the part. No one to call either.

So I had to go with an after market kit. From iBoats.

At least you are getting to be an expert at dropping that foot now :D

Try searching around at this link for an answer. No one from this forum ever pointed me to it. I found it on Google. It looks like it's an interface that searches iBoats forums by your year and make. This is where I found that answer to the clip.

http://forums.iboats.com/Mercury-Outboards/25-HP

I'll look there for an answer because I don't want to run into the same issue.

Don't hold your breath for anyone to respond here. You will have to search all the old threads. They have an aversion to helping Merc owners here it seems.

Also try a much better site boating site for repairs and info from it's members: thehulltruth.com

Do you have electric start and if so did you have to remove the starter motor to disconnect the linkage clip?

Did you also rebuild the pump with a re-build kit or did you just do the impeller? The kit I ordered comes with all the gaskets and the impeller blade.

Did you have to drain the gear oil before you removed the foot?
 

Expidia

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

If you did not see this in another thread that a poster left watch it. See if there is anything you did differently.

If not, then it may have already had a crack in the new blade. I could see someone buying a new one and swapping the old one back into the package and returning it. You never know.

But your experience tells me to bring my Minn Kota along after I test drive it once I rebuild the water pump. No point in rowing back when the alarm goes off :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-uzQi7IgwU
 

Malibu1921

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

I had watched that video before hand too. It did not go into any detail on how to disconnect the shift shaft. I did not have to remove the starter to slide the connector pin. I have a service book and have yet to read anywhere that you would have to do so. Its easy to to unlatch, but a little bit of challenge to reconnect. I highly recommend a long set of needle nose to get in there to adjust the shift rod into place.
I bought the $50 impeller kit from a local Merc. dealer. They did however warranty the broken impeller today. He also recommended using soapy water on the impeller blades when loading them back into the pump housing. I turned the drive shaft clockwise to make sure they were all aligned and moving smoothly. Everything looks good. Going to drop back in the water and keep my fingers crossed. On another note the original impeller from 99 still looked great and had no visible wear or cracks. Go figure, maybe the motor's freshwater life has helped keep it in good shape.
 

Expidia

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

Did you have to remove the gear oil?
 

Malibu1921

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Jun 8, 2009
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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

No, it is sealed. But you might as well drain it while your at it.
 

rtpassini

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Nov 27, 2008
Messages
508
Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

i cant help.

but make sure you two SEARCH, A LOT, on this website, try different terms. or motors similar to yours. you will find an answer.
 

Expidia

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

The reason I asked is that I just changed it last week. I could drain it into a jar.

I just didn't want to drop the foot and have it spill on my driveway if it was not sealed.
 

Malibu1921

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

Round 2 was this afternoon. I replaced the bad impeller, put everything back together and it all looked good. Took the boat to the lake and let it run on the trailer for about 5 minutes. Had a good stream out of the Tell Tale and decided the new impeller did the trick. Cruised away from the ramp and about 5 minutes later the alarm went off. I walked back to the engine and the pisser still had a good stream but the water coming out was scolding hot. Shut down and let the engine cool. Came back home and pulled the lower unit and inspected the water pump. Everything looked fine.

I am wondering when the first impeller broke and the engine got hot if it messed up the thermostats? Any ideas?
This is driving me crazy.
 

Expidia

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

That's tough luck again! But hey, someone needs to lead the way to teach us how to resolve this type of issue.

My concern is where you said you just bought it. You don't know the history of how it was treated over the past 10 years.

You say you changed the impeller twice now. Did you rebuild the waterpump at the same time. The whole kit that I bought on iboats was under $50 including the impeller. Your Seloc manual shows how to change the thermostats too. Mine came yesterday and I was reading how to do that last night.

Like I said, I would ask your questions on another boating sight as there is very little response here. These are simple issues and it's sad not for you to get any responses here to resolve your issue. If I knew how the members thumb their noses at Merc's I would not have given my last 3 orders to iBoats.

Ask a Nissan or Tohatsu repair question and the regulars are all over it even though they don't own one! Go figure. They seem to lean towards talking up old Johnsons and Evinrudes on this site even though Merc is the most widely owned O/B.

I'd call a dealer and tell him you will buy the parts from him but you like his opinion on what part to replace next. They are leery about helping you if they give you the answers and then you screw them out of a sale by buying on the net.

When my two rebuild kits come from iBoats I'm sending them back and getting OEM ones. I thought the pee stream on her 99 was weak on the muffs but it was fine on our initial test run last night on the river. So I'm in no rush now and will wait till I receive the OEM kits for the maintenance.

The dealer is going to do trial anyway. They start with the obvious, and when that doesn't solve it they go to the next part. The impeller was a wear item anyway, so is the fuel pump rebuild. I would imaging thermostats are pretty cheap.

You don't know if the warning over heat buzzer also came on with the previous owner and they drove it anyway. Some O/B auto shut down to a slower speed but you or them could have cooked the thermostats.

Check with a dealer but don't ask them step by step on how to change the parts and then not let them do it. Use your manual for that.

I'm sending back to iBoats the big wheel third wheel that came yesterday. I thought it was the 4 inch wide wheel in the picture but it's only the 2 inch wheel. The 4 inch is called the mighty wheel. iBoats wants $92 plus shipping on a 20lb plus. I just ordered the mighty wheel from Walmart online for $70 and free shipping to the store for the exact same item. I'm not going to go through the hassle of the price matching thing. They should be reasonable in the first place in my opinion.

You would think iBoats would have some marketing smarts and drop their prices a little in order to pick up the Boaters World customers that are up for grabs.

Walmart gets it, Iboats doesn't. Because of the Circuit City closings, Walmart is opening up big electronics depts. to pick up the CC customers before Best Buy grabs them.

Seems to me Walmart has increased their marine item line online too!

My bottom line and consumer dollars says if you can't get simple questions answered here whats the point? I just send stuff back to iBoats. I would have thought that was the point of this iboats and their forums relationship. It was working for me for awhile and I was happy to pay a little extra to give the biz to Iboats but now I'm back to Google and I go for the biggest discount with decent shipping I can find or use Mercury
Parts Express.
I keep track of my accessories and since 2007 I've spent over $7000 on accessories. Now I've just started outfitting my Daughter's boat :eek:
 

Malibu1921

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Jun 8, 2009
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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

The boat had no cooling issues until I changed the impeller. The old impeller was still in good shape and ran fine. My trouble did not start until I opened and replaced all the gaskets and impeller.

I pulled the thermostat and Thermo switch. The Thermostat spring compressed like normal at the proper temp. The Thermo switch had continuity at the proper temp ranges too..

Now, I am wondering about the MAT and ECT Sensors.


I spoke with my brother in law who is Merc service tech by phone and he said I am on the right path. I just wish I had a temp gauge on the dash so that I could get a realistic idea of block temps.
 

Expidia

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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

The boat had no cooling issues until I changed the impeller. The old impeller was still in good shape and ran fine. My trouble did not start until I opened and replaced all the gaskets and impeller.

I pulled the thermostat and boiled it, the spring compressed like normal. The only other thing that I can think of is the Thermo switch, maybe it went bad when the engine ran hot?

I spoke with my brother in law who is Merc service tech by phone and he said I am on the right path. I just wish I had a temp gauge on the dash so that I could get a realistic idea of block temps.

I know what you mean about the gauges. I'm going to at leat add a tach to her boat because I could here the motor over revving when she went full throttle. How is she going to know when she is over 6k. So I might add a temp gauge at the same time too.

Nice to have relative as a Merc tech. See what I mean about how they use trial and error for diagnoising issues.

At least with the newer cars they can hook up the computer and tell you which electronic part is bad. Ask him if they can do the same with a 10 year old merc.
Did he suggest you start with rebuilding the pump with the rebuild kit since you disturbed some of the gaskets. It looks to be an easy job in that video you watched.
 

Malibu1921

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Jun 8, 2009
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Re: 1999 4stroke 50hp Impeller Change

The gaskets are still in brand new shape even with being opened twice now. He was more concerned that the water pump chimney tube was making a good connection up in the motor.
I just checked the Thermo switch and it appears to be working fine as well.

I wonder if there is a way to flush the system with pressure to see if there is any blockages from debris?
 
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