Bad Impeller

[Bry21317]

Can you guys tell me what would cause a brand new Impeller to go bad? I had the mechanic install it, and have not run the engine but a few times since he did this. He had run it quite a bit, and I fired it up, and its no longer pumping any water.

I am a stickler for never starting the engine without the hose hooked up, and have not done this. I have only started it maybe 4 times since he put the new impeller in. I am just wondering what might have caused this. As I have never run into a bad impeller in all my 11 years of boating as I have replaced them before they are to bad.

There is no water coming out of the hose from the impller that goes to the thermostat housing, as he had me pull this off and start it with water running to the outdrive. It is a 94 Alpha 1 Drive v8 5.0 litre.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Bad Impeller

No idea, sometimes stuff is bad right out of the box.....
Maybe he forgot to turn the water on.....
Impeller vanes wrong way?
(though I don't think it would pump that way)
Hose on bell housing?.....
Who knows?....
You will need to pull it apart & inspect it.....

 

[CharlieB]

Re: Bad Impeller

I'd like to see the water pump 'AS' the lower unit comes off!

The only way to tell what went wrong is to look at the pieces as it comes apart, what kind of heat, either a lack of water throught the pump

OR.......

a lack of water through the exhaust and exhaust heat CAN hurt a water pump.

Be careful here, the water pump could be just a symtom of a more serious problem. Ensure the water passages of the exhaust risers are clear/open.

 

[Bry21317]

Re: Bad Impeller

I agree with you guys. The mechanic is very good and was shocked when I told him it ws doing this. He wanted me to pull the hose off and blow through it, so that it would show there was no blockages.

My exhuast is thru hull and does not go down in the lower unit.

I will see it when it comes apart though, he is supposed to be by this week. I might even drop the lower unit myself, to see what it looks like. I am one that always does everything myself, but this time I let the Mechanic do it as he was putting in a new Prop shaft, Lower Unit seals, 4bbl Carb, and New intake, so I had alot of work done.

Also, this is my first year with an Alpha 1 drive, I used to have an old Force 125, that I new inside and out, this is a new beast to me. I have the manual, but am slowly learning this engine/drive combination.

The boat has never overheated on me, till after I had gotten it back from the Mechanic and was running a tank of the Pink Antifreeze through the lower unit. The only thing I can think of is that some air got in there, and that could have been where the cause came from and that it messed up the impeller, other than this, I have only run the Hose to it.

Thanks,
Bryan