Maintenance after you run aground?

[GeoRXT]

I had a bit of an incident last night. I ran aground just a few feet outside of a channel simply for not paying attention to the gps just because I thought I was "already there", I was going back to the ramp. Anyways, I think my engine might have ingested that sandy/grassy water for a bit. I flushed the engine for a while but I want to know if there is anything else that needs to be done.

It's a '96 125 hp...

Thanks

 

[GeoRXT]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

Anyone?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

You need to assure that the mud, sand and other stuff is out of the motor. If you have removeable water intake gratings, remove them and look for debris. Now run the motor in the water, at idle and check for flow, overheating ect. If the flow is down or the motor starts to overheat, repair the waterpump. If it is good, increase speed and check again. Repeat until you are sure the motor cools well at all speeds.

 

[GeoRXT]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

You need to assure that the mud, sand and other stuff is out of the motor. If you have removeable water intake gratings, remove them and look for debris. Now run the motor in the water, at idle and check for flow, overheating ect. If the flow is down or the motor starts to overheat, repair the waterpump. If it is good, increase speed and check again. Repeat until you are sure the motor cools well at all speeds.

I dont have a temp gauge Any other way of knowing if its overheating?

Also, I dont think I have the removable intake grates. Is that where you put the "ears" top flush the engine out of the water?

 

[CharlieB]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

Impeller is cheap enough, it wouldn't hurt to LOOK to see if the impeller edges were 'sanded' off, lessening water flow output.

Tho the P stream may look fine, full RPM flow may be lessened.

Take the time to look, rather be sure than risk a WOT overheat.

 

[GeoRXT]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

Can anyone point me in the right direction to check the water pump? Im assuming I just follow the hose and it will be at the end of it or?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

You can put your hand on the cylinder head and take it's temperature. If you cannot touch the head it is too hot.

 

[saumon]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

Can anyone point me in the right direction to check the water pump? Im assuming I just follow the hose and it will be at the end of it or?

I think you'll, at least, need a "generic" manual for you engine, like Seloc.

 

[sschefer]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

Can anyone point me in the right direction to check the water pump? Im assuming I just follow the hose and it will be at the end of it or?

The risk of damaging an impeller with sand makes checking it worthwhile. To get to the water pump you must remove the lower unit. The water pump sits inside, atop the lower unit. Since you've never seen a damaged impeller, unless it is obviouos, you probably won't be able to tell if its damaged or not so my recommendation would to be to purchase the complete rebuild kit (35-40 dollars) and just rebuild it. While your at it, change the lube in the lower unit because it's easy to do when the lower unit is off, (its pretty easy anyway).

I believe the shop manual quotes the job at 1.5 hours so your first time around you can have it done in an afternoon. You should have a basic manual (Seloc $40.00) for reference.

I put mine in forward gear before I pull the L/U and never hit the starter or turn the engine over in anyway while its off. This keeps things aligned just the way they were when they were removed. While working on it I never turn the shafts and when I reinstall it I lube just the splines on the shafts. Lube on the top of the shafts could keep them from seating all the way and could make it difficult to re-install.

When you get ready to install it you can turn the prop shaft in either direction to align the splines if needed. You can only do that in forward gear, hence my method of putting it forward before I remove it.

The water pump parts replacement is pretty straight forward. I take the parts off and lay them out in sequence on a clean bench then install the new parts by matching them to the old and reversing the sequence. I do this everytime no matter how good I think my skills and memory are.

Hope this helps you.

Steve

 

[GeoRXT]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

The risk of damaging an impeller with sand makes checking it worthwhile. To get to the water pump you must remove the lower unit. The water pump sits inside, atop the lower unit. Since you've never seen a damaged impeller, unless it is obviouos, you probably won't be able to tell if its damaged or not so my recommendation would to be to purchase the complete rebuild kit (35-40 dollars) and just rebuild it. While your at it, change the lube in the lower unit because it's easy to do when the lower unit is off, (its pretty easy anyway).

I believe the shop manual quotes the job at 1.5 hours so your first time around you can have it done in an afternoon. You should have a basic manual (Seloc $40.00) for reference.

I put mine in forward gear before I pull the L/U and never hit the starter or turn the engine over in anyway while its off. This keeps things aligned just the way they were when they were removed. While working on it I never turn the shafts and when I reinstall it I lube just the splines on the shafts. Lube on the top of the shafts could keep them from seating all the way and could make it difficult to re-install.

When you get ready to install it you can turn the prop shaft in either direction to align the splines if needed. You can only do that in forward gear, hence my method of putting it forward before I remove it.

The water pump parts replacement is pretty straight forward. I take the parts off and lay them out in sequence on a clean bench then install the new parts by matching them to the old and reversing the sequence. I do this everytime no matter how good I think my skills and memory are.

Hope this helps you.

Steve

Great advice....thanks....I just am the worse at this mechanical stuff! So, if the manual says 1.5 hrs I should expect to pay how much for someone to do it for me?

 

[sschefer]

Re: Maintenance after you run aground?

Great advice....thanks....I just am the worse at this mechanical stuff! So, if the manual says 1.5 hrs I should expect to pay how much for someone to do it for me?

The ammount you pay depends on who does it. I'm not a mechanic and I don't have access to the factory shop rates. Maybe someone else here can answer this question for you.