Re: No water flow...
OK men, I am all set to run my brand new 350 except for the water problem. It had a new impeller put in 3 yrs. ago and the engine was not run since then. I started my engine the other day and pulled the hose off the thermostat housing to make sure I had a good flow of water coming in and there was none!! I have since checked the hose going into the housing, then the power steering oil cooler and then the water hose from the cooler back to the plastic piece coming through the transom. I used a section of 12 volt wire and pushed it through the plastic fitting into the water hose situate with the bellows. Nothing is clogged or kinked. The intake slots at the bottom of the lower unit are clear & clean. The OD is sitting in a large tank of water. Just what is the problem?
Thank you, Bob
What kind of drive? Just experianced kind of the same thing. I have a Bravo 1 (pump is engine mounted / belt driven)and with the muffs, had zip water going to pump and smoked it. Now new pump, still no water and shut it down. Hmmmm, blockage? Pulled suction hose off pump and put on a length of 1 1/4" hose from pump suction to a bucket and kept bucket filled with garden hose. Pumped like a banshee. Pulled drive off and checked every passage (plus changed oil and installed all new o-rings, greased bearings / u-joints and checked bellows while in there). Nothing, zip. Inside boat and pulled off elbow at transom, clean as a pin, install new gasket and reinstalled. Put muffs on drive w/ hose to pump still off. Nothing, no water coming out of hose. Wound up that the muffs fitted so bad and leaked so much, wouldn't force water thru all the plumbing. Strapped muffs on with couple of bungee cords and all is OK now. Bought some new muffs and same thing happens.
For flushing / running on hose in the driveway, going to put a 1 1/4" bronze 3-way ball valve (58 bucks online) on the pump suction hose so I can connect garden hose inside engine compartment, switch the valve over to the hose feed (and block the line from the drive pickup) and feed the pump directly, cutting out "the middle man". Screw the muffs.....
If yours is an Alpha (or any drive w/ pump in drive housing leg) then I would probably say the impeller in the drive is kaput, since water is pressure fed from pump, and if it isn't leaking out anywhere, then up thru everything..
