The Damage , Usable or not ?

[Shallowman]

Finally got the lower unit off , it was NOT pretty !!! After the foot was off i removed the water pump housing and the key was laying inside the housing .. the speedo connector broke off also but that piece was able to came out easy ... Anyways here some damage .....


ouch ....

Hard to see but a groove deeper on one side

A lower unit is out of the question for the prices ive seen for the year of the motor . At this point not sure if i should even try to use it ...... ( its been suggested just fixing water pump and bolt it up and use jb weld on the outside and run it till the water pump goes again then trash it as it likely won't come back apart ) this would seal water from outside but iam not sure what sections need to be seperated with it bolted up .

If i decide to try a water pump kit ( not just impeller ) Do i need to remove and replace the water pump base assemble or leave it be ? the one in the picture at end of this post

I would also want to check the copper water inlet tube , do i just rig a hose up to it and lightly turn on water to make sure nothing is blocked ? I was worried about using air cause of the psi , what about regular water hose just not turned fully on ?

 

[jigmister]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

what year is it? There are aftermarket lower units that are not really expensive on this site.
Ebay always has some used ones too. plus there is the boat salvage companies. I think if the power head is still good there is no reason not to find a reasonable priced lower unit.

 

[jigmister]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

look here

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=438822

 

[Shallowman]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

I'll check out the list . The motor is a 1984 Mariner . A couple have come up on ebay now , in ok looking shape , needing a seal or two for about 400.00 shipped to me .

 

[Texasmark]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

Water pump pressure is only a few pounds. If you are going to flush the powerhead, I'd remove the tstat and popoff if it has one...usually under the same cover as the stat. If you get the pressure too high you could blow some gaskets, especially with you looking at a corrosion problem already, elsewhere.

I have restored such with JB weld and it worked excellent. Mine was a 20 year old Mercruiser and I had corrosion all over the LU due ti it spending it's life in a marina. I had to rebuild every sealing surface in the outdrive. Just be sure and give it something to bite into; don't just glob it on the surface and file to fit.

On the pump, best would be the entire pump.

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Edited after thought: Your corrosion is superficial. The LU is not sealed to the mid section. Worst that could happen to this would be exhaust gasses and exhausted cooling water coming out while you were underway and that is no big deal considering your economy of repair you mentioned. There is usually so much spray and all otherwise you probably wouldn't notice it. Worst thing would be to see bubbles coming out around the interface when the boat is not moving and the engine is running.

The main ingredient is the water pump. As long as you have a solid path to the pump from the water pickups on the LU and the pump is intact and functioning properly, with the copper tube secured and properly inserted into the bottom of the powerhead, you really don't care about the rest of it.

The shift shaft is SS and is sealed to keep the LU oil separate from the environmental water. That seal is right there at the shaft/LU interface. Prop shaft seal is under the water pump and performs the same function.

-------------

Just caught the error 10 hours later. I said prop shaft seal under water pump. It's the drive shaft seal. Same seal, just different function.

Sorry.

Mark

Mark

 

[Shallowman]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

Thanks Texasmark , So with the water pump kit and some jb weld /or marine tex , you think it should be good to go ?
I emailed some pics to a buddy who has some lower units and he was gonna see if he had one . When i showed him the pictures he said just put a water pump kit in it and said to change the seal at the shift shaft or at least pressure check it . He seems to think that it will be fine , said it would be better if it was flatter but to use marine tex after i bolt the lower unit on .
So iam thinking i will do what you said , there is one spot i would like to build up alittle but seems a few think this will work fine.

With it being an older motor to begin with , I could buy a running motor / tested / for another 300.00 over what i 'd pay for the lower unit . If this would work for a year or so i'd be happy as i plan on getting a smaller skiff next summer or by end of next year .

 

[Shallowman]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

Ok so i lightly turned on the hose after connecting it the the copper shaft ... Water indeed came out the tell tale hole , Water also comes out where the copper shaft bolts at the top , Is it supposed to come out there ? i can't really find a picture in the manual that shows a seal there or one on the parts page .

 

[Texasmark]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

"Copper shaft".....if you are talking about the copper tube running from the output of the water pump to the bottom of the engine block, there normally isn't aren't bolts and all. The rigity of the tube will hold it in place.

There is a seal at the pump and a seal at the bottom of the block. The tube, vaseline would help, just inserts into the hole whereas there is a seal at the block interface. You really don't want any water coming from that interface as any water leaking is water the engine doesn't have for cooling. But remember water pressure under normal operation is less than 10 psi.....If you over pressure your testing you could be getting the wrong answer......low pressure may not leak whereas higher pressures would.

Don't buy any new lower unit or any of that till you prove that what you have won't work. I told you what to do. Choice is yours.....as is the money. Grin.

Mark

 

[Shallowman]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

I did mean copper tube and i rechecked to find out the water was not from there anyways . But i do plan on doing the fix as you have said and giving it a shot . Just need to find the right complete water pump kit as iboat don't list one and Juli said to call Sierra to verify one she found will work . So that is the plan , and get this going again .

 

[Texasmark]

Re: The Damage , Usable or not ?

I did mean copper tube and i rechecked to find out the water was not from there anyways . But i do plan on doing the fix as you have said and giving it a shot . Just need to find the right complete water pump kit as iboat don't list one and Juli said to call Sierra to verify one she found will work . So that is the plan , and get this going again .

Sierra markets some good reliable parts. Just keep in mind that the pump assy you get will probably be made for numerous engines so you will have parts you don't need. Just swap old for new and don't worry about parts that you never saw before in the kit. Expect to pay $75 for it, but you will be through with it for a very long time depending upon how you use your boat and what kind of crud you boat in.

Good luck,
Mark