Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

[bryen813]

So I was warming up the boat and trying to troubleshoot the power(or lack there of) issue. The issue was it couldn't take a low idle without bogging and shutting down, and when on water it couldn't go more then 1/4-1/2 throttle without bogging down and dying.
I thought it was a carb issue, just finished rebuilding it with kit. Started it up and warmed her up.
I then manually advanced the throttle to slowly get to higher rpm (about 4000). So of course i'm sitting right next to the engine because i'm advancing the throttle manually and BAM I start getting a warm spray of water coming from the belts!!!!! Of course I immediately had helper shut down to prevent further damage. But now i'm stuck! AGAIN!
I've never seen anything like it before, i've googled, searched for answers....nothing conclusive. Does this sound like water pump issue? Seal/gasket issue?!
Now I don't know if it just happened at the higher rpm because I shut down immediately.

Any help would be greaaaattly appreciated. Thanks all.

Bryen

 

[arrkerr]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

The water circulating pump is right there, as well as the hoses to it. I'd check the hose clamps first, maybe one of the hoses is just loose and the increased water pressure at higher rpms is making water spray around the clamp/hose and on to the belts. If not, I'd try to identify where the water is really spraying from. As long as the motor doesn't warm up (I'd avoid high RPMs) you should be fine running it on muffs for a minute to identify the leak.

Might be coming our around the pully as well... if nothing loose you could just swap out the circulating pump.

 

[bryen813]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

Thanks for the quick response. I'll be home shortly to try to troubleshoot. Any and all advice as to WHAT ALL I should be looking for, ANY possible causes.

I forgot to mention this, this is my first year with this boat, just bought it from a friends mom who had NEVER winterized it. Could this be a sign of cracked block?! I just got off phone with Sea Ray technician and that was something he mentioned he thought could be issue. GAH! I hope not cracked block....that would be terrible.

 

[arrkerr]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

Hehe, I hear you... I just got a "new" 3.0 and, although they're generally reliable, I have yet to have a single trip out with out having to swim or walk it back to shore :-(. I'm getting pretty good at troubleshooting these things though!

Check out the manuals, they have good descriptions of where the usual block cracking would occur, and what to look for. I woudln't guess anything is cracked though since it was running OK. Have you done a compression check?

The cylinders and exhaust are water cooled, and again there is a decent diagram in the manaul of the flow. The water is then mixed with the exhaust in the manifold. Most of the travel around the block is in metal, and if it wasn't winterized it could have cracked and you could be leaking from the crack. Chances are, however, that since it was right by the belt that it is the rubber hoses going to and from the water circulating pump that are either cracked, or loose. Check those first thing.

 

[bryen813]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

I am new to the boat world. I am afraid I made a grave mistake...I failed to mention that when I troubleshooted the power issue AFTER i took it to the lake, it was not in fact in water but at home on water muffs....

Im just now researching dangers with water muffs and all I see is leave it at idle, don't rev....uh oh. -.-

 

[arrkerr]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

You're mostly not supposed to rev it because a hose isn't going to provide sufficient cooling. It wouldn't have caused the problems you're experiencing (as far as I know).

Just make sure you ALWAYS have water on it. Even if the engine doesn't get hot, you'll burn the impeller that lives in the drive and sucks up the water. I learned that lesson the hard way.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

The water circulating pump on the front of the engine has a weep hole under the center where the shaft comes out.
It will start to leak to let you know the pump is about to fail.
Get a mirror and flash light and look under the front of the pump just behind the pulley..usually you will see some rust stains.

 

[bryen813]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

The water circulating pump on the front of the engine has a weep hole under the center where the shaft comes out.
It will start to leak to let you know the pump is about to fail.
Get a mirror and flash light and look under the front of the pump just behind the pulley..usually you will see some rust stains.

Actually yes, when I was trying to crank it over for the first time I noticed my power steering belt was not turning so I took pulley off and there was rust on both back of pulley and the thing it's attached to. So I cleaned it off as much as possible and turned manually couple times and sure enough it worked (at least the power steering was working!) does this sound like purely a water pump issue?? That would be a HUGE relief

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

Very possible. let everything dry then start it up and look close under the front of the water pump...

 

[bryen813]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

Very possible. let everything dry then start it up and look close under the front of the water pump...

So I obviously leave the belts and pulleys on when Im looking for this right? Could be difficult to see but what signs do I look for to determine whether or not it's the water pump? If it is a bad pump with it leaking would a replacement pump fix the issue at hand you think?

 

[IVAZ]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

You need the belt that spins the pump attached. If nothing else was damaged a new circulating pump should fix your problem.
I think you?re lucky the pump broke down in your driveway and not in the water (if it is the pump).

 

[IVAZ]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

So I obviously leave the belts and pulleys on when Im looking for this right? Could be difficult to see but what signs do I look for to determine whether or not it's the water pump? If it is a bad pump with it leaking would a replacement pump fix the issue at hand you think?

Look for the weep hole Gary described. It should not leak at all.

 

[Evinrude Boater]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

On the engine water pump, the seal and bearing wear out and fail before the impeller does. I've had one shear the pulley shaft right off when the bearing came to a grinding halt. It was leaking at the weep hole for some time.

 

[Don S]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

Is this a Mercruiser or a Volvo.

For your leak, dry things off and start it again and watch carefully where the water comes from. Running at around 1500 is all that should be necessary to find the leak.
There is also no need to be running at 4 to 5 thousand rpm on shore. It's a NON TEST for low power problems.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

Don S asked the right first question, Merc or Volvo. Knowing that will make it easier to guess.....Volvo's raw water pump is right there on the engine and could be a factor

 

[bryen813]

Re: Water leak! Spraying out belts! Need you mec techs! 2001 3.0L

Yes I know it was hopefully not a fatal mistake!!

it's a 3.0L merc sorry didn't specify.