Help- What is this part? Is this a pump (?)

[jamarkham]

I have been left with the job of taking care of my girlfriend's Sea Ray, and know next to nothing about boats. Here's my story:

[See picture I posted below]

Battery died, boat had a foot of water in it. I bailed and charged the battery. Boat started fine, so I took it out for a while. No problems. When I docked, I looked in engine compartment and noticed what looks like a small motor on top of a whitish plastic tank in the back left of the engine compartment. The tank didn't have a cap on it, and it was filled with water. I found the cap lying next to the tank, but the tank had definitely been underwater when the bilge didn't run. I'm worried about what this part does and what I should do now (given that I've run the boat with water in a tank that should have had something else in it before boat flooded).

The motor looks to have two metal tubes coming out of it. The motor is a little bit bigger than a quart of milk. The tank is at the bottom of it and it's pretty small itself. The motor/pump/whatever it is, is on the left side towards the back of the engine compartment.

My thoughts:

This could be:

- bilge pump, but why the tank? And I don't see the bilge hose connect to it.
- oil pump? Then I'm screwed because the water ran through it, and engine would be toast by now. Fact that it still ran well makes me feel a little better.
- motor for trim. Hydraulic fluid should go in the tank, then?

No more ideas. I'm sure somebody knows what this is. Any help identifying and with what to do now would be greatly appreciated.

Boat is Sea Ray- don't even know the model. But it is about 19' and I think engine is 185 hp.

Thanks

 

[PMC]

trim pump - makes the outdrive go up and down. It is supposed to have oil not water.

 

[Alegria]

that looks to be the pump for the outdrive trim? Should have hydrauic fluid in it not water...

 

[Presentation]

It’s the hydraulic fluid tank and pump.




It could be for the outdrive or trim tabs. Does this boat have trim tabs?


Could you find the boats title to give us more information on the model and year?


By the way, getting a flooded boat back to good working condition is a time consuming and expensive process for an person with boat mechanical experience.

I just want to make sure you know what you are in for because I did not read fiancée, I read girlfriend.

 

[jamarkham]

Thanks so much.

So I should empty out that tank somehow and fill it with oil? Is it hydraulic fluid (I'll ask at the marina). I'm guessing it is a closed system and fact that water went through isn't a huge deal then, just maybe affected the compression ratios and maybe it won't work as well with water in it?

 

[mwph]

Looks like its got fluid in it now. If thats the case, something dosent sound right here.

IF indeed the cap was off & the resivio was full of water, you'll need to determine how that happened before you "take the boat out" again. A foot of water in the bildge is a lot.

 

[jamarkham]

What you see in the tank in the picture could be just the water that was in the boat. Battery had been dead for a week and we got a lot of rain during that week. Water in boat came in from rain (water wasn't salty- just oily and a little acidic, felt it irritating my skin a little while I was wading). I'm pretty sure that it was just rainwater- not a leak. But since cap was off on that fluid tank, I think the water in the boat could have mixed with what's in the tank.

I might be overstating depth of water in boat. It was probably less than a foot, but more than 6". Air filter and upper part of engine block did not get wet. And it started right away and ran fine for about an hour after I replaced battery and bailed.

Thanks for all the comments. Please keep them coming. Any thoughts on what to do/risks from it being wet and how to manage the issue with the hydraulic fluid and any issues going forward would be the most help.

 

[Nehalennia]

If you had water in it you may have pumped water through the trim rams. Now you'll need to service those to ensure there is no water in there.

 

[Dave S]

If there is any water in there it's likely to be at the bottom of the reservoir since oil is lighter than water and should float. Look at it carefully to determine if you can see water in the reservoir.

A couple of questions. Was the water up to the top of the open reservoir? If not, then what makes you think water got in there? Do you know why the cap was off? Generally speaking there is no reason to remove this cap.

Beyond that if you still suspect water in the reservoir, I suggest you talk to a Mercruiser technician to see how to deal with it.

 

[mwph]

I'm thinking...
1.)you had a dead battery & no shore power to pump rainwater out of the bildge.
2.)You got lucky finding this out before serious damage was done...another rainstorm or two & we might be talking about something other than trim pumps.
3.) No water made it into the pump, but you say the tank itself was underwater? It would take a LOT of water to cover that resivior. The cap on the floor may be unrelated. HOWEVER, that issue needs to be addressed now.
4.) Take a sample of what is in the tank now - You'll know if its got water in it or not. If it does, follow Todds lead. At a minimun drain it & refill it.
5. Now that things are dry, take a look around in the bildge. Picture where the water line got up to & note everthing that may have been under water. I don't know about your boat but I guess you're lucky enough to have a dry starter. Just see what may have gotten wet.

 

[wish2fish]

you had to wade through the water???? Did you check the oil to see if water is in there? Could have gotten through the dipstick.

Where do you boat?? seems like you/gf need some training on boats.

 

[jamarkham]

I'm not positive that the bilge water spilled over into th ehydraulic reservoir (because I noticed this after I had bailed and had docked)- but the cap was off (I imagine sloppy marina guys who put the boat in the water for my girlfriend this spring are responsible). And my memory of where the waterline in the engine compartment is that it was around that height. Level of fluid/water in that reservoir is right at the top, and it looks watery, so I'm thinking that it did get some water in there.

Will check oil too. Boat is on south shore of Long Island. Hasn't been much fun to take care of all these problems so far. I can see why she passed responsibility of the boat on to me.

I was reading about hydraulic fluid- seems like water in that system might not be something that leads to (or already caused) permanent damage if I drain that tank and replace with hydraulic fluid.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Best thing to do is to disconnect the hydraulic lines from the trim cylinders and pump. Blow them out. Now disassemble the trim cylinders and clean out. Empty the reservoir and fill with proper fluid. Run the motor - with the lines re-attached at motor, but not at cylinders. Collect the fluid that comes out of the lines (on the outside of the boat) and check for water. Keep adding fluid to reservoir and running motor until no water comes out. Re-attach everything.

On edit: If you're pretty sure no water got in there, or just a bit is floating on top, you might try just getting the water out and see what happens. I'm not saying I recommend doing that, but your call.

 

[fc3]

What Dennis said.

Additionally, check your owners manual. The correct oil for some of these systems is either a special "power trim" oil, transmission fluid, or SAE 30 engine oil. You need to use the correct oil.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[springer3]

+1 on flushing the system and installing fresh oil. Water is actually a pretty good hydraulic fluid, and works great in emergency situations where something needs to work but hydraulic oil is not available. The difference is water is corrosive to metals, and not a particularly good lubricant. Clean up the system, and you will be fine - no harm done.