Mercury water pump repair kit - Bravo III drives

[Presentation]

I have twin 2003 5.0 V8's with Bravo III drives so the water pump is attached to the engine.

When I had the impellers changed the mechanic showed me wear marks inside the water pump where the impeller wears against the housing. No wear plate!

At the time we decided to let it ride, replace the impellers only knowing that the next time it may mean new water pumps.

Now the mechanic told me this was a blunder by Mercury and they are coming up with a kit to add a wear plate that can be installed in a existing water pump. With the addition of the wear place, rather than buying a new water pump you just buy a replacement wear plate for far less money.

At this time one side, the front side, this plate is now available but they are still working on the back side plate. I’m also thinking they will need a special impeller that is not quite as wide but I don’t know this to be a fact. If I am correct about the need for a special impeller I would likely add impellers to my onboard spare parts list.

Has anyone else had this experience?

I’m thinking of just going “as is” for now then once the other plate comes out I’ll have them replace both impellers and add the plates to both sides.

I’m assuming we are talking months here, not years.

 

[Dave S]

Quite a long time ago I remember a thread on this subject. (It may have been on the old SRO forum.) I did a search trying to locate this thread and was unable to find it.

Someone had these wear plates specially made for himself by someone in Arizona and as I recall he was able to use the standard impeller. It is interesting Merc is finally stepping up to the plate on this one. I will need these on my water pump as well or at least the back plate since mine only shows wear on the rear of the pump housing. At the time I noticed this I talked to the tech and he didn't seem to be too concerned about it. After 320 hours without changing the brass pump housing (only the impeller itself) my PSI typically still runs around 10 at cruising speed. Still, just the same I would rather fix it properly once and for all. Hopefully the stainless inserts will not wear like the cast iron does.

Dave

Dave

 

[Woody]

I’m not too concerned with the location and amount of wear I see in my seawater pump bodies. I don’t know what the wear plate kits might cost but they won’t be cheap. If you’re one that feels the pumps has to look like new inside I don’t think it’ll take long and you’ll have the price of a new pump. I plan to keep changing impellers and keep an eye on the wear. If I suspect pump performance is dropping I will then just buy new pumps complete. New every thing that way…. bearings, seals, housing, impeller. I doubt the need to do this would be very frequent for most of us. This is my approach running in deep, clean water. Other situations may require other tactics.

 

[keokie]

I searched, but could not find the wear plate thread. I was the one that had them made a couple years ago by Bergeron Marine in Mesa Arizona. Phil or Craig could give you all the specifics.

The factory pumps are very expensive and the endplates are too soft. they are known to fail as early as 75 hours. In fact, they were replaced under warranty by the previous owner at the end of the first season. The new pumps after 150 hours were very significantly worn. Given the expense of the new pumps, I asked Phil for help. He made wear plates for each side and spacers so the factory impeller can be used. There is also a slight modification to the mounting bracket that is necessary as well.

I have put a couple hundred hours on those pumps since, and they work famously. the wear plates show no wear, and the impellers look better coming out as well.

Bergeron is a great company. They do a lot of very custom/high performance work for customers all over the world.

I'm hesitant to post their phone number on the internet, but try google, or pm me and I'll give the phone number.

 

[Woody]

There must be a variety of pumps that have been used. Mine are the brass type. I just did a quick search for mine(complete pump minus pully and mount bracket), $289