Waterpump impeller - question

wish2fish

Active Member
Dec 19, 2006
4,278
Locust Creek, Ohio River mm 433
Boat Info
2003 220BR
Engines
5.0 MPI
Last year my impeller died right after a weeklong trip to Norris Lake. Had it died on the trip it could have ruined the entire trip. It did ruin the following weekend and since there aren't that many overnighters at the camp right now that really sucked! I had guests come down and unfortunately they couldn't go out on the boat.

I was thinking about going ahead and buying an impeller kit and keeping it on the boat or with the boating tools in case something like this happens again. What do you think the shelf life would be on the impeller kit? I think they only cost around $40 but could I expect the impeller rubber parts to be in good shape for 5 years?

This waterpump is in a tough spot. How long does it take you guys to do the switch. I have done them on pumps that were more out in the open but this one is tough!
 
I had the same boat 2002 (instead of 2003) but exactly the same otherwise. Changing the impeller is indeed a pain in the neck on this boat. I did keep a spare impeller onboard but never had the "pleasure" of using it on the water. I dont know what the shelf life is.... but I just kept it out of the sun.. and exposure. The waters we normally boat in are very clean and silt free fresh water which seems to help impellers last a bit longer.... You may want to try the approach of changing the impeller on a regular basis at service time (oil change time).... using your time between failure on your failed impeller as a guide of when to change. If you saw, for example, a failure at 180 hours. You may want to think about changing it out at 100 hours when the oil is draining into the pan. I would use the backup impeller at service time... and bought a new impeller for the backup.... so that the backup was relatively fresh.

I found it a bit easier to access the front of the water pump unit by removing the 2 panels from within the under bench stowage compartment directly in front of the engine compartment. By removing these panels you are nearly staring at the pump. It is still very tight.... and a tough job... but worth every successful trip without impeller troubles :smt001

everyone told me that a twin motor setup in my 280 was "too tight".... I dont think they ever owned a 220BR .... my 280 with twins is huge when compared to the 220.
 
Jeremy – per your signature you have the Alpha I outdive so the impeller would be in the outdive, right?

Around here there are several mobile marina’s. Basically a guy with a truck and a trailer with a 24/7 call service. They are pretty good with all major brands and common breakdown repair.

You get towed to a ramp by a fellow boater, any public ramp will do, they pull you out, change the impeller in the parking lot in about a hour and re-launch you.

More expensive then preventative maintenance? YES. Worth it to get you back out when on vacation? I guess that is a question only you can answer. I think for a weekend/holiday ASAP type call, Alpha I drive, any public ramp along the Fox or Wolf River system the cost is about $360 for a Aplha I.

The option is to ruin your day, get a ride back to your car, get a trailer, get your boat, get it back to a marina and have them do it the next week for about 1/3rd the cost.

These mobile marina guys can do many other break down type services. Alternator, serpentine belts, battery’s, injectors, propellers, swap out entire outdrives, etc.
 
Since I'm still learning few things about boat maintenance, how can you tell that your water impeller went bad when the boat is in the water? I understand that ot's easy to spot when it's on the trailer and there's no water flow.

Alex.
 
Alex F said:
Since I'm still learning few things about boat maintenance, how can you tell that your water impeller went bad when the boat is in the water? I understand that ot's easy to spot when it's on the trailer and there's no water flow.

Alex.

the shrill overheat alarm sounding off!
 
He's right. The engine will overheat if it's inadequate.
 
Presentation.... I am speaking of the boat I "had" my 2002 220 BR which is identical to a 2003.... I had the 5.0 MPI and BIII as well.... thus the same setup. I dreaded impeller changes on that boat..... hard but not impossible. :smt001

You are correct I now have the twin alpha's but that does us no good for the purpose of this conversation. :smt001

You will usually begin to see slightly higher temps (at higher speeds) when the impeller begins to wear out or a vane breaks off.... or at least I did on my 220.
 
If you regularly let your boat warm up before leaving the marina you can tell pretty quickly that the impeller is not working because the temp will continue upward until the alarm sounds. I ran my impeller through 215 hours and it still had not failed but replaced based on general info from SRO board. Cost was about $160.00 from local mercruiser dealer. :thumbsup: They did a great job on the pump, poor job in keeping my boat clean...that is another story. :smt013
 
You can keep an extra impeller on your boat but I wouldn't try to change it with the boat in the water if it was me. First off you have to find a way to block your hoses because as soon as you pull them off the pump, water will start comming into the bilge. Secondly, many of these pumps are very difficult to reach and you may not be able to do the job yourself anyway. It was impossible for me to change the impeller on my 240 SunDeck because I couldn't reach it so I just let the dealer do it.

The Sea Ray maintenance schedule (in your manual) calls for impeller replacement at 300 hours. However, this is what I have been told by the Merc technicians at my dealership. If your boating is done primarily on clean fresh water lakes without a lot of silt content, then you may get 300 hours out of the impeller. But if you boat on water with a high silt content such as a river, that silt will cause a lot of wear on both your impeller and housing. In that case, change the impeller at 100 hours (and possibly the housing too). Plus, don't go longer than two years without changing the impeller. They tend to take a "set" and become less effecient after that period of time plus the blades can become brittle as well as they age.
 
I bought this boat last spring (2006) with 103 hours. I had no records to show whether the impeller was changed or not. Now I assume not.

At the time of failure the boat had about 150 hours. I never noticed a gradual increase in engine temp even though I was watching for it.

Dave is right about the water comming into the boat when hoses are removed. When we changed my friends on the water we had to plug the hose while we were working. I would probably pull the boat and find a shady spot to repair.

STIHLBOLTS, $160! wow, did you have a mask and gun on. I wouldn't care about the mess if they could repair my pump for that! At that price I would do it everyother year with that dealer.
 
In my investigation it appears there may be 1 water pump used on all Mercruiser engines with the separate seawater pump. Is that the case? The same pump is used on my 5.0 as the 7.4? It should have no problem cooling mine if it can handle the 7.4
 
The kit for the impeller is not but $49.99 retail on many on line locations. On the 220 Sundeck a panel under the seat is held on by 5 bolts, once this is removed you have great access to the whole engine.
 
STIHLBOLTS said:
If you regularly let your boat warm up before leaving the marina you can tell pretty quickly that the impeller is not working because the temp will continue upward until the alarm sounds. I ran my impeller through 215 hours and it still had not failed but replaced based on general info from SRO board. Cost was about $160.00 from local mercruiser dealer. :thumbsup: They did a great job on the pump, poor job in keeping my boat clean...that is another story. :smt013

I had interesting situation after 2005 season. During the winterizing process I got stock b/c my engine lost water flow when I switched from the garden hose to the antifreeze hose coming from the bucket. I’d realized that there’s something wrong with the impeller. The puzzle was that when I connect the garden hose the flow is fine. So, I proceeded with the replacement (for the first time) and when I got the old one out, sure enough, one lip (I don’t know proper terminology) was broken. I have no clue how long it was in this state. But, my temp is always normal (170f) with no alarm warnings at any speed. I put the new one in (yes it was a little bit of pain, but doable) and was happy that I don’t need to worry about it for the next few seasons. However, when I proceeded with winterizing last fall I’ve noticed the same behavior. The water flow/suction is lost as soon as I switch to the bucket with antifreeze. I’ve waited about 30 seconds and no water was going through exhaust. Then, I decided to experiment and gave extra RPMs to increase the impeller rotation speed. It worked and antifreeze began flowing through exhaust. The question is, does it mean that I have the same problem with broken impeller lip, like the previous season, or this is normal behavior during winterizing (although, I never had this issue until the fall of 2005)? As always my temp is fine and no alarms going off. We’ve used the boat all season with no temp issues.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Alex.
 
Alex...........I had the same problem each time I winterized my 240 Sundeck. The flow stops (as you mentioned) but there is still water (antifreeze) in the water pump so it should be fine. It takes a little bit of revving the engine to get the flow started again. That's because when you are on the hose the water pressure is adequate to keep the flow going. But when you switch to the antifreeze there is no water pressure at all........you are relying strictly on gravity. Revving the engine (just a bit) is all that's required to get the flow going again. I've also watched my dealer winterize countless numbers of boats just that way also.
 
wish2fish said:
Dave S & Ales,
how many gallons of antifreeze do you end up putting into the motor when you did it the way you describe?

wish2fish,

I use about 5 gal. I simply fill up the regular 5 gal bucket and it's planty to get it through the engine and run for about a minute or so.
 
Dave S said:
Alex...........I had the same problem each time I winterized my 240 Sundeck. The flow stops (as you mentioned) but there is still water (antifreeze) in the water pump so it should be fine. It takes a little bit of revving the engine to get the flow started again. That's because when you are on the hose the water pressure is adequate to keep the flow going. But when you switch to the antifreeze there is no water pressure at all........you are relying strictly on gravity. Revving the engine (just a bit) is all that's required to get the flow going again. I've also watched my dealer winterize countless numbers of boats just that way also.

Dave S,

Thanks, now I feel more comfortable that I'm doing it right and looks like the impeller is not broken.
 
wish2fish said:
Dave S & Ales,
how many gallons of antifreeze do you end up putting into the motor when you did it the way you describe?

After running the engine on hose water and after it is fully warmed up, I turn off the engine and drain the water from the block. I then feed in five gallons of the -50 pink stuff. If you use a kit like the Camco Winterizing System where you don't drain the block after you warm up the engine, then you should mix two gallons of the non-premixed -100 stuff with three gallons of water. That mixture is supposed to give you adequate freeze protection even after it mixes with the water left in the block whereas the -50 stuff can dilute too much thereby not providing adequate freeze protection.
 

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