ckcgobigblue

Last weekend we were on the water and went to anchor and my wife said she could hear water coming in the boat. So I pulled the anchor opened the hatch and could hear it too. We took off ran the bilge and took the boat out. I found one of the hoses going into the sea pump loose so I put it back on tightened it up and started it up hooked to water hose. Then I looked and the whole impeller housing cracked. I took it off yesterday and the impeller was toast so I got a new impeller and housing and installed yesterday. I put it on started on the water hose and could see it was leaking some around it somewhere so I took it all back off checked the o rings and everything looked fine so I tightened it back down a little tighter than before ( was afraid to break the plastic housing). But I did notice a hairline crack in the metal where one of the bolts goes through the impeller housing to mount onto what connects to the housing and pulley. I didn't think that would have any effect. I put it back on and started it and could see a very small amount of water being slung off of where the pulley turned but couldn't even see where it was leaking. I turned the boat off and left the water running and with the boat off I could see a small stream of water start to come out off the top somewhere in between where the plastic and metal housings meet. I don't understand why it would leak more with the motor off and don't know what to do. I'm almost afraid to try and take it off and tighten the bolts anymore. And I really don't want to buy the 450 dollar metal housing and pulley if I can avoid it, especially if that doesn't even fix the problem. I'm stuck and very frustrated and would appreciate any input. Sorry so long and my boat has a 454 that was totally rebuilt between seasons and I just want to enjoy it not put more money into it.

compedgemarine

how are you hooking water to it? some city water systems have a lot of pressure so make sure you are not putting 60+ psi into the pump. when it is off the water is dead headed to the pump, when it is running it is flowing thru so it is possible to leak more shut off. just to make sure you do have the stainless plate between the metal and plastic housings and the o-ring around the shaft seal that seals the stainless plate to the metal housing? it is rare for the metal housing itself to have problems but the seals and bearings can go bad in them.

dereknkathy

leak is on suction side of pump. when running it pulls air in stead of water going out. very little though. mebbe a quickie epoxy job on the crack. tighten more-crack more. start shopping for a pump.

FIXX

iTrader: (2)

+1 also did you replace the oring
that is in the housing in front of the ware plate?

ckcgobigblue

I have had it apart twice and checked the two orings to make sure I didn't pinch them and I didn't. The second time I tightened all the bolts more and one of the two short bolts popped like it ripped a thread or something but I tightened it as best I could and all the others more. It helped but still leaked. If I take it off again and maybe put plumbers tape on that bolt and tighten them all down as much as I feel I can with out breaking the plastic housing. Do you think that will work or what should I do. Someone said maybe buy the brass housing replacement but how much is it and would that be a guaranteed fix?

endeavor1

iTrader: (3)

You could put a front mounted crank driven pump if this one is bad.

mike tkach

iTrader: (3)

time to replace the shaft seal.

Sydwayz

iTrader: (1)

Take the pump off.
Put it on your workbench.
Go to Home Depot or whatever and buy a length of 1 1/4 hose, and (I think that is the diameter) two hose barbs to simple plumbing fittings.

Rig it up so that you can pressure test your pump, by putting a cap on the end of the hose coming off one side of the pump, and a schrader valve (motorcycle valve stem) on the other. I have a schrader valve installed on a garden hose cap, and hook it up to my air compressor to blow out my hose lines in the winter. Use this same approach to pressure test your pump to find the leak. Just a couple pounds of air pressure should do it; no more than 20 as that is all the psi you need for your water system anyhow.

You either have a hidden crack, or a shaft seal that has gone bad, and it sounds like it's near impossible to see while the pump is on the boat.

BUP

iTrader: (9)

The black plastic impeller housing calls for no more than 10 ft lbs of torque and a proper torque tightening pattern with three passes for each bolt / nut. Never had a problem doing any install this way. I can not tell you how many times I seen these crack / leak from people who grunt the crap out these and tighten one bolt at time fully then move on to the next bolt / nut. Just installed one today because the owner did the exact same thing as I'm talking about when he installed it..

ckcgobigblue

it may be tightened too much but not because i did it wrong, I made sure to not tighten too much at once and in a diagonal pattern