mysweetone

Ok so I finally got around to getting the boat started last night. I hooked up the muffs in the driveway, turned on the water, fired the engine and it sounded as if it was running dry. I shut it down, checked to be sure the water was on, scratched my head a few times and restarted it and had a quick look and noticed no water was being expelled back out of the engine drive.

(the motor was louder than usual, idled fine just was louder... no "fluidy" sound to it)

What do you guys think is going on? A friend of mine said something about the water pump in the lower unit? What are your thoughts?

PRIMECUT

Impellor or pump, and it does take a bit to fill the motor back up again on a hose .

mysweetone

I ran it for maybe 2 minutes on the hose and had throttled it up a bit for maybe 30 seconds... should it have filled up in that time?

Randy Nielsen

iTrader: (4)

When was the last time the waterpump was serviced?

mittens

Yea it should only take maybe 30 seconds before you see water. sounds like empella. and if not running it dry runined it too.

Randy Nielsen

iTrader: (4)

You didn't say what engine/drive you have, I am assuming an alpha drive. If the older style I would buy the complete kit because they tend to melt the housing when ran dry. A gen 2 has a different design where the impeller is generally all that is needed. Randy

low_psi

My 496 does this to me every time it is out of the water for an extended period of time... Not sure why it does it. But I end up starting the boat then open the petcock on the impeller housing until I get a good flow of water, then shut it and all is good. It's like I have to burp it to get the air out. It has done it to me every time I start it for the first time in spring (4 seasons now) and every time I changed Impellers I had to burp it.

mysweetone

Thanks for ur input guys. Yes, older generation Alpha I. I don't kno when the pump or the impeller were last serviced. This is my third season with the boat and have never touched it. I spoke with Bill at Ocean Performance earlier today and he is going to do the job for me. The boat sounded really rough when it was idling so I am going to have him check the gimbal as well as I have never touched that either. I suppose the bellows should be done at this time as well? Oh God B.O.A.T!!!

speeddr2000

i would change the impeller every season or after each season. I do it every 100 hr or 1 time a year cheap insurance.

aldrichg9

If you are halfway handy with a wrench this isn't too bad a job.
I had never had a drive apart until last month when I changed the impeller in my Alpha.
3 hours for the job including cleaning up tools/ spilled oil, taking breaks, and taking my time.
I could probably do it a second time in an hour.
Lots of good write-ups all over the internet on it. I followed this one: Marine Parts and Accessories for boats from Sterndrives.com
Good damned thing I did this job too - Going into third season on this boat and had no suspicions of issues.
Would have taken the boat out without suspicion. Even ran it on muffs. But the pic below shows the impeller I wasn't concerned about. (a bit hard to see but you can til its missing two blades)