I/o having trouble sucking up water
 

Had the hose on the muffs, had trouble sucking up water. I had to press hard on each side to keep the flow going. I could feel it surging when it was pulling water. When I put the antifreeze on with muffs, it just wouldn’t pull water at all. My water pump hasn’t been changed in 5 years and the boat hasn’t had much use. Is it the impeller?

How hard was it to get the muffs on the drive? I ALWAYS squeeze them together as hard as i can before putting any muffs on any drive. When you switched to antifreeze, were you just feeding it from the tank? Was the tank vented properly and no loops in the hose to cause an air lock?

3 years is usually considered max for raw water impeller life. On boats that don't get used much, the vanes tend to fold over and won't pump as well. Vanes can also break off sending rubber debris into the oil cooler and partially plugging it up. I'd definitely be replacing the impeller at 5 years. A back-flush on the oil cooler with a garden hose is a good thing to do if it hasn't been done since you owned it or if the impeller removed is missing material.

Having the anti-freeze container above or at eng level helps with getting good flow.

The garden hose was tough enough to draw water, antifreeze tank was fine, antifreeze was gushing out and spraying out of the muffs.

Yeah… I think the impeller is bad but I don’t want to hear that right now lol. I just wanna get it winterized and deal with it later, the pump is a pain where it’s located.

I had to use a bilge pump to pump the antifreeze thru the muffs on my bravo drive.

After I installed a sea strainer, it was easy just putting the antifreeze there.

I would lay money your impeller is due for an overhaul.

It would probably take less than an hour to install a freshwater flush kit on your boat and then simply pump the antifreeze in through the flush kit.

I do have a water pump…. Pretty strong one..,

Yeah but the underlying issue is bigger…. What if it’s not pulling water while in the water? Gotta replace the impeller.

I can tell you that I have been winterizing boats for too long. When I worked at a marina, we had a 5 gal pal with a 12volt pump on it that we pumped antifreeze into the engine through the water intake after the boat engine warmed up on fresh water being pumped in. Today, that is still what I do.

I can tell you that a boat that may not suck the water up the intake through the muffs may very well still move water through the engine when that boat is put in the water. When. Oat is in the water the impeller is usually flooded and it really just needs to push the water…. To talk simply about it. In fact I just winterized a boat that this was the case. What you will find is the impeller is old and stiff and the impeller blades are not compressing and expanding as they should to “draw” or “suck” water as the impeller rotates.

The bottom line, you need to replace the impeller as a start to make sure that is 100 percent. When you do that, the muffs will work properly.

Hope that helps,
Chris

2 Things.

1. you need to replace the impeller either way. I replace mine every year and we hardly use the boat. It’s cheap insurance to ensure you don’t lose a weekend.
2. You mentioned just wanting to get it winterized and deal with it later. Again, I’d refer to my solution of installing a fresh water flush real quick and then pumping antifreeze in.

Is there an easy way to check for "Bravoitis" if it's not pulling water?