Engine Not drawing water
 

Need some suggestions..

Finally got the my motor fired up, but it's not drawing water. i've installed a brand new impella, but still not drawing the water.. but i've only allowed the motor to run for at least 30seconds or so, i've check the hoses, and it does not seem to have any blockage, but i will check again today.. i was thinking either filling a large basin and allowing the motor to draw water that way or running to hose throught the hose that goes tho the impella and running water that way and see what happens. and the impella is turning the right way..

thanks

air leak somewhere or hoses backwards.

Do you have a cooler and / or strainer installed? Any other points in the water lines that can kink or get blocked before the motor? Have you tried turning the motor over with the output hose of the pump disconnected to make sure the pump is pushing stuff out? Have you tried swapping the pump hoses and just seeing what that does?

There's plenty of stuff to check and confirm that you can do without running the engine. Pop out the t-stat if you have one and hook a garden hose up to the pump's intake hose, water should fill the system then flow out the exhaust. If it doesn't, you have a blockage you need to find. If it does, try the pump tests. If the pump fails that simple test, fix it ans start your checks again.

Good Luck!

Don't have a strainer but, i do have the stock Mercrusier cooler installed. ruuning the serpentine belt system. but i will give it a check today. is there a special fitting to connect the garden hose to the intake of the water pump..

thanks

I know sounds stupid but check the 2 hoses going into raw water pump. Done this myself one time and swore I had them right. Seems they got twisted under the motors and could not tell for sure.
Also insure you have good water pressure coming from garden hose if using. If boat sitting in water insure boat drive is in water as deep as it usually runs. The hydrostatic head of a couple of feet of water makes a difference in helping pump suck the water up. Been there on this also when my boat is on lift.
There is a small hose that goes through the gimbal housing that has a plastic sleeve of sorts that I have seen the hose/sleeve get collapsed. It is behind the hose connection on the gimbal backing plate on the inside of boat.
Hope this helps.

Is the block filled? If there is no water in the block it will take longer than 30 seconds to get water through the whole system. I would fill the block at the thermostat opening until its full first.

When I install a new engine it will never prime from the muffs on the outdrive. I always have to remove the intake hose from the transom and put a garden hose down it to get the pump primed. After that first time it will alway prime fine on the muffs unless I replace the pump or something. If I fill the intake hose with water before installing the engine it will prime usually, but I always forget to do that.

Did you make sure the little flaps/ears on your new impeller are pointing in the right direction when you put it back together.

A buddy did this exact thing. Wiped the impeller out instantly.



Darrell.

Yeah the flaps r going the right way. and i guess since it's a new motor it's taking awhile to prime.. i been thru 2 impellas already :-(.. but this time i'm filling the motor and running the hose through the intake hose just to make sure..

But thanks for the input..

Q

Has nothing to dowith the flaps,,,,,they straighten themselfs out no matter what direction they point.
U have an airbuble somewhere,,,even if the engine is dry it should not do that,,do u have a seastrainer ???

We wiped out a brand new impeller by not putting in any lube around the casing.

i've lubed the casing, and all of that good stuff, yesterday i went and tightened all the clamps to limit the air pockets, then i went to check the impella, and a few pieces had broke off. so i decided to call it a day. but i've just picked up the new impella and this time it's going to be well greased with plenty of water.

this time should i fill the block, hoses with water and still run the garden hose thru the intake hose and try starting

would this work

add one of these, it was the best money I ever spent and have not had any impellar problems since...

http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?...F&WT.mc_id=gb1

You on your second impellar? Have you looked for the pieces you are missing? The pieces could be blocking the water flow. I do not understand how running a hose on earmuffs will not prime the pump. I usually let the water run for a while before I start the engine.

What he said,,,,,,something is not right.:eek:

I had these installed in 2003 on my twin application, after a couple of years, starboard engine one had the check valve stick closed and smoked two impellers before I figured out what had happened. Ripped the guts out of it and found the check valve sealing rubber "sticky" with slime build up. It was enough to keep the valve closed with the engine water pump sucking on it and thereby smoking the impeller. Ripped the guts out of both of them and now just use the "body" as a tie in point for the hose connection. Hose on full and engine idling and some excess water back flushes through the sea strainer but at least I don't smoke impellers from stuck check valves. When they work, they work EXCELLENTLY, but have to keep an eye on them to make sure the check valve opens when you first fire it up when sitting in the water.

Agreed...

I haven't had one fail yet but I am sure my time is coming. I have seen some people just install a T in the line which would be cheaper than the valve and help insure he is getting water to the pump when flushing on the hose.

Not agreed,,,,if u have the muffs on the drive ,,the waterhose press will get the water to the pump in less then 5 sec. so that has nothing to do with the impeller.
I agree it takes 30 + seconds to get it to fill the block ,,,,but like i said ....that cant burn up the impeller.
because u have water there already.

SO THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON !!!!!!!!

This is a brand new motor with new everything, it's seem's abit strange to me as well, but i'm going to check for blockages in the line but it should'nt because everything is brand new, i guess with water already in the line might help to prime the system i guess, but at this time i will try anything, all the hoses r run the same way that it was rigged on my 7.4l MPI, other than the fuel cool system since i've gone with the carb seup..

thanks again. the input has been great

Take both hoses off the pump,,,the back flush from pump to drive ,,,,see if water flows.
The back flush from exhaust to pump and see if water flows.
Now u already filled the engine with water ....put the hoses back on and run the engine !!!!
Of coarse u need to stick the hose on the pump wile water is running out,,,,,without press from hose ( after u turned hose off) !

Also ,,,can it be that u mistakenly reversed the hoses on the pump (in & out ) ???

thanks Daredevil

I'm not sure how your boat is rigged... but most boats put the impeller pump as the first gadget conneced to the intake hose (unless you have sea strainers). So if you put muffs on the drive, it will take 2 seconds to get water to the impeller, but it will still take more than 30 seconds to fill the block, exhaust, external coolers and intercoolers.

So yeah, if your boat is rigged so that the water comes to the sea pump after it goes through the block.. then your f'd!!!:lolhit::evilb::eek:


I guess the question is... "Why do you think it's not getting water?" Is it because nothing is coming out of the exhuast?

They won't self prime with no water in the intake hose. You have to put it in. Hooking up the muffs and running the hose will not push water up and into the intake hose unless there is already water around the pump impeller and the engine is running. There is nothing wrong with your setup. Run it the way I said and you will be happy.

You can tell immediately if it is pumping because the water will stop spraying out around the muffs. No need to wait and see if it comes out the exhaust.

The engine is rigged the right way, it's just not priming, but thanks again for all the insight, because the initial start up was with no water in the lines at all, so i guess it can't self prime.

Hopefully later today, i'm going to back flush to make sure that the water is flowing, then top it up with as much water in the system as possible, put the ear muffs on and let her rip..

thanks again

I've only replaced a couple of motors but both times I fired the boat up before putting the drive on. Just shoved a hose into the intake in the gimbal. I didn't want to chance the pump not being able to "pull" the water up through the drive.

As stated backflush everything then verify your intake and output hoses are not reversed. You may be able to unhook the input hose from the gimbal and shove the garden hose inside of it to prime the pump.

FYI...both times it only took 10-15 seconds to have water exiting the exhaust.

Just to make sure,

the hose from the gimbal goes on top of the pump, and the hose the recircutales the water through the motor is on the bottom.
?

On mine the in port on the seapump is at the bottom. But you really need to look at the arrows on the pump to determine pump rotation and looking at the arrows determine which port is in and which is out. The pump can usually be mounted different ways so you must look at the arrows for you particular application.

Listen to Blue thunder, he's giving some very sound advice...

I've even seen a few boats where the first time I launch it I have to pull the hose off the intake on the waterpump to relieve any airpockets before starting.

ARE WE TALKING RAW WATER OR A BLOCK PUMP ??????

Some things here are a little confusing.

If u have a raw water pump and a crossover on your engine ,,,they will prime them selfs !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

100 % !!!!!

Daredevil, raw water pumps don't "always" prime themselves. I've seen it first hand.

The 232 Sea Ray for instance is natorious for not wanting to self prime until you get some air out of the hose coming from the transom assembly to the raw water pump after a long winters rest..

Yep that's right. And I can garantee with mine there are no air leaks because I pressure tested it over the winter during rerig. It still won't prime. It's really annoying, but plan for it.

89.6mph for me so far Panther with the new x :coolcowboy:

BT

Thanks for all the Advice fellas. Filled the whole system with water, atleast as much as i could..lol didn't want another impella blow out. But the engine pulled water like a champ..:drink: I was suppose to take some video footage, but i guess i was so excited that i totally forgot that i took the camera to the boat..Oh well i guess next time:eek:

So hopefully i should have some footage soon, Just got abit more cosmetic stuff to take care of, and i will post some #'s:coolcowboy:

Q
Bermuda

Great news!!!! :drink: