Raw Water Impeller on 496 in a 260
 

NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!! After a bruise on my a$$ from sitting in the bilge for 3+ hrs, numerous bruises to my right arm and a cramp in my hand like you would not believe I got my Impeller pump removed only to find the Impeller was still GOOD!!! Since I had it apart I figured I would change it anyway. But this was a lesson well learned. This is one repair I will leave to a marine mechanic. I have never dropped so many F-Bombs in a 3 hr period... I spent over 1 hr removing one freaking bolt.

I thought the impeller was bad becasue I was running the boat off of muffs on the trailer and notice no water exiting the exhaust for well over a minute. When I first started the boat I saw water coming out of the exhaust but then I notice it first stopped on the port side then starboard side. I let it run for a minute or so like that and never saw anymore water.... SO I freaked out, shut it down and went up to the store to buy a new impeller. At the time no knowing what I was in for. After 3+ hours of using 4 letter words I never knew existed I dropped the boat in the water and same damn problem. The boat ran for well over 7 minutes without a drop of water exiting the exhaust. While the boat was still running I put my hand on the raw water pump and it was ice cold.......If the impeller was burnig up it should have been warm or even hot. I pulled one of the bypass hoses off the risers to see if any water was getting there and the hose was dry. I put the hose back on and started the boat. Almost immediately water began leaking out of the bypass hose (because I forgot to tighten the clamp). I looked out back and had water pumping out of the exhaust. I have no freaking idea why I had the issues I did. But I will NEVER attempt to pull the Impeller pump on this boat again!

Just blowing off some steam here...

Other than that I love my newly purchased 260.

YUP, it's not an easy job my boat. Although, I learned a few tricks along the way that should speed the process next time.

It seemed easier to change the impeller back when I had a 454 Mag in there.

You know I really don't understand why Merc sets these things up the way they do. The worste boat I had to work on was a twin 280TRS 28' Cig with belt driven sea pumps.
I've been running with a Volvo Penta crank driven sea pump on my Merc 502 for going on 6 years now. It takes me less than 15min to change the impeller. Much better design for sure...

You have no idea how many times I said the following line (to myself of course): "What F&*^&% IDIOT designed this thing!"

been there done that with all the explatives in my 353!

It's on the list for May. The impellers are on the bench and I haven't changed them in 2 years.

You can bet your azz I will be putting this off repeatedly!