Won't pump water

Cableguy Greg

I fired up my Merc 6.2MPI yesterday and it isn't pumping water. Going with the obvious, I changed the impeller last night and refired the boat. Still no water. I removed the blue plug on input side of the impeller housing with the muffs attached and I am not getting much water at all. Could I have a blockage between the drive and the impeller housing? Can I back flush to see if I get water coming out of the drive? Any thoughts out there in Rinker land? Thanks in advance!

aero3113

Are you running with muffs? Could your hose pressure be low?

Cableguy Greg

Yes, running with muffs. I have tons of pressure. It is a 1 inch line feeding a 5/8" hose. When I remove the muffs after the water is off, a ton of water comes out of the drive.

Michael T

Was your impeller in "one piece" or could pieces have broken off and be plugging a channel? Could you have a hose that has lost its integrity and is collapsing under pressure and causing a restriction? Do you have dreaded "flapper disease" wherein a flapper(s) have burned and blocked water exit causing restricted flow? Is your engine starting to overheat?

zaverin1

I would check the impeller housing and make sure pump is actually Bing driven when Engine is on.
if no water is being sucked then I would look for a kink or a hole In the Mai. Pickup hose. Could be something obstructing 

Cableguy Greg

The old impeller was in one piece. I am thinking that a hose from the drive to the impeller housing has failed or clogged. I am going to try to back flush the lines from the impeller housing to the drive to see what happens. It seems like none of the water is being forced into the engine. Fortunately the engine is still full of antifreeze so I have some coolant protection. It just seems odd that with the muffs on with water running, I remove the blue plug on the input side of the impeller housing and I am getting little or no water pressure.

The good thing I found out so far is that I have the 3 point drain system on the engine. That was new to me...

Cableguy Greg

The impeller housing was moving and was free when I ran the boat.

jme097

are the hoses on the back of the pump housing on tight? Maybe not enough suction from the inlet. Also I have heard of the inlet hose from the drive getting a kink in it on some of the new B3's. Might want to check that. Let me know because I am curious as to what you find!

Dream_Inn

When you changed the impeller, was the pump worn?  I had this issue last year and the new impeller didn't match well with the grooves in the worn pump and did not have suction.  Also, are the muffs on tight (I'm sure it is, but just thinking out loud here).

I guess you could take the hose off the pump and run water thru it to see what comes out of the drive.

jhofmann

If you have water pressure going into the outdrive from the hose, then suction should not be an issue. It sounds like a blockage to me, but I'm married, so I'm used to being wrong!

jme097

LMAO^^^

craigswardmtb

My guess is worn pump housing followed by pickup hose kink or blockage.  I would check the pump housing first as its easier than pulling the drive...

rasbury

If you have a thru hull in addition to make sure it is all the way closed- made that mistake before..was the pup housing scored?

Cableguy Greg

Pulled the pump and ran water thru the drive via muffs. Water is a trickle inside the boat. Getting zebra mussels coming out of the line. I have some kind of blockage. Mechanic is pulling the drive tomorrow. Getting into boat bucks now. Grr...

rasbury

Is it left in the water? Have heard this on the forum before....

Cableguy Greg

Yes, she is left in the water all summer. I have heard of it before, but never seen it happen. My 232 was left in the water every summer for 13 years and never had an issue. I guess since the river is cleaner than it has ever been, the zebra mussels are becoming a bigger problem.

Black_Diamond

Odd the zebra mussels are in the line, I bet more likely they were being backflushed from the drive.  Those things need a lot of flowing / open water to feed and inside a hose that is not running most of the time does not work.  I just had both water pumps off and the hoses and not a one of those critters in there.

I had my water line from the drive thru the transom kink out of no where last fall.  It was kinked up near where it goes through the transom.  I pulled the hose off from the inside and tried to fist a line backwards: nothin.  Even put a wet/dry vac on the line: nothin.  Burned up my pump too.

Michael T

We had a lot of algae and small marine life in the waters where I used to boat. The zebra mussels came in and cleaned the water right up. They need flowing water as they are filter eaters. Once the water was cleaned-up they died off in large numbers leaving us with much cleaner water LOL.

They will coat inlet lines and yes they die for a lack of flowing nutrients but the little buggers have "glued" themselves to the surface and even when dead can be a pita!

Handymans342

That's why they taste so good

Black_Diamond

You would need about 100 of them to get a spoonful lol

Handymans342

Oh, I was thinking of Prince Edwards mussels

Cableguy Greg

Whether it is zebra mussels or something else, I clearly have a low flow issue. Here are 2 pics. One is the impeller fully intact and the other is how much flow I have with the muffs on and the hose running wide open.

Black_Diamond

That is what mine was doing, or worse. Take that hose off from the transom and see if you can find blockage in the tube going to the outdrive. Pretty easy. 

rasbury

Yep, sure is blocked up....this is a bravo III correct? Have read other posts, at the transom there is a tight turn of some sort and if you have those things in your line then easily could have blocked....could you fashion something to put some real air pressure to those muffs with the pump off and see if you can blow back through and dislodge what ever is stuck? 

PartsMan

You'll be able to take the hose off easily but you won't be able to see anything. There's a 45* flange that will need to be taken off to see if there's blockage. Not an easy job, it's buried. Did it last weekend, was sore for two days. 

Black_Diamond

Autozone: rent a boroscope for the day. Free actually. 

Cableguy Greg

Not sure what was going on, but after a reverse flush and a forward flush with different muffs, all is good. She is pumping water like a champ. Now I need the detailer to show up and she can be launched. 

randy56

Did you ever find a object, or something flushed out? Glad you are looking at launch date

Cableguy Greg

No. The mechanic thinks the muffs were leaking too much water. I might have blown it out when I back flushed it from the transom 45 connector. I was luck and had quick connects on that hose, which made life easy getting it off and back on. Huge weight lifted from my shoulders.

Cableguy Greg

@Alswagg, the pump wasn't bad surprising the age of it. It had minor grooves. When I put the proper flusher (since we can't say muffs) on the drive, it started pumping like a champ. I need to invest in a new flusher for the fall. I am also going to order a new back to the pump just in case...

raybo3

Al the list of "bad" words was set up by Capt Steve when the first started up. I try to fix some of the words but I cant do it to all of them. Some of them are foolish but out of the control of the moderators.