Ran on muffs, tough to get water started

Liberty44140

launch is Friday so Monday I hooked up a 5 gal bucket to run water through muffs just to make sure all was well. Fired up port first and after 30 sec of no water out drive I shut down. Looked at strainer and still pink. Then went to stbd and had water flow fairly quick, ran with good flow for a minute, Clear strainers. Back to port, this time got water flow pretty quick and had good water flow for over a minute until I shut her down.

so since I had good water flow I am assuming the impeller should be fine from that first 30 sec, right? This will be the second season on impellers. I left the antifreeze in the engines all winter so the water pump was full of liquid when I started them. That was probably my saving grace. 

Thoughts?

Dream_Inn

B-3s can be a bit tricky to make sure you get water flow from the start.  When I had B-3s, I always made sure the air was out of the line and then sealed and held the muffs on tightly while starting it up.  I started getting good at doing it by myself, having the hose go behind the back upper part of the drive and keep compression on it, then I'd go start it.  I'd lift up the **** just a little until water was through the hose to the drive as well.  I think this would help the suction a bit.

Your impeller is probably fine, but worth watching temps on that motor through the summer (and watch water flow if you have vesselview). 

skennelly

When was the last time you changed your impellors?  I thought the same this year until I launched and found out engine was getting hot due to my impellor was destroyed.

Liberty44140

Yea the fact that I had good flow out of both sides of the drive and ran 10 gallons through has me thinking that I am ok. The system being full of antifreeze has to buy us some time?

Dream - yes hand holding the muffs tight on the drive by hand is what got the flow moving nicely. Good point. Yea I figure I'll launch as is and if I see the temp go past normal I will shut down and limp to the dock on one. 
Skennelly - the impellers were new for last season so one year. Did you run dry on muffs before launch? Good water flow on muffs?

skennelly

@Liberty44140 - Nope didn't do any of that.  This year I literally launched and started it up for the first time.  Not really sure how / when my impeller met it's fate...was all good last season with temps ect..

Liberty44140

Interesting - well, fingers crossed that the good flow in the end means good stuff. Did you leave your engine full of antifreeze for winter, or drain and leave empty for the winter?

skennelly

I'm in the club of leaving anti-freeze in the engine.

69fastback

I leave anti freeze in mine too, but it doesn’t get near as cold here as it does where most of you are at. I know quite a few people who have never even winterized their boats here. 

212rowboat

some people really in the know say to flush with the pink stuff and drain.  i'm not qualified to argue that.  

but

i don't for one reason only- and that is to prevent corrosion in the water jacket.  it can't rust if it's wet... there is nothing worse than discovering a frozen water engine water pump because it seized due to corrosion. 

jhofmann

Alswagg, I diddn't know there were special muffs for Bravo 3, I have always used regular muffs. Can you provide a link or part number?

Liberty44140

No I use regular muffs, I am aware of the B3 muffs but have never had a problem with traditional muffs 

zaverin1

Bravo drives have extra water pickup holes on the front of the lower case.
those need to be closed up prior to running on the muffs

Cableguy Greg

zaverin1 said:

Bravo drives have extra water pickup holes on the front of the lower case.
those need to be closed up prior to running on the muffs

Mine doesn't. I thought that was the dual water pickup model.

jhofmann

Thanks Alswagg, I had mine slip off once, so I started using a bungee cord to keep them in place (redneck engineering), but I like these better.

Liberty44140

Hey Al while we have you, if in the end the boat spit plenty of water on the muffs is there any reason to be worried about the impeller? 

69fastback

zaverin1 said:

Bravo drives have extra water pickup holes on the front of the lower case.
those need to be closed up prior to running on the muffs

Not all B3s have the low water pickup. My original drive didn’t, but the new one does. I cover the low water pickup with duct tape, and use standard muffs, and I always get flow immediately. 

Liberty44140

All good on the first run, impeller was fine, ran 5 miles at normal operation temp, plenty of water running through strainers. Was only 50 with a NE breeze at 15mph so hope summer comes soon!

Liberty44140

Brrrrrrr