Boat motor maint

[ben0606]

Re posting this from before the crash. I had a few responses but I didn't write them down and the crash ruined it. Was wondering if I could get those referrals again for my boat motor 60hp mercury 4stroke. I live in Winchester in between skinner and dvl. Don't want to drive to bass pro for an oil change.

Ben

[kaneo]

if you only need a bottom end oil change, you can do it yourself. very easy. you can find videos on you tube, much cheaper than taking it into a shop,... and remember to change you impellar [ water pump] at least every 2 years MAX.. most guys change them once a year.. punch in " oil change videos for a 60 hp merc. 4 stroke " on you tube and you will see its very easy !!

[NFCD I]

I just got my 100HP Yamaha back from Sea Witch Marine in Vista. I had the boat out a couple of weeks ago. When I got home and lowered the motor I noticed a small amount of oil in the water coming from the prop shaft. My mechanic said there was fishing line wrapped around the shaft which wore into and destroyed the seal. I had him go ahead and change the impellar while he had the boat. $510.00 later I'm back up and running. He said most likely, the line originally got wrapped around the shaft while I was using the trolling motor working the banks. As most of you know, the outboard prop still turns when your using the trolling motor.
This is just one more reason not to throw even small amounts of line back into the lake.

[DockRat]

Had this Guatemalan gentleman Jose, a 20 year outboard mechanic work on mine.

Jose 562-607-9210 (mobile mechanic)

DR

[DockRat]

if you only need a bottom end oil change, you can do it yourself. very easy. you can find videos on you tube, much cheaper than taking it into a shop,... and remember to change you impellar [ water pump] at least every 2 years MAX.. most guys change them once a year.. punch in " oil change videos for a 60 hp merc. 4 stroke " on you tube and you will see its very easy !!

I'm on 3 years on my impeller :Secret: 150 hp Johnson 2 stroke V6
Need to haul out and do it and paint. Th bottom paint looks great still due to being cleaned once a month the last 3 years.

My opinion is the impellers last longer being stored in a slip and always flushed.
Vs sitting inland in a hotter dry storage area and not being used as much.
Cooler and moister environment will tend not to dry out rubber as fast.

Fact or DR BS ?:Confused:

Pic of a good and bad one.
A bad impeller like this will fry a motor VERY FAST.
Always check the Motor Pee.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n232/Viljarr/IMGP1873.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l633/wylkat1/calvinpeeing.gif
DR

[shinbob]

Pic of a good and bad one.
A bad impeller like this will fry a motor VERY FAST.
Always check the Motor Pee.


I always worry about my impeller. When it goes bad, does it go bad all of a sudden, or do you get some warning (like reduced flows) ahead of time?

[DockRat]

I'd suspect they would break on a initial start up after sitting several months.
Best bet would be to not turn the motor over unless in the water or with muffs on.
The water is important to help moisten the impeller and housing so the rubber blades won't stick and break off. I also read once that a motor should be turned over once a month to help prevent the rubber blades from being stuck in the same position.

Outboard Expert: Water Pump Impellers

Outboard water pump impellers can’t take abuse, so annual water pump maintenance is cheap insurance.
16th November 2011.
By Charles Plueddeman

The water pump impeller of any outboard motor needs to be serviced on a regular basis, a task that if overlooked can lead to big trouble. Most outboard maintenance schedules call for inspection of the impeller every 100 hours, or once a year. And once you’ve paid a tech to drop the gearcase and look at the impeller, you might as well spend another £25 and get a new one installed. The entire job is about £100 of cheap insurance.

The torn-up blades of this inboard impeller are not going to move much water.

The impeller itself is simply a series of rubber vanes molded around a hub. The vanes are flexible, and the hub rotates on an eccentric within the pump housing, which has a stainless steel liner. The tips of the impeller vanes can wear out from simple use, but if the motor is often run in silty or sandy conditions, this abrasive material can accelerate impeller wear. The rubber material can also get stiff and brittle, a common problem on motors that sit unused for several seasons. Then the vanes can “take a set” in one position and not flex back. The other impeller-killer is heat. Water lubricates the pump, and if it’s run dry the impeller can be ruined in just seconds.

Note I said impeller service requires “dropping the gearcase.” For most of us checking the impeller is not a do-it-yourself project, which is probably why so many impellers are neglected until they fail.

“I think the most-common cause of impeller failure I see is simply old age,” says Dan Jansen, the lead certified Mercury technician at Mr. Marine. “Even with our short season, I find a lot of impellers that are too worn at the tips to pump well, or are really stiff. We make changing the impeller part of our off-season lay-up program, because if it fails you can have much more expensive problems.”

This Mercury outboard water pump was run dry briefly, and the impeller literally melted within the housing. You can see the imprint of the impeller on the back. In this case the entire water pump was replaced.

When the impeller fails, the pump can’t pump and the engine will overheat. I’ve seen old outboards that got so hot the paint burned off the powerhead. Most newer motors have a warning horn that sounds when the motor gets hot, and a program that cuts engine rpm to try and protect the powerhead, but Jansen thinks that often may be too little, too late.

“If they are running wide-open, by the time they hear that horn and react, they have a scuffed piston, especially if it’s a two-stroke motor,” said Jansen, “ And even if the motor is OK, now they are out in the middle of the lake and the day is shot, at the very least.”

A ruined impeller can also be caused by running aground, says David Greenwood, product planning manager at Suzuki Marine.

“You can suck a lot of abrasive trash into the pump if you run the gearcase into a sand bar,” says Greenwood. “I’ve seen cases where the water intakes were just packed to the point that water could not even get to the pump. If you get in that situation, it’s a good idea to have the impeller checked just as a precaution.”

The impeller to the right is new. The two to the left are old, with vanes that are worn, hard and curled over from sitting idle for years in an older motor.

Jansen and Greenwood agree that starting the engine “dry,” that is, with no water supply to the pump, is instant death to the impeller.

“A few years ago Suzuki actually did a study to see how long an impeller would last if you started the motor dry,” said Greenwood, “and it was about 20 or 30 seconds.”

Jansen showed me a Mercury outboard water pump housing he removed this season that is coated with melted rubber (see photo #2, above).

“The boat owner says he doesn’t know what happened, but I know he started the motor in his driveway, just because he likes to hear that two-stroke bark,” said Jansen. “This one got so hot you can see the stainless steel liner has actually recessed a little into the housing. The whole thing was melting.”

Greenwood says he’s seen boat owners who give the motor a quick bump with the starter on the launch ramp, just to make sure it’s ready to go when they get in the water, and others who think they need to start the motor after pulling the boat out of the water to drain it. Both are big mistakes that will ruin the impeller.

“Another issue is owners think they can start the motor if a hose is hooked up to the flush port,” says Greenwood. “That pushes water through the powerhead and exhaust, but very little gets to the pump. We tell owners to always use a set of water muffs on the gearcase if they want to start the motor with the boat on a trailer.”

If an impeller fails dramatically, simply installing new parts may not be the end of your trouble.

“If the impeller really comes apart, there’s a good chance that little bits of rubber can get lodged in the water tube and restrict flow to the powerhead,” says Greenwood. “You might notice a weak stream from the water pilot out the side of the motor, and that could mean that the technician did not check for impeller debris. If that’s uncorrected, the motor could overheat.”

You’ve been warned. Replace that impeller at the end of this season.
http://uk.boats.com/boat-content/2011/11/outboard-expert-water-pump-impellers/

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm221/genxer36/Boat/WP4.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a15/jerry41/Impeller.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n232/Viljarr/IMGP1879.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj289/chas56x/IMGP0914_edited.jpg DR

[kaneo]

I just got my 100HP Yamaha back from Sea Witch Marine in Vista. I had the boat out a couple of weeks ago. When I got home and lowered the motor I noticed a small amount of oil in the water coming from the prop shaft. My mechanic said there was fishing line wrapped around the shaft which wore into and destroyed the seal. I had him go ahead and change the impellar while he had the boat. $510.00 later I'm back up and running. He said most likely, the line originally got wrapped around the shaft while I was using the trolling motor working the banks. As most of you know, the outboard prop still turns when your using the trolling motor.
This is just one more reason not to throw even small amounts of line back into the lake.
damn , that sounds like a lot of money for a seal and impellar..impellar is only a 45 min job, but the marine repair shops say its an hour and 15 minutes.. they just want the labor price to be higher.... you need to invest in a marine repair manual. $500. will buy you a lot of tackle...

[DockRat]

I always worry about my impeller. When it goes bad, does it go bad all of a sudden, or do you get some warning (like reduced flows) ahead of time?

Your worried, Lol my wife already hates my boat.
If I told her I need $800 to haul the boat out for bottom paint and a impeller that might be the last straw. 3 year old impeller and going for it.
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll123/coolbeat2/rollthedice.jpg

DR

[DockRat]

damn , that sounds like a lot of money for a seal and impellar..impellar is only a 45 min job, but the marine repair shops say its an hour and 15 minutes.. they just want the labor price to be higher.... you need to invest in a marine repair manual. $500. will buy you a lot of tackle...
Size of the motor matters too.
A 25 hp and a 100 hp is a big difference. Bigger, heavier, linkage, then sometimes Broken Bolts :Angry:

Had a 30 hp Yamaha once and a bolt broke. :Angry:
Corroded and frozen it was a nightmare.
Took it to Tapex Bolt removal in Gardena but he couldn't get it to jig up.
Ended up drilling it, tried a easy out, then finally Mapp gas till it broke free.
Re-tapped it, then it was ok.
DR

[NFCD I]

damn , that sounds like a lot of money for a seal and impellar..impellar is only a 45 min job, but the marine repair shops say its an hour and 15 minutes.. they just want the labor price to be higher.... you need to invest in a marine repair manual. $500. will buy you a lot of tackle...

$500.00 buys a lot of piece of mind as well. I do the small maintenace stuff, but I feel a lot better having a pro working on the big stuff.

[ben0606]

Thanks everyone for the referrals and tips. Much appreciated. Don't know if I'm comfortable doing it myself yet unless I see it done in front of me first. Need to get this done before my first tourney next weekend and I don't want to break my motor that close to game time .

Ben

[exfactor]

Lower unit oil change is very easy. 2 or 3 screws, a bucket to catch the old oil, and a pump mechanism (around 12 to 15 bucks that you can use over and over) and under 30 minutes. If you can turn a screwdriver, you can do this. You will have peace of mind knowing that you did the job yourself vs somebody who could say he did it, and didn't. Save your $ for the big fixes!!!!

[Santa Fe Eric]

I'm on 3 years on my impeller :Secret: 150 hp Johnson 2 stroke V6
Need to haul out and do it and paint. Th bottom paint looks great still due to being cleaned once a month the last 3 years.

My opinion is the impellers last longer being stored in a slip and always flushed.
Vs sitting inland in a hotter dry storage area and not being used as much.
Cooler and moister environment will tend not to dry out rubber as fast.

Fact or DR BS ?:Confused:

Pic of a good and bad one.
A bad impeller like this will fry a motor VERY FAST.
Always check the Motor Pee.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n232/Viljarr/IMGP1873.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l633/wylkat1/calvinpeeing.gif
DR
DR, I had a problem with my boat overheating one day after using it in the salt flushing the motor through the intake not the muzzle and finally letting it sit for six months in outside storage. Service dept. pulled out my impeller and showed it to me. It looked just like the one on the left and the broken off pieces were hanging out of the water/vent/fin/intake thingy. It was a very expensive lesson. Thanks for posting informative stuff like this guys. I am learning a lot.

[DockRat]

It is a good idea to change the Thermostat too.
The one on my Yamaha 30 hp was completely corroded and not working.
Super easy to replace. 2 - 6mm x 10mm bolts on top under the hood.
5 min job.

[Andres]

Yeah this is good idea actually i am also looking for maintain my Kayak fishing bag it is in bad condition and i have
no idea from where i can repair , this is not fix on ti's place and i have face many problems in catch the fishes
so any body have any idea for this..??

[Stalker Of Fish]

You may need an Impact driver to losen the lower case screws for the oil change if they are coroded or just too tight
for a screwdriver . It's a great tool to have in your box anyway.
It is an easy job though to do the fluid change. Have you called Elsinore's marine shop for a quote. There also was a guy
off Scott rd. I have used in the past who was very good and at half the shop prices !

[TUNAVIC]

I'd love to find a marine mechanic who would do that job for a 100.00bucks,like that impeller expert mentioned,maybe he meant for the parts only.

Cya TunaVic