Water pump woes

Hola fellas,

Haven't posted in a while and wouldn't ya know it, my first post is a plea for help. Haven't started Tenacious in about a month. Engines don't like that ya know. Hooked up the garden hose to the OD, turned it on, turned the key and she started right up with a little puff of smoke. Old reliable! Unfortanely the water pump did not appear to be doing it's thing as water was not coming out of the exhaust. Tried priming it several times and repositioning the mickey mouse ears with no joy. I witnissed the shaft from fuel pump to water pump was turning. I opened the cover of the water pump to observe that the impellar appears to be in good shape. My next item to look at will be to pull the impellar out to inspect the inner diameter of the impellar. Has any of you ever had the inner sleeve of an impellar get worn so that the shaft is spinning but, the rest of the impellar is not? Any other ideas?

Scott

No I haven't but don't get too excited as sometimes it's fairly difficult to get the water flowing from the rabbit ears. You need to plug the bottom pick up hole in the drive and turn the water valve up pretty high and maybe prop up the rubber exhaust flapper to get the water moving through the system and sometimes it will all work out. Sometimes coming off the trailer into the water the first time I had to crack the strainer lid to remove the air lock pressure so the water would flow

Jeff,

Yup, I plugged the hole in the bottom. I'll try again taking the additional steps you have recommended.

I gotta get the boat/trailer maintenance done in time for the big winter YT bite on the yoyo. Please tell me it hasn't come and gone.

Thanks much,
Scott

Scott

Take the lid off the basket strainer and pre fill it with water. My pump is so old it won't prime unless I do that every trip.

I'll let ya know tomorrow if the winter bite is on.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Yup, tried that. Of course I'll try again this weekend. With work and short days it's haredr to get anything done on the boat on weekdays. Good luck out there. While driving into work this AM, I saw what looked like a squid boat anchored off of PT Loma about 1/4 mile outside of the kelp with lights on. Hmmm, are they here yet?

I didn't see any signs off La Jolla Tuesday morning.

Mike

Scott,

That happened to a friend of mine. The inner sleeve spun freely but the impeller wouldn't move. He replaced the impeller and the problem was solved. ZMAN

Thanks ZMAN,

Good to hear that it does happen. That will be my first thing to check this weekend.

Thanks all. After pulling the impellar and examining it a little better it was a little worn. That and the fact that the cover plate was also a little worn may have been the problem/s. I replaced the impellar and sanded the cover plate flat and she works good as new.

Now I just have to replace my two rear hub assemblies on the trailer and I'm off to the races to compete in the BOCA tournament.

Boats, if it ain't one thing it another. Scott, looking for a couple of days at Colonette. That would be a good way to test out the water pump out and add some big sebastes to your count.

Yale,

That sounds like "exactly what the doctored". I need to get a way for a short trip like that. What time frame are ya thinking? How long? Early March or later would probably work for me.

I’m pretty much open. It’s about 130 miles down there. To get in day and a half fishing I’d run all night to get there in the am, fish all day, lay up for the night fish for a while in the morning and then pound back up the line. Of course a 2 ½ dayer is even better.

If I can I'd like to tag along

Yale/Jeff,

I will start planning for this trip. I'd like to have at least 2 full days to fish the area. Shall we meet at Point Loma Seafood and discuss it over lunch one day this week?

I guess we can go PM's from here on out?

Lunch is fine. I've only got Wed, Thurs & Fri open this week. Let me know.

Sounds like you got lucky on the pump Scott. If it happens again, look at the seal behind the impeller.

Here are a few picture of when "Good Pumps go Bad" (my current status). The seal spacer(white piece) broke last week and let the seal get sideways. Water got past the seal and toasted the bearing and on the last engine flush of the week the seal was so bad the pump was sucking air and and wouldn't prime. That caused the impeller to burn up. Good thing I have a full set of spare parts in the garage.

Broken parts
http://members.cox.net/noslack/pumpparts.jpg

toasted bearings and broken seal spacer
http://members.cox.net/noslack/pumpshaft.jpg

Full set of spare parts
http://members.cox.net/noslack/pumpkit.JPG

I have everything to put it back together and order parts to build up a full spare. The seal is $40, so I took the old one down to Kaman(bearing and seal vender) to see what they could do for me. They ordered me a double lip seal for $8. The extra $32 bucks Volvo charges must cover the fancy bag it comes in. I'll have both seals in my hand by the end of the week and will install the better one. I'm betting it's going to be the $8 part.

Mike

Let me know how the rebuild goes mike, I have an extra pump in the garage. The Volvo shop told me to replace it vs. rebuild when it started leaking last season. They are not cheap!!! I would like to have an extra to keep on the boat. I replace my impeller every 200hrs no matter what. And oh YA the Boats done and back on the water. Weekend report to come. There’s a lot less lobster at Catalina know.

It's nothing new for me to rebuild the pump. It's happened more than once with 4500 hours on a 27 year old engine. I'm just waiting for the other seal to show up before I stick it back in the boat. The pump case is the only part I don't have two of. I can pick up a spare case for $270 and build up a second pump that I won't need for another 8 or 10 years. By then I should break down and treat my baby right by giving her a new engine.

I hate paying Volvo prices for something they buy, paint green and stick in a blue and white box. With a little leg work you can usually find out who makes it and if they upgraded the part sometime over the past quarter centry.

Mike

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Honeygirl

Let me know how the rebuild goes mike, I have an extra pump in the garage. The Volvo shop told me to replace it vs. rebuild when it started leaking last season. They are not cheap!!! I would like to have an extra to keep on the boat. I replace my impeller every 200hrs no matter what. And oh YA the Boats done and back on the water. Weekend report to come. There’s a lot less lobster at Catalina know.

---

Good to hear the boat is done Joe! Share some pics with us...
If you see a 26' Skippy following you around this weekend, just share
the numbers and the mrs. and I will leave you alone LOL. On the serious
note, the mrs. and I will be at the island Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully
we bump into you.

The Volvo pump is actually a Johnson pump; which are much cheaper and easier to find.

Scott & Yale - Today & Friday are my only lunch days this week
If today 619 840 0633 cell

http://www.torresen.com/ is were I've been getting parts for the Johnson pump. It helps to know the part numbers you need but the customer service is very helpful if you call.

http://www.mesamarine.com/JP.html has great prices but you better know your part numbers if you want something from them. They also have a $200 minimum on orders

Mia Culpa to Yale and Jeff,

I've been completely wrapped up in work and have not event had the time to fix my two rear hub assemblies on my boat trailer. I don't thin I'll be ready for a March trip to Colonette. I know that Yale...you are already going this month. Good luck!. I hope that we can do a cool trip like that soon. I just need to get my act together.

Scott