Another Project -- 2003 Air Nautique 226 Team Edition

[gcam4]

I would be worried about the chunks of rubber in the cooling system. Obviously, the pump is in a terrible location, but if you need a bore scope to see some of the cooling passages let me know. On my gt40, the impeller breaking down has blocked some of the passages in the housing before. And I have never seen an impeller in your 226's condition!

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[NautiqueJeff]

I am hoping most of them just passed on through. The transmission cooler is before the pump, so none would be there. The thermostat housing is a likely possibility, and actually fairly easy to check on this engine. Once I check that, I am going to run it and see how the temperature looks, and go from there.

[gun-driver]

I’m wondering if the impeller self destructed when you started it up after it sat dry for so long. One of the first things I do is pull and lube the impeller before starting a motor that sat dry for an extended period of time.
But with that said after reading what you had to go through To get to it I probably would’ve waited till it was water ready to do so :-)
Great project I like watching the transformation back to life.

[NautiqueJeff]

Got it all put back together today, and took it out for a spin. It runs great, and stays cool under power, but heats up at idle. I assume I have impeller blades stuck somewhere, or possibly an air leak to find and fix. I am hoping to find the blades stuck in the thermostat housing. That's the first thing in line after the raw water pump on this boat. Not sure when I'll get to check it, since it is supposed to rain all week. Maybe there will be a break in the weather and I can pull it apart one day soon. I'm just happy it runs well and stays cool under power!

[SilentSeven]

Can only imagine the relief to know that the engine and tranny are all in good working order. Congrats Jeff!

[gcam4]

Awesome!

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[NautiqueJeff]

I am having an issue where the v-drive oil pressure light is always on. V-drive oil looks OK, but I am going to change it anyway, just to be sure. I have also ordered a new v-drive oil pressure switch, since it is likely bad and that's probably the part that's causing the light to be on. I'll update here again once the oil and switch are changed.

[SilentSeven]

So do we get to hear part 2 of the "I became Gumby to install my Nautique impeller' story?

[functionoverfashion]

Oh man I swear I will never complain about changing the impeller on my '03 SAN again.

Glad to hear it's running well!

[NautiqueJeff]

Ha! Part two is that I got my kid to get back down there between the engine and the transom and pop the new impeller in. He did it without removing the pump. Here's how we did it.

We zip tied the impeller so that the blades were compressed as much as possible with two zip ties. I cut the zip ties alllllllmost all the way across, leaving just enough plastic to hold the blades compressed, and tied a small string to each zip tie. He inserted the compressed impeller into the pump, lining up the keyway, and then he was able to get a C-clamp over the pump to hold the impeller all the way in the pump. We then pulled the strings (which would have pulled the impeller back out if the C-clamp wasn't there), snapped open the pre-cut zip ties, pulled the zip ties out of the pump, and removed the C-clamp. He then bolted the pump cover back on with a new gasket.

Believe it or not, this worked great! There was NO room to work down there. I never could have gotten in there. I am still not sure how he did it. He has very limited mechanical experience, but we worked together to problem-solve, and it all came together.

I think the two of us had about 12 - 13 hours work in this impeller change.

I would NOT recommend compressing an impeller like this under any other circumstances. It doesn't seem to have caused any damage, but I still wouldn't recommend it unless you have a really good reason (which I think we did).

[SilentSeven]

Ha! Part two is that I got my kid to get back down there between the engine and the transom and pop the new impeller in. He did it without removing the pump. .... I never could have gotten in there. I am still not sure how he did it.

Better be careful...I think he's after the old man's job. Pretty much can guarantee he'll remember this day for a long time - that time I did what Dad couldn't. Fun story.

[fsts2k]

Thats a bear...

I am sorry to say our boat didn't get a new impeller for years and ours ended up like that one. I was getting some overheating and ended up needing a new thermostat to fix it. At least that part is pretty straightforward

[NautiqueJeff]

Yeah, thermostats on this engine are very easy to reach compared to the impeller. I will probably order a new one and replace it while I have the housing open. I'd need new gaskets anyway, and the whole kit is less than $40.

[NautiqueJeff]

Received the new v-drive oil pressure switch, new oil for the v-drive, new O-ring for the strainer, and new thermostat and gasket. We're determined to fix the v-drive oil pressure light and the idle speed cooling issue this weekend!

Oh, and we're taking the original tower off this weekend, too!

[Spud]

Did you go with a riser for the Aviator tower install on this boat Jeff?