03 Engine Overheated At Low Speed

[Dennett]

I just bought a 03 Super Air Nautique 210 and took it out for the first day of riding. We were out for hours with no issues at all and then took it into a no wake zone for a long period of time. The engine began to overheat and I brought it into a dock. I checked the intake on the bottom and the strainer and found nothing. After it cooled down for awhile I turned it back over. The temp held at 175, so I headed out at a higher speed than I came in at. The temp held until I had to slow down to no wake speeds again, then within a few minutes of slowing down the temp raised again. I shut it down and got it out of the water. The connections on the strainer were loose, so I fixed that. Pulled the impeller out, it looked new. The seal on the cover was blown though, and the cover had visible wear from the rotation (not sure if that's normal). Am I missing something else that could be wrong?

[DanielC]

There is a lot of hose between the raw water intake and the raw water pump, on the Super Air. There is also a raw water shut off valve.
Check to make sure the shut off valve is open all the way. Check for leaks at the raw water strainer, and make sure there is still a square cut o ring on the bowl for the raw water strainer.
If you are unsure of the number of hours on the raw water pump impeller, change it.
I believe that year of boat had some issues with the raw water pump, there was a recall. You have to check the serial numbers on the back plate of the raw water pump to find out if yours was one of the defective ones.
After all that, then check for air leaks in the hoses from the raw water pump back to the raw water strainer.
Always supply water to your boat to run it.
Some people say it ok, but I think is is not to run your boat for any length of time unless you supply water to the raw water pump. Not even to "test start" it to see if it will run.
In my experiance, the Excaliber engine at an idle will draw more water than a garden hose can supply.
In other words, if you disconnect the raw water intake hose from the shut off valve in the boat, and put it in a 5 gallon bucket full of water, and start the engine, with a garden hose running into the bucket, the bucket will slowly run out of water, with the engine at an idle.

[Dennett]

Thanks for the help! After a couple of Sundays spent trouble shooting I replaced the t-stat and replaced the impeller (it was in good shape but wasn't a sherwood part). Runs great!!

Needless to say, I know the cooling system pretty well now!

Any idea what make and model the pumps are for my ballast tanks? I have one on the intake side of my port tank that seems to be out and haven't figured out the replacement part yet.

[Timsown]

The port side tank always seems to need a little priming. Make sure the valve is open and get the boat up on plane for a few seconds. Try to fill the tank and see if that helps. Could be your pump, but every 03 210 I've been on, including my own, needs a little help on the port side to get going.