Winterizing Details

[DanielC]

Some engines have the raw water pump in front of the crankshaft pulley. They can be hard to remove, because the impeller has to be pulled off the shaft, and out of the housing at the same time.
You start out by getting a new impeller.
Then you can use some needle nose pliers to grab one of the impeller blades, or two pair of pliers so you can grab two impeller blades opposite of each other.
Gently work the impeller out. If the impeller is not damaged in any way, and does not have a lot of run time, use it as an emergency spare, and put the new impeller in the boat when you recommission it.

[Shooter]

"I have seen pullers advertised but they need 5 inches of clearance, my ski pylon is in the way."

It sounds like you are trying to change it out while it's still in the boat. I don’t think that is possible or even worth the effort for my PCM 330. My pump comes out by removing two bolts and two hoses. I was able to remove my old impeller from the pump with a set of needle nose pliers, but not in one piece.

[Red57Bird]

Someone mentioned in another thread about using two of the paint can openers. I used them last year for the 1st time and worked like a champ. Before trying to remove, I load up the inside of the housing with a bunch of boot lube and spin the impeller around a couple of times. Makes it a lot easier when pulling.

[gride]

after all the fluids are changed do you run the boat to temp before winterizing or go ahead and drain everything and put her in prison for the winter?

[chief351]

I just tuck it away. Once the block/hoses are empty I fill them back up with antifreeze. If you start the boat up you will lose all the antifreeze. If you fog you will lose the benefits of that too.

If it is stored on a trailer then jack up the trailer and put it on blocks to take the stress off the axle/tires. Good time to pull tires and inspect. As well pull the wheel bearings and inspect/repack. I also spray my trailer down with a can Krown rustproofing or fluidfilm.

[gmdattilo]

Impeller Removal

Thanks for the tip about using pliers to pull the impeller. Like the EX330 my 5.0 motor has the raw water pump mounted right at the crank. Its not belt driven like the Fords. I already have the new impeller by I wanted to do what I could to salvage the old one as a spare.