2005 SANTE overheating at idle - out of ideas, please read

[ahansen]

2005 SANTE - 550 hours. It runs fine at high speed (i.e. start it up, back off the lift, toss a kid in the water and start wakeboarding). When I idle for an extended period of time (e.g. no wake zone), the temp climbs to 200 and I have to shut her down. So I checked all connections, tightened all the hose clamps, replaced the impeller and it's still acting up. I tried running it with the impeller outlet hose off and it sprayed water when water was in the hose. I backflowed from the impeller housing to the raw water inlet, cleaned out impeller parts and water was pumping out from beneath the boat (with a hose). I also ran water from the engine drain and it flowed out the impeller housing. I did notice the impeller was running dry (makes sense since it won't suck water) which is why the impeller was shot (and I flushed out all of the rubber dust).

So here's the problem. When the boat is running, it is not sucking water from the raw water inlet on the bottom of the boat to the impeller. I confrimed this by starting with a dry raw water strainer. I thought the imeller would suck water into the bowl - no such luck. I did notice the raw water strainer is not mounted to anything (just hanging out in an area standing on the two hoses) - don't know if that means anything.

Could it be the raw water pump? If so, how hard is that to change (i.e. do it yourself or call a dealer). Any other ideas? 2 days, 2 guys and no beer while working on it - I need to get this fixed and back out on the water.

Thanks in advance - tired of beating my head against a wall.

[johnboyy7]

any chance at out you put the pump in upside down? i say this not to insult but ive done it before...... no worky. if thats not it i wonder if your pump housing is wore out on the inside...... i would like to think not with that few hours.

any chance you are sucking air through your strainer? make sure its on tight and the oring is in.

[vision]

Clog or vacuum leak in the system, or a bad impeller. Only sucks adequate water at high draw pressures. Check all hoses and connections between thru hull and water pump, including the grate on your thru hull. Inspect impeller.

[RideButter]

Hey I'm friends with quite a few of your fellow Seasonites!

I suspect a clogged tranny cooler, bits of your impeller have jammed up in the tranny cooler and is not allowing enough water at idle. I doubt your raw water pump is bad, you would see water flowing from a bad bearing seal, or the impeller itself is bad(you already changed that).

It is also possible you have an airleak somewhere, but i think your problem is a clog.

[core-rider]

Fill the strainer with water, start the engine and look for air bubbles moving in the strainer. If there are any you have a vacuum leak. I had to replace the o-ring on my strainer last season and had very similar problems as yours. I ordered the whole strainer assembly from NautiqueParts.com because it wasn't that much and incase I had a cracked strainer I could replace it.

Also, check all your hoses on the suction side of the RW pump for cracks. I've heard of them getting cracked at tight bends and causing vacuum leaks as well.


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[gride]

do you have a perko flush on it with the hose hookup on the transom? my boat did the same thing the other day b/c the cap was off the flush hookup.

[johnboyy7]

do you have a perko flush on it with the hose hookup on the transom? my boat did the same thing the other day b/c the cap was off the flush hookup.

ditto to this. had the samething happen. took me a minute to figure it out til i put my hand on the flush hose hook up and felt the suction.