Not pumping water out exhaust

[NautiqueSS]

I have an issue with my 97SS not pumping water. Water will flow fine through the motor with hose pressure but not from the fake-a-lake. I think I have it narrowed down to the raw water pump. It won't pull water out of a bucket unless it is primed and even then you can hold back the pressure with your thumb over the outlet side of the pump. I would think it should pump much more than that. Could a slight air leak in the pump cause this? There is very little play in the pulley. I thought I might try changing the bearings. I changed the impeller, old one still looked good. All my hose clamps are tight though I'm pretty sure it's the pump unless air was leaking in from the temporary hose I had hooked up. Just looking for anything I might have overlooked in curing this problem.

[DRAGON88]

RE: Not pumping water out exhaust

Is the impeller in backwards? I've heard of this happening before when the impeller is in backwards.

[EchoLodge]

RE: Not pumping water out exhaust

Check you strainer. Is it tight? Is the O ring present?

[NautiqueSS]

Replacing guts of raw water pump

Yeah checked both those things. I have the pump taken apart because it had a little too much play in it so I am going to try replacing the guts of it but can't get the seal out of it for the life of me. Anyone have any pictures of the guts of the pump (with my luck I won't get it back together properly) Anyway if this isn't my problem I don't know what is but I'm pretty sure this was it. The bearings looked pretty bad. Thanks for the suggestions.

[EchoLodge]

RE: Replacing guts of raw water pump

Do a search on the pump in google. I remember coming across an expolded view sometime ago. My pump must be on borrowed time! I was told its better to just by a new one then rebuild. Let us know how it goes.

[skinautique]

RE: Replacing guts of raw water pump

Does it pump fine in the lake? We have a lot of issues with the fake a lake not providing enough pressure. The water comes through the strainer bowl to the vdrive then to the engine so it takes a bit. Try reving the engine to try and pull water faster. If not, connect the hose directly. Fake a Lake's aren't that cool!

[NCH2oSki]

RE: Replacing guts of raw water pump

discount inboard marine hase some exploded views of a lot of parts, worth checking on. www.skidim.com

[NautiqueSS]

Yeah I agree that the fake-a-lake is a PITA but it is the closest thing to simulate being in the lake. I have a y at the strainer that I use for flushing but there's no way to tell if your pump is working if you are forcing water into the motor. Looking back I recall the fake-a-lake not working and thought it was just not getting a good seal when it could have been the pump going south. But to answer your question I could tell when riding that water was not coming out of the exhaust. As for rebuilding the pump the only reason I considered rebuilding was the fact that they sell the parts to rebuild them so I figured it wouldn't be that difficult. That and my pulley and housing are fine. Oh and $200 for a pump is ridiculous. But I'll let you know how it goes.

[inboardsonly]

Couple of ideas---
Is the pump itself installed correctly?
If it is upside down, it will not pump correctly. Look carefully at the
pump and you will see paint drips on it. Are the drips on the bottom?
They should be.

The other is, if you have recently replaced the impeller, the o-ring and
the impeller are two items that can affect the pumps ability to prime.
If the O-ring is too fat, it will not let the sides of the impeller seal against the pump. If the impeller is too soft or not wide enough, same thing.
Always use the Sherwood OEM parts. The aftermarket stuff SOMETIMES works.

Just a couple of ideas, from experience in the past.

IO O&O