[DBStoots]

Absent any presenting problems, is it necessary to change the water pump and impeller every time the 100 hour/annual maintenance is done? Just changed the oil, lower unit gear oil, plugs and fuel filters. Can that wait every other service?

 

[Half Shell]

from what I've always heard...

- you need to drop the lower unit once a year, and since it's a $30 part and once you drop the lower unit you might as well change it

- skiffs run into sand and mud a lot and thus have more impeller wear

I have no idea if it's really true but I know mine has been changed every 12 months

 

[Frank Ucci]

I had a friend that was an outboard mechanic. He recommended that I change the impeller once a year just to keep all the lower unit and water pump bolts moving freely. It's been 25 years since I received that advice and it's worked well for me.

 

[Smackdaddy53]

Full kit once a year, not just the impeller for me. An overheating outboard is no use to anyone!

 

[tjtfishon]

I had a friend that was an outboard mechanic. He recommended that I change the impeller once a year just to keep all the lower unit and water pump bolts moving freely. It's been 25 years since I received that advice and it's worked well for me.

Not that I think this schedule is unreasonable, but using the same logic you could do it every month and still have the same result....good advice that's always worked well for you. The real question is how much longer could you go with the same result?

 

[dafjib]

Absent any presenting problems, is it necessary to change the water pump and impeller every time the 100 hour/annual maintenance is done? Just changed the oil, lower unit gear oil, plugs and fuel filters. Can that wait every other service?

For the cost I would ,depends on how you have used it .If old one looks ok ,wait longer to change ,see if your water is pumping good .Go by what your motor Mfg. says to do .

 

[hipshot]

I had a water pressure gauge in the bass boat. When the pressure started to drop I changed the impeller. It might be three months; it might be three years (I've actually gone longer than that). Without a water pressure gauge (don't have one in the skiff), annually would be a safe bet.

 

[topnative2]

once every 2yrs regardless of hrs but I always flush and keep an eye on the stream

 

[lemaymiami]

I did mine in the prescribed fashion (every year for all my motors until the first E-Tec - then every 300 hours - which for me at the time was around six months...) then I got cocky and only changed out a water pump when my water pressure gauge showed a drop in performance... that was until.....

One day just after 3:30pm I'm running the Joe River (Flamingo) with customers aboard and know I'm going to be about 30 minutes late back to the ramp.... That, of course was just before my water pump died on me and water pressure went to zero in a heartbeat... Hmm nearly 19 miles to the ramp late in the afternoon with customers aboard... Uh oh.... I make a direct call to Ranger dispatch and start a Ranger my way (and of course that meant a Ranger on the road needed to drive to Flamingo, launch the patrol boat, then run to my location - not looking good for the home team... Roughly 30 minutes later a good samaritan running the Joe route came by and offered to tow us in -- I could have kissed him... Two hours later we got back to the ramp - and to this day I always do the prescribed maintenance interval for my water pumps, period... By the way in that instance, the rubber part of the impeller had sheared off of the pump's shaft - that's why the pump failed. Mechanic said he'd never seen that before....

By the way the rangers will only take people aboard and will not under any circumstances provide a tow... so I had planned on a day's poling - the following day to get home.... not a fun idea at all. I'd planned on having them take off my passengers and leaving me with the skiff...

 

[DBStoots]

Thanks everybody.

 

[Boatbrains]

Here is my take on impellers/wp’s...

Most manufacturers “Evinrude aside” recommend every two years. I say every year needed or not. If you are going through the labor to drop the lower and inspect then you might as well change at least the impeller and have that piece of mind for the next year. Don’t let that little piece of rubber and a tight wallet ruin what most consider very precious time on the water!

 

[backbone]

I watch my pressure gauge and change every two years which is around 200 hrs.
I don't regularly run remote locations, however, reading Bobs post makes me rethink my strategy...

 

[Smackdaddy53]

It’s $25-30...how much is your fishing time worth?

 

[lemaymiami]

Don't want to rain on anyone's parade - but most of the stuff on the water I've had to learn the hard way... Seems like those lessons should have come with a box of band-aids... Today, though, I did a 70 mile round trip into the backcountry (from the ramp up to Highland Beach and back...) and the motor on my old skiff has a bit over 2300 hours on it... I'll have a new one this summer as soon as possible...

 

[Mike C]

Last fall I was running way up the Little Manatee and got into some really, really shallow water that had soft mud/sand below.
I shut down the motor and used the PP to get off the goop.
Once clear, I fired back up and noticed the absence of a piss stream. I shut it down and checked the intakes to make sure they were clear.

Nothing.

Fired it back up and decided fo let it run to see if the hot alarm would come on.
It didn't, so I idled for a bit towards the launch area.
Still no alarm so we ran back to the ramp and loaded out.

Picked up a new kit on the way home and installed it.

Still no piss stream.

Opened the cowling to make sure nothing was in the lines and they were clear to include the piss tube.
Fired it up and the piss tube had plenty of water coming through it so I hooked it back up.
Still no piss water...
WTF?
That left about 1" of tube that hadn't been checked. Yeah, the part attached to the outside just under the cowl.
Took a piece of safety wire and managed to push a perfectly sized piece of shell out of the orifice.
That tiny piece blocked the entire orifice.
Worked like a champ after that.

I thought about keeping the old impeller since it was probably still good, and decided $30 wasn't worth taking the chance.

 

[EasternGlow]

Yup I’ve had that happen. I now keep a paper clip in the boat for that reason.

Last fall I was running way up the Little Manatee and got into some really, really shallow water that had soft mud/sand below.
I shut down the motor and used the PP to get off the goop.
Once clear, I fired back up and noticed the absence of a piss stream. I shut it down and checked the intakes to make sure they were clear.

Nothing.

Fired it back up and decided fo let it run to see if the hot alarm would come on.
It didn't, so I idled for a bit towards the launch area.
Still no alarm so we ran back to the ramp and loaded out.

Picked up a new kit on the way home and installed it.

Still no piss stream.

Opened the cowling to make sure nothing was in the lines and they were clear to include the piss tube.
Fired it up and the piss tube had plenty of water coming through it so I hooked it back up.
Still no piss water...
WTF?
That left about 1" of tube that hadn't been checked. Yeah, the part attached to the outside just under the cowl.
Took a piece of safety wire and managed to push a perfectly sized piece of shell out of the orifice.
That tiny piece blocked the entire orifice.
Worked like a champ after that.

I thought about keeping the old impeller since it was probably still good, and decided $30 wasn't worth taking the chance.

 

[backbone]

I keep a 6' piece of weed wacker line in my dry bag. 1st thing to try when it doesnt pee is run that up as far as it will go. Usually fixes the issue.

Once I was flushing the motor and didn't look into the hose before I hooked it up. I ended up blowing a small tree frog into the the engine's water system. That was an interesting clean up.

 

[Mike C]

I keep a 6' piece of weed wacker line in my dry bag. 1st thing to try when it doesnt pee is run that up as far as it will go. Usually fixes the issue.

Once I was flushing the motor and didn't look into the hose before I hooked it up. I ended up blowing a small tree frog into the the engine's water system. That was an interesting clean up.

As a kid I learned to always flush a hose and even the bib before drinking out of it.

50 years later, I can still feel that spider on my tongue...

 

[lemaymiami]

You’ll never have a pee stream clog up with an E-Tex (at least not on my 90’s). The hole is so large that cooling water just pours out...