89' 5.0l OMC not cooling

kc7jlm

Recruit
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
2
I am working on a 1989 5.0L OMC that will not stuck water. If I put ear muffs on it, the cooling system works fine. The impellor and water pump in the engine have been replaced. Any ideas? The mechanic that worked on it previously said that there is a shaft between the pump and impellor, that may have broken. They said it was easier to replace the whole outdrive with a rebuilt one rather than repair this one??? Any ideas that may help in the decision to tear it apart or get a rebuilt unit??
 

Striper Blues

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
135
Re: 89' 5.0l OMC not cooling

I have had a similar problem, grab some coffee..... I had the outdrive rebuilt, put it back on tested it on the muffs purrrrfect. Put it in the water the sucker would run up near overheating then all the sudden start cooling properly. I couldn't figure out what the problem was, I even disassembled the impeller pump and inspected it, it was all brand new. Longer story short, after a few outings it overheated big time when i wasn't watching the guage and blew the head gasket!!! FIRST WARNING, don't do what I did, make sure you're 100% satisfied you've found and fixed the problem. At that point I replaced the head gasket, flapper, etc (sic) and had the marina pull it out and look at the out drive/impeller pump etc. They could see no wrong. On the muffs perfect, in the water nothing. Eventually I spoke with an outdrive guru who told me to replace the entire impeller pump assembly again, in spite of the fact that they did when the out drive was rebuilt a few weeks earlier. for less than $50 bucks you can buy the whole kit (usually cheaper on ebay) and believe it or not, it fixed it. The parts side by side looked identical (i.e. housings, plates etc). But some subtlety between them was not allowing the pump to prime. The outdrive guru told me he has seen this 6 or 7 times on these engine/outdrives. When he sees these symptoms he replaces the plate and impeller and if it doesn't fix it he replaces the rest. The key is it has always solved the problem for him. It cost me $855 to learn this lesson, today just for you....no charge.....
 

kc7jlm

Recruit
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
2
Re: 89' 5.0l OMC not cooling

Thanks for the input. The boat is not mine, but the problem you described is exactly like this problem. We will try replacing the pump assy. I will post the outcome and let you know Thanks again
 
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