Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

[joshdashnaw]

I purchased a water pump kit to replace everything in my 91 L-drive 90 hp. After dropping the lower unit I could tell the previous owner had changed out the impeller since there was a piece of an impeller laying in there blocking where the water goes in. The questio i have is where is the locating disc. my kit didn't come with one and there wasn't one on the old pump. What was there was two seals around the shift rod. one seal was squeezed in between the other. When I removed them they came a part and the were the same diameter, the one was really stretched to get around the other. My kit only came with one seal. Another thing is the kit came with a water tube. The old pump didn't have one. It does however have a seal attached to the u joint housing called the water line seal I believe. So this water tube doesn't seam like it will work for my application specifically. Water tube seems too wide to slide in. Also the top of the shift rod has rust and you can tell that the grease got wet. Could it have something to do with they way they had it sealed before?

 

[joshdashnaw]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

so looking at it again, one of those seals that were stuck together could be what they call the locating disc. Is the locating disc a soft piece of rubber. Is it suppose to sit in the housing. Another thing is the book says to install seal lip up, but the seal has no lip. argh I hate working on things after someone else has already messed with them.

 

[joshdashnaw]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

Anybody? Anything will help.

 

[joshdashnaw]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

so I came to the conclusion that the water tube is not going to be used in my application. But the seal I have doesn't seem to cut it. And I still don't know what this locating disc thing is. Also called a centering disc I believe.

 

[joshdashnaw]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

Book says seal goes on drive shaft, and then you put pump assembly on. How does that work? Doesn't there need to be a seal on top of the pump housing to seal up in the u joint housing. Come on someone has gotta have something.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

Don't know about the L Drive but the Force outboards I have seen have a white nylon or delrin plastic disc under the seal. the purpose of this is to keep the pump centered on the drive shaft while you are installing it and to prevent side loading on the seal, causing it to leak. Seal orientation is not too critical at the top of the water pump because minor leakage will not harm anything. But if you look closely at the seal it will look like it has two ridges on the inside. One will be larger than the other. It goes up. Now don't quote me but I think the spring side of the seal goes down. No, looking in my manual, it is difficult to see but it looks like the spring side goes up. They describe it as the major seal up.

 

[joshdashnaw]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

Thank you for some help. The seal it came with is just like a o ring. And it isn't thick enough to seal the gap between the pump and the u-joint housing up top, so it will be able to move up and down on the shaft. I do have another seal that may work better that didn't come with the kit.

 

[joshdashnaw]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

So I posted my problem with the marine doctor and he said that the seal that came with my kit is for later years and that I don't need a seal around the drive shaft for mine. any comments.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

The marine doc knows his stuff.
Its a shame he doesn't come here anymore.

 

[baxtr]

Re: Changing water pump. I'm quite confused

The marine doc knows his stuff.
Its a shame he doesn't come here anymore.

I think the doc's own site takes up all of his time now. and he certainly does know his stuff, I would trust what he says about the seal.