mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

[lions den]

hey everyone, i am happy to find this site. anyhow, i am a novice at boating. lots car exp. just bought boat sat, took out first time monday and overheated. sat for over a year before i bought it. she said ran great. its a 1988 3.7l mercruiser i/o. anyhow, seems like a leak from front cover at bottom left. how do i take off the front cover to replace all the seals of the front cover....think thermostat is problem? i took off the small 3-bolt housing tht left me see the impeller...its froze...any idea's?

 

[Rickles]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

Take off the pump and get a new pump and housing kit.You'll get the impeller and housing w/wear plate,seal& bolts.Use soapy water to lube the impeller and put the new one in so the blades are bent the same as the old.Make sure the bearing in the body turns smooth.Have fun

 

[lions den]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

any good sites to see how to take off the pump, cover, and flywheel?

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

Me thinks we're talking about different water pumps. You have two. The circulating pump on the motor, and the raw water pump in the drive. Your circulating pump is internally driven. Sounds like the gasket is bad. If memory serves, to get that deep into it you have to remove the flywheel. (Actually the flywheel is on the back of the motor. What I think you're talking about is the Harmonic Balancer. But then it really isn't that either. It has magnets inside that rotate around a stator that charges the battery. Do NOT hit it with a hammer. The magnets will come off and then you have real problems.) Since you have the cover off, crank the motor and see if it turns.<br /><br />Now to the overheating problem. A lot of first-timers learn the hard way that water pumps burn out if the boat is run out of the water. If you must run it out of water you can get a set of muffs that clamps over the water intake holes on the sides of the lower gearcase. It connects to a garden hose and that's how you get water to it. This pump is on top of the lower gearcase. You might try your public library for a manual. If you plan on keeping that boat, it'd be a wise investment to buy one. They sell them here on iboats.

 

[elpaso]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

Go to sterndrives.com Look in How-to-do-it section. At bottom of page, 3.7 water pump replacement.<br />Detailed information and pictures.

 

[elpaso]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

Also, go to - mercstuff.com<br />How to do it section - it will tell<br />you how to repair almost everything on you boat.

 

[captkid]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

if you dont fix the problem replacing the gaskets and whatnot i would look towards doing the cam seals

 

[lions den]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

thanks everyone for your help...sorry to just reply but busy with trying all the advice. finally discovered the front seals where bad in the front cover, replaced those, new gaskets, good to go. however, as willybwright mentioned, the magnets on the inside of the flywheel (or harmonic balancer) are shot. they litterly fell apart when i pulled the flywheel off. i have a feeling whoever owned this prior did beat it with hammer...anyhow, all my problems are fixed EXCEPT the stator and the flywheel....i know they are salty...looking for alternatives or suggestions here.....

 

[Trent]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

Lions Den.... DOnt repair that stator. Its cheaper to install the aftermarket alternator kit and do away with that old charging system. Just replacing the water cooled voltage regulator will almost pay for the conversion. Their are several places to get the kit. Here is just one..... Kit

 

[lions den]

Re: mercruiser water pump - need addtnl help

awesome, thanks trent...everyone has been really helpful to me the rookie !! another question on the balancer though, will the charging system work with 4 of the 6 magnets on the harm. balancer?