Impeller

"so if you replace a water imp

"so if you replace a water impeller what else should you replace at the same time ? does any one have any good ideas how to drain a fuel tank ,I think my gas is old and needs replaced the motor is back firing at start up and is running rough.I an trying to find out if i have a cracked block, had water in oil (not in filter )so i ran the boat for 20 min started hard but started then ran rough for a while used carb cleaner sea foam and it ran nice for 10 min idled and opened up nice then shut down the motor and was hard to start (back fires) so i let it set for 20 min. then restarted it same out come as above then the temperature started to rise form 175 which is where it was the first time i ran the motor to 220 . this boat has set unused for some time and i think condensation is the problem in the oil any one have any tips or sugestions please feel free to advise me summer is comming soon and the kids are ready thank you"

"Hey Darrin,
I just did an im

"Hey Darrin,
I just did an impeller on my 1998 5.0L/Alpha and I asked the same question to my parts guy. He told me that if I'm only dropping the lower unit of the stern drive, be sure to do a complete "impeller pump kit" and that was it. If the gears aren't making noise there isn't much else to do on that lower end. If you drop the drive oil and it's all milky (oil/water mix) you got problems that you can't just remedy with handtools and the entire drive needs to be "resealed"... so hope that's not your deal. The impeller job is actually fairly quick and since this is a "new" boat to you, I'd highly recommend it. I've seen impeller die after 5 minutes of dry-operation and I've seen 'em last 10 years!

I really hope you don't have a cracked block! Water in the oil can come from a few places and not just a cracked block. Drain it all, refill, let her run and check again. Do this first before you start pulling things apart. Perhaps it's just condensation from sitting around.

You really should drain the gas tank but I'm not certain how that is exactly done."

Hey thanks when changing the i

Hey thanks when changing the impeller do you just need to take out the four bolts on the lower unit and its right there? This is new to me so some details would be nice I love to turn a wrench .I drained the oil today after i had ran the motor for 20 to 30 min and the same volume came out that i had put in it was gray so i hope that the block is not crcked because I would think that if it were cracked the volume would be more.

"Yes, it's very easy to ge

"Yes, it's very easy to get to. There are 4 bolts you can see (2 port, 2 starboard) and one under the aft trim anode (after you remove the anode) and one up front that you gotta reach at from the top next to the little rubber hose (speedometer pickup tub) tucked in there which also needs to be removed. Put the drive gear in FORWARD and drop that bad boy straight down. Not to sound like a jerk but you may wanna run to the local library and check to see if there is a Mercruiser sterndrive manual. Make a photocopy of the few pages for the right process (torque specs, etc)... mainly cuz I've got an "Alpha 1 Gen 2" and you may have an "Alpha 1 Gen 1"... not sure. It's cheaper than buying the whole manual!

Good thinking on the oil change "volume". That's a good way to check for foreign fluids. If it's gray it could just be from "cleaning it out". Not sure man, I wish I could give you a more definitive answer."

"If the motor ran for long wit

"If the motor ran for long with a bad impeller, I would look into a 'water pump kit', not just impeller up. The Gen 1 had a plastic pump housing and it can deform when it gets really hot, making it leak and the water kills the oil and takes out bearings, gears, etc. It's not instantaneous destruction in most cases but if it's run hard with water in the gear case, it'll have problems. For the little extra cost of the whole kit over the "impeller up" repair, it's worth it. You will have extra parts if you buy a Sierra kit.

I found a manual on ebay when I needed to re-do a friend's drive and since I had worked out of Mercruiser manuals and prefer them, it was cake. The manual was for him more than me but I did need it so I could look up gear pre-load, torque and other specs."