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Did I mess my impeller or something up?

DWester

Regular Contributor
I just fired the boat up today for the first time since October. A 1978 350 Merc with a heat exchanger. Hooked the water up, fired it up and watched for the exhaust water to run, but nothing. I shut it down and found a low spot in the water supply, just inside the transom that was frozen. I always drain this thing, but somehow I missed this spot. Anyway, after I got the thing unplugged, I ran it again, but still not much water. Some, but not enough. I pulled the hose off maybe a foot inside the transom and there wasn't much difference of flow from the water pressure from the hose and with it running briefly.

I'm thinking maybe I blew something out past the impeller, or can the impeller screw up with no where for the water to go that it's pumping?

I'm planning on taking the outdrive off and have a look, but thought I'd run it by you guys first. The impeller was replaced last year with only 15 hours on it.
 
I assume you ran it on muffs. If so, there's probably nothing wrong with the impeller because it was getting water, regardless if it was moving through your engine or not. You might have had more ice in other hoses that you didn't find, hence the lack of water flow. I'd pull it and check it just to be sure.
 
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