Water pump changed but still not pumping

Hi all,

I changed a water pump today on a 9.8 mercury from the mid 70s. I ran the motor for about 1 minute and it hadn't started pumping water yet in a barrel of water, before I had to shut it down b/c I had to leave. A couple questions.

1. Should it have reached temp by then?
2. It didn't seem like the impeller had anything that it grabbed that would make it spin? It has a groove in the inside diameter that looks like is supposed to lock it into place somehow, but I didn't see anything that it should have grabbed. What mechanically makes the water pump spin?
3. This is probably a really dumb question, but I can't find the latch that should pop the engine cover off.

Thanks!

Josh

There should be a "key" that locks the impeller to the driveshaft (which is what turns the impeller).

There is a (slot) in the driveshaft which you insert the key in (often a half moon shaped key, and the protruding part of the key fits that "groove" in the impeller.

And to release the "hood" look for a small square (about 1" big) on the back of the cowl (a little left of center on the back if I'm remembering correctly) - just push it in (spring loaded) and viola... should release the hood...

Graham is right--you may have knoced that key out and the impeller isn't turning. I barrel test them with a drill to make sure they're pumping before reassembly. Here's how it's done.

Jeff