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Impeller completely shredded in the housing!

G

GalaxyTandy

New member
Good evening.
Went out to the lake two weeks ago realize that no water was getting to my risers took boat home removed the lower half of the outdrive (alpha 1) And found that there was no impeller visible at all in fact there was signs of debris from the impeller (look a photos) My question is What could cause an impeller to shred into pieces? Most pictures and videos I’ve seen show impellers with missing finsNot completely shredded. Is this normal? Doing my inspection on everything else things seem to be in order no damage done to the shaft. Thx in advance.
Chris
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kimcrwbr1 said:
You may need to backflush the oil cooler to get any bits that likely got pushed there?
Click to expand...

Yes, ditto that.
Do your forensic work..... find and retrieve all of the missing pieces. If not, they may come back and haunt you in the form of blockage and possible over-heating.

Also look at your elbow-to-down-tube couplers, your back-flow prevention flappers and your exhaust bellows. From lack of cooling water, they may have become blistered on the interior.




.
 
It's an Alpha drive, there is no oil cooler to check and any pieces would go right through the power steering cooler (if your boat has power steering)....

If this is not a generation 2 Alpha, the pump has to be changed every year if used in salt water. Use Quicksilver/OEM parts only.

Now finding the old pieces....Pull the thermostat housing and water hoses from the exhaust and look for the pieces.
 
....consider a whole pump rebuild it, not just the impeller. Pay attention to the "lube the impeller instructions " when you do this.

Re: "and water hoses from the exhaust and look for the pieces."... especially at the point at which "used" water gets injected back into the exhaust stream in the elbows.
 
To Bt Doctur
While at the lake I did notice the motor heating up rather quickly. When things are flowing properly I noticed temp running at 175. It creeped up to 200 at thee most also it started smoking. When I noticed that I turned the motor off quickly. Also had to replace starter.

To San kicker
I ordered the impeller kit and gaskets. I will NOW order the pump as well thank you.

To Dockside
I Believe it is a Alpha 1 gen 1. It does have power sterring

***During inspection of the thermostat I saw NO debris from that impeller. I checked the hose coming out of the transom and what remaining water that was in there had no debris. Im wondering if the debris escaped out of the port where the ear muffs go on. I plan on replacing everything***

Thank you all for replies.
Chris
 
I"ve noticed, paradoxically, that an engine with NO water in it at all sometimes won't register a temperature all the high.. After all, the sensor measures water temp... in the abscence of water in the jacket, it is measuring something related to the temperature of the iron that the sensor is mounted to, I say related to as the sensor tip of the sender is somewhat thermally isolated from the case of the sensor in order to allow it to respond the rapid changes in the water and not the iron of the block itself.. When water circulates, the whole engine tends to heat up at once No water.... and hence no circulation.... some parts of your engine got VERY VERY hot.
 
Update!
Big thanks to everyone assistance in this thread. I finally had time to replace the impeller (watched several youtube videos) Replaced my starter as well. (I died on the lake) Fired it up and VIOLA!!!! water flowing thru the thru hull exhaust. Next thing Ill want to do is to lake test it myself before I have my family out with me. Again thank you all for the wonderful information provided.
Chris
 
No sure about your boat, but with mine (5.0 Alpha One) there's not way to see if it's pumping water while IN the water. (Easy on the trailer.) Since I always check after starting a motor up (OBs and inboards), I made my own Tell Tale. Tapped into a fitting on the exhaust manifold and piped it to where I could eyeball it.

Jeff
 
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