Hello all, I'm working with a '97 Fountain Fever with 502. Its on the trailer and I have the hose hooked to the foot but I have no water exiting after going through the engine. Is there a priming process that I am not getting right? The sea pump is new, I know the hoses are routed properly, but it still overheats. Shouldn't I see water exiting even before the thermostat opens? Help!
I should mention... I've built and repaired cars for years and I work as a heavy equipment mechanic, but I'm just learning about the cooling system in a boat engine. Thanks
You will need to look to see if your drive has the low water pick up holes I am talking about here, Your right around the year merc was changing stuff, So if you don't have the holes on the nose cone of the drive then you don't need to cover them up, but you will want to hook the water hose the way I have writen this in detail before and I just copyed and pasted this from another post I did some time ago.Also keep in mind some guy's have had luck with filling the intake hose with water on the inside of the boat right before the impeller housing to start as a priming prosses. I have never needed to fill the hose as long as I did it this way [See post below] But I have seen it not suck up water right after a new impeller job If I hooked the water hose up to the drive before lowering the drive down first. So try doing it this way to see if it will take off for you.
When you hooked up the muffs to the main water pick up holes on the side of the drive, Did you or do you know to also cover up the low water pick up holes on the nose cone area at the front of the lower unit there should be 4 holes there that you will need to cover up or you will suck up air and could burn up the impeller in no time at all. merc sales a cover for this but you could use good old duck tape to cover them up also, It works varry well just don't for get to remove the tape when done.
Also make sure before you hook up the muffs you need to lower the drive down first so you can make sure you are geting all the air out of the water hose system between the drive and the impeller housing then hook up the muffs then cover the 4 holes then turn the water on all the way up, Then while you are watcing the water psi at the muffs you want to watch to see if the water almost stops flowing all over the drive way and see if it lookes like the water is being sucked into the drive when the engine starts up so you know the impeller is doing it's job or not. Then have the guy/girl rev the engine up to 1300rpms, And if you know for sure there is no big water leake inside the bilge area coming off the engine then with in 45 seconds you should have a lot of water coming out the exhaust holes either at the too side holes on the out side transom area almost up aginst the transom of the boat on both sides, You should see it start flowing while back there Or it should come out your exhaust tips if they are open.If you have no water with in 45 seconds to 1 min max shut it down. Then If you know by chance where the impeller housing is on the inside of the boat mounted to the engine block try to feel the impeller housing behind the pully to see if it is warm or hot to the touch it should be cold like the garden hose water, IF it is hot then the impeller is bad. Also if you do not see it suck in water at start up it will be a bad impeller. [FYI] If you have been running the engine on the hose and you have the low water pick up system and you have NOT been covering them 4 holes up, And you have almost 2 years Or 50 plus hours on the engine then it is time to replace the impeller becuase it will be bad soon and you WILL find it right at the time that you really do not have the time to be dealing with this problem. THIS IS ON ALL BRAVO ONE MERCRUISER DRIVES, from I believe 1998ish and up The bravo 3s do not have the low water pick up system in that time frame. I hope this helps you some good luck with it.
Thanks boat teck, the dealer that winterized had me bring it in, was informed that a bravo I should never be started on muffs, said it can burn the impeller in seconds, which when we tanked it, it is a bad impeller.
Lesson learned I guess, good news they can have it back to me tomorrow, and I'll agree as regular maintenance, it's not a bad idea to have it changed now anyway.
So, if you have a Bravo I, beware the muffs.
I understand what the dealer said becuase putting it in a tank is the best thing to do for temp testing, BUT you do NOT need to be afraid to run it on the muffs as long as you are doing it the way I was talking about in detail "on the above post" you will be fine and it is varry safe to do it,
Also you should look in to buying a certin muff set that merc sales just for the bravo/alpha drive, It is a too part style rubber muff with a long skiny rod that that will go thur the holes of the lower unit and hook up on both sides of the drive holes, And all you do is push it up to the drive really tight covering all the holes and turn the water on. Any merc dealer should be able to get them or I think you can find them at west marine. PS you still need duck tape or buy the cover for the low water pick up to run it on the hose if you have the low water pick up holes on the nose of the drive.
