Mercury waterpump

[Harrison]

List,

I have a 2005 Mercury 60HP Bigfoot which has never had it’s water pump replaced. Still “pees” like a champ, but was wondering what’s the life of these things? I’m planning on heading out to Catalina next week, and don’t want to have it fail. If it’s recommended to change this out, is it hard to do? Any tricks / tips etc.?

Thanks,
Harrison

[aya16]

Depending if you started a few times without running water to the motor and things like salt water or polluted water, about every three years is good.
Your DUE. I have done a few merc's, its pretty straight forward, and easy to do, the problem you might run into is the seven years the motor hasn't come apart where you need to take it apart, corrosion may have stuck the leg's together pretty good by now.

Tip: get a cheap manual, Chilton's or something like it, follow the direction, especially all the nuts that have to come off, there are a couple hidden ones.

take your time, making sure when you take the pump housing off you note the rotation of the old water pump rubber piece. If you take the rubber impeller off over the shaft and lay it down as it came off you will see the rotation as the impeller will have a set to the fingers.

use grease to lube the shaft as well as the pump housing for the ease of putting the new pump over the shaft as well as give you some lube when you first start the engine with the new pump. Very little grease, just enough to coat things lightly.

make sure when you start work the key is out of the ignition, and the gear shift is in reverse, so later you can use the prop to line up the splines on the shaft with the motor, (by hand)

there's a lot more to it, so the manual is what you need for step by step and not rely on me or others to walk you through it, all engines are about the same, but I believe merc, has a splined shifter shaft you have to line up as well as the plastic water tube when you put things back together.
Mike

[Divecoz]

Aya 16 and others... ? Mine too is 7 years old. I have maybe ??? 100 hours on it.. Is it runnning time or hours?? In all my years I have never IIRC replaced a water pump..

[1st Sail]

Mine is an '06 Etec. My marine service center here said at least 7yrs. min. with the low hours (100 +/-), fresh water sailing, no shallows, mud or sand. Now I I supposed I just cursed my OB for shooting my mouth off.

[aya16]

I only ever replaced a water pump that really needed it once, the rest, mabey 15 water pumps in my life, were what we call preventive maintenance
I run my boats in salt water so change my pumps about every three years, the problem with waiting till the pump gets weak, or bad is it never happens in your drive way. The other problem is the motor leg that has to come off to do the job, as well as the stainless bolts in aluminum leg get corroded and stuck and its a bear to deal with after so much time.

A water pump impeller is about 15-20 bucks, it takes about an hour to change it, and can be done by anyone. A water pump kit, that someone would need after waiting 7-10 years cost as much as 60 bucks, or more, also the aluminum housing molded into the leg may get eaten away by waiting so long. That is bad real bad.

A water pump impeller will start to get hard and take a set in as little as a year, although will still work ok, the impeller works better soft and supple like new.
Seeing the pee hole working great isn't an indication the water pump is fine, the temp of the engine will tell you more, it will start to run hotter over time, because the impeller isn't working as well as a new one.

Just changing the impeller isn't all you do at that time, I take my prop off, grease the splines and put it back on, I steel wool the motor drive shaft and re grease, as well as clean all the corrosion and gunk up inside the motor, and I will change my lower gear oil, at that time to.

People can wait as long as they want to change the pump, but the next thread they may write is, " I tried to take the lower bolts off my motor leg and snapped a couple of them off, what do I do"? or, " I cant free my motor leg even after all the bolts are out, what do I do"?

You don't wait to change your spark plugs till they don't work any more, and you shouldn't wait till your pump fails, to change it either. If the vanes of the pump break off they will travel up into the motor and block the water passage, then you have to take the engine apart to free them.

Things you might have to buy if you wait: whole new pump kit, 5 pound rubber mallet, prop puller, ( prop doesn't need to be pulled to change a pump) but should be a part of the maintenance, as a prop will over time, corrode and stick to a shaft. Can of penetrating oil, and lots of time and frustration.

Telling people that they don't have to change a pump for 7-10 years, I'm sorry, is bad advice, from a mechanic, its worse advice, unless the mechanic already knows whats involved by waiting and how much money they get to do a simple job because of all the extra work involved, may even get to sell a whole new lower leg.

proper time frame of maintenance for our engines is in the manual, half that time if you run in salt water, By waiting too long we could change a simple straight forward job into a very expensive nightmare. For 15 bucks and a little free time, its worth it to change every few years.

The other thing that goes wrong with an outboard if not checked and cleaned regularly, is the thermostats, that to should be cleaned and checked at the time of the pump change. I forgot to mention that above. Salt crystals will form over time in the housing, cause the thermostat to malfunction, with modern computer run motors thats a big problem as it will effect how the motor runs.
Mike

[Divecoz]

Thanks AYA16: You've done this a bunch of times and I admit I think I have been dilatory with this aspect of boat maintenance.
I will get a Manual for my motor ASAP! 3 more questions.. make that 4 ..
1. Do they make better after market impellers? So as to not have the "set" take place?
2. Never seize? You mention numerous times that if you wait too long #$%^&* maybe I have ?? Is this somewhere , were I might use nev-r-seize to stop the seizing?
3. The telltale ONLY tells its still "working" but NOT Necessarily at optimum performance.. HOW MANY Of you guys have engine temp gauges??
Humm now I wonder if I can hookup a Motor temp gauge on my Mercury??
4. Aya16 what motor do you have?

[aya16]

Hi the last one I did was for a guy at my storage lot, he was told that, by his mech, that the pump and other things were taken care of regularly. I found the pump was never changed, and the leg of his motor was frozen. I almost didn't want to finish, because the lower leg had to be pried and hit with a rubber hammer to get it to come off. I was afraid that I would break the cavitation plate, but I got it off. His pump was really bad and the moulded in part on the leg was chipping away.

Anyway, the impeller is made of a very durable rubber, its the heat and friction that will set the rubber, and its normal. So just use the merc one, I don't think there is an after market one anyway.

you should have a temp gauge built into your tack readout, if not an after market one is easy to install and mount. your motor is already wired for it.

Now I have a merc 115 on my mac, I have a suz 50, a honda 2, evinrude 4, and a force 15, ohh I still have the 50hp merc I took off my other boat. The merc 115 has a tack gauge that tells me the temp as well as water pump pressure, not sure you have that on yours, Its really slick, and the water pressure gauge tells you best of the condition of the water pump, but over the years I noticed my engines temp gauge would climb about ten-twenty deg. over normal and it was time to change the pumps.

I wouldn't use never seize, just coat the bolts with the same grease you use to grease your trailer bearings, the marine blue grease. coat lightly though.
One thing about the drive shaft, don't glob grease on the top that goes up into the motor, The fit is so tight that the grease will have a hydraulic reaction, make it hard to put back up in the motor, grease the splines only, this is important, by greasing the splines, and all the bolts, you have a coating that will go between the stainless bolts and the stainless drive shift the will hold off for some time the reaction you get between the stainless and aluminum engine, all my engines come apart really slick because of this. Some manuals tell you not to grease the drive shaft, but in many many years I have never had a problem doing it.

The drive shaft is another area that will seize up in the motor, although it doesn't get wet, (supposedly) just the salt air will get up there and make things hard to work on.

I don't want to scare you, you could have an easy time of it, Its just that I have taken apart a couple engines to do water pumps and really had to struggle with them ( other peoples engines) and the force I bought used was a bear with burnt impeller from running the motor without water. It only takes a min. or too to ruin a water pump when run dry. It will burn the rubber, and scratch the stainless housing beyond salvage. Even with this condition the pee hole will still pee water.
I cringe when I see some guy at the ramp who starts his outboard before he hits the water, and then most of those guys will rev the motor at the same time.
That's all it takes to fry the pump, and I bet they scratch their heads later when the over heat warning beeper goes off, Then I bet they just think the beeper has a short or something, all because his pee hole is pumping water.

It really is a simple job, just has to be done in the correct steps, and make sure everything goes back in right, never force the leg back up in the motor with the two bolts above the cavitation plate, if it wont go up by hand, your splines up top are not meshed, remember I said make sure the engine is in reverse before you start? well at the point the splines don't line up, just turn the prop as you put the leg on to line up the splines, simple, but if we don't know that we can spend hours trying to fig. it out.

If you run in salt water, even if the bolts on your engine come out easy, you will notice white corrosion on the threads as you take them out.

Getting a manual is good, not because its that hard to do, but there are certain steps you have to take when taking the bolts out, and putting them back in ( the bolts above the cavatation plate are the last to come off, first to go back on) like the two above the cavitation plate have to come off last, they wont unscrew all the way off till the leg drops an inch or so, there's bolts under the cavatation plate, and there's a hidden bolt under the zink fin too. So things like that are explained in the manual.
Mike

[Harrison]

Wow, great information! Thanks so much! I just ordered the kit and I’m picking it up tonight on the way home from work. Also downloaded the manual for $19.99. Thanks for all the advice and tips on doing the maintenance.

---Harrison

[Divecoz]

Thanks AYA16.. Its on my list of stuff to do SOOOON! Spring came early to Chicago.. and the yard is getting away from me .. But I will Make Time in a couple days..again Thanks for the Help and directions and Cautions!!!

[aya16]

Good luck guys, ohh some engines like the suz you have to unscrew the shifting linkage, and some you have to put the engine in forward to get to the linkage.
The suz. threads are reversed threads, remember that when you reinstall the shift linkage, or you'll be all day trying to catch the thread. I use a sharpie to screw the coupler back to the og place it was screwed to on the threads on the shifting rod
Mike

[Catigale]

Original impeller on my 2003 Mercury Bigfoot, used in both fresh and salt...ymmv

[aya16]

Original impeller on my 2003 Mercury Bigfoot, used in both fresh and salt...ymmv

That would be hammertime, jack hammer that is....

[Divecoz]

Its now raining and will be for the next few days.. But I will R&R my impeller soon..I have a Dead Blow Hammer with exchangeable faces

Original impeller on my 2003 Mercury Bigfoot, used in both fresh and salt...ymmv

That would be hammertime, jack hammer that is....