Water pump impeller?

[Importkillerrr]

So I got the ole girl running but zero water pressure no pee stream at all. Dropped the lower unit to inspect the water pump. Couldn't get the housing off at all... Good Lord it was tough. The impeller came off inside the housing. Is it supposed to be that tight in there? I never changed out my impellers... Always had my buddy do it when I would pick my boat up from winter storage it was always already done for me so I don't know how it's supposed to look. There was a new impeller kit in the glove compartment off the boat when I bought it but it looks way too big too... Is this normal?!?!
The second picture is the new impeller from the kit that was in the glovebox... Its huge... Is that normal or is it the wrong kit? Sorry there's no model number or anything on the kit... The sticker with all the info got ruined from water.

[Solarman]

Yes, it is normal. But make sure the impeller vanes are bent the proper direction (the driveshaft only turns one direction, same direction as flywheel), AND that the key is in the driveshaft and impeller groove properly, otherwise the impeller will not turn. A little water-soluble lubricant will make it easy to turn the driveshaft (same direction as flywheel) as you slide the housing down over the impeller. Don't forget to use a good grease on driveshaft splines each time you change impeller.

Make sure nothing is blocking the tell-tale hole with heavy monofilament/weed eater type line.

Good luck, post back on what you find out.

[Importkillerrr]

I ordered a new kit so there's not much I can do until it comes in....I was curious though why with this impeller I had zero water flow.... Nothing coming from the tell tale nothing even coming from the hub... That's with muffs and also tried it in a tank (couldn't see hub flow in the tank obviously)... The tank I don't think was deep enough to prime honestly... I'm used to my Merc that had a bobs low water pick up on it... Didn't need nearly as deep a tank on that. I pushed a garden hose over the water tube going up into the engine and it had great flow through the thermostats and out the tell tale and the exhaust hole in the mid section so there's no restriction there. Could an impeller freeze itself from sitting for 5 years to the point that it doesn't turn at all?

[Moonlighter]

An impeller that has sat unmoved for 5 years will be stuffed without any doubt. They need to be flexible to pump. And yes, install the full pump kit, not just the impeller.

When running the engine in a barrel of water make sure that the anti-vent plate is at least 3” underwater.

[dalealan]

Pull up a you-tube video on suzuki engines, worth a million bucks to see it done first!!!!!

[Solarman]

If you have the lower unit off, you can connect a piece of old hose directly to the water supply tube that the water pump uses, but you only need about 25-30 psi water pressure to run the motor, for trial period only.

Good luck.

[Importkillerrr]

I did that the other day... Didn't run the motor...just put water through the motor to make sure there were no blockages anywhere. As I mentioned earlier there was zero water flow... Nothing from the tell tale nothing from the hub... Zero water!! Either the water pump wasn't doing anything or there was a blockage so I needed to test it. With the garden hose pushed directly onto the water supply tube the flow out of the tell tale was strong and the water coming down out of the mid section in the exhaust channel was strong as well. I removed the thermostats and the water flowed strong out of both of those as well so I don't think there are any obstructions... Hoping that even though the water pump impeller was intact that the reason there was no water flow was because it was sitting for at least 5+ years without being run. I'm not sure if the impeller blades could freeze in place strong enough that the crankshaft couldn't free them but hopefully that's all it was. When I removed the water pump impeller housing I literally had to get a flat blade screwdriver under the housing and pry it off the shaft.... The impeller blades came out with the housing... It was so tightly froze in the housing that I had to force it up off the shaft to get the whole thing off.

I traded a wellcraft bow rider with an IO for this ranger 397v and was told by the young man that owned it before me that he couldn’t get the motor to run. Said it had an electrical issue that he couldn’t fix and also had a gas problem. I fixed the fuel issue... he was running a water separator filter that was LOADED with water and the primer bulb was using 1/4” tubing that he heated up the ends of to fit over the 3/8” barb on the boat side and it looks like 5/16” barb on the outboard side. The electrical issue looks like it was two parts... I found two plugs that were broke and also found the safety tether at the control box was wrapped in electrical tape so it wasn’t making a magnetic connection. I replaced the plugs and removed the electrical tape and she fired right off... after at least 5 years of sitting but probably closer to 8 years I didn’t even need to spray fuel or starter fluid into the carbs... just pumped the cheapy primer bulb I made out of a fuel syphon kit and a bit of choke and.... BAMMMM... She fired up instantly. Pretty amazing if you think about it. I didn't mix oil with the fuel I was using because the old plugs had a lot of oil on them so I assumed the oil was getting mixed using the factory setup. The short time that I ran the engine after I fixed everything I could see it had no water but it definitely had oil in the exhaust so that's a good sign. I haven't had the pleasure of really running the engine yet but I have to say... I'm damn impressed in Suzuki that she would fire up with that little amount of work after 5-10 years of sitting... Pretty awesome!!

[Moonlighter]

It might be a good idea to mix some oil in the fuel until you are 100% certain the oil pump is working. And mark the level on the oil container so you can see any change as it is used.

[Importkillerrr]

Ok... My new water pump kit came in and it was only the impeller, bottom plate, gasket and key. Looking at the original housing, it's not in terrible shape... There is a slight groove in the face but it's good enough to say least test to see if I get any water flow at all... Before I wasn't getting a drop. My question.... Is the shaft hole in the housing supposed to be off center? This sucker is wayyy off center...I can't see how a shaft can turn something that is this off. A quick measurement shows slightly over an inch from the edge of the shaft hole to the side wall of the housing at one side and not even 3/4" on the side directly across from the 1" reading. That seems like a lot to me. I'm not a marine mechanic but I am an industrial Mechanic so I understand certain things are offset for a reason but that's over 1/4" of offset. Thoughts?

[2014DF25ARS]

That is how the water pump works. Water comes into the impeller on the large side of the circle, then is trapped between the flexible impeller blades and compressed/pressurized into a smaller volume as it rotates around to exit on the small side of the circle. This is normal for an outboard impeller.

[Importkillerrr]

So it's a displacement pump... My bad I thought they were centrifugal pumps but I guess that makes sense.