Cooling the trouble with sterndrive impellers in AZ.

[bondo]

Ayuh,..... Mine is an ole Alpha 1,..... A very different kind of rubber,......

 

[jimn]

Interesting. It's a floppy vane right? It has to be in Alpha 2 assume same for A1. Is it just made of some material that won't heat and melt?

To save confusion, refer to it as Alpha One Gen 2.

Also, if the vanes are too floppy, they won't push water.

 

[jimn]

Ayuh,..... Not really an answer to yer question, but a cure for yer problem, that worked very well for me,.....
I installed a Globe, run dry impeller in my Alpha 1 drive years ago,.....
It's still pumping good water, better than 10 years later,.....

THANK YOU! I was racking my brain, trying to remember the name of that impeller.

 

[Glenn in AZ]

Interesting. It's a floppy vane right? It has to be in Alpha 2 assume same for A1. Is it just made of some material that won't heat and melt?

Interesting. It's a floppy vane right? It has to be in Alpha 2 assume same for A1. Is it just made of some material that won't heat and melt?

Well it is a SEI 06 in the gimble housing that had a gen 1 in it 2 years ago. Note; (i'm not real wordly in this) It could have been a floppy because 3~ vanes were flopped over permera-hard, and the rest were like a half burned tire!
My reasoning for pulling water is the folks saying that the upper gear case can cook, without water flow in the casting.

 

[Glenn in AZ]

TThanks Bondo and Mark

Well it is a SEI 06 in the gimble housing that had a gen 1 in it 2 years ago. Note; (i'm not real wordly in this) It could have been a floppy because 3~ vanes were flopped over permera-hard, and the rest were like a half burned tire!
My reasoning for pulling water is the folks saying that the upper gear case can cook, without water flow in the casting.

I was concerned that it might suck th hose flat at high RPM.I might have to go with a pickup. Though something I like to do is Start the engine beforetrailering it to a lake. Thanks Jimm I appreciate needed guidence

To save confusion, refer to it as Alpha One Gen 2.

Also, if the vanes are too floppy, they won't push water.

 

[jimn]

TThanks Bondo and Mark

I was concerned that it might suck th hose flat at high RPM.I might have to go with a pickup. Though something I like to do is Start the engine beforetrailering it to a lake. Thanks Jimm I appreciate needed guidence

If you have lived in the Gold Canyon area since roughly 2003, did you ever see an auto service shop West of I-60, close to the Utah Ave exit? It was visible from the highway and originally, a speed shop was next door before that closed and the service shop took over the extra space.

The water doesn't cool much in the upper gearcase- it basically goes straight up from the pump to the upper and takes a hard turn forward, to pass through the gimbal housing, to a rubber hose that connects to another pipe that goes through the transom and then, to another rubber hose that goes to the thermostat housing in some models, or through an oil cooler for the power steering in other models. Newer models have the oil cooler AND a module called 'Cool Fuel', which does what the name implies- it cools the fuel. Yours is old enough that I doubt it has either (I don't remember seeing a model year) but if the hose is sucked flat, it means the water supply is blocked or the hose became so hot that it's no longer rigid enough to be used.

For the ~$40, I would use the Globe impeller.

 

[jimn]

Well it is a SEI 06 in the gimble housing that had a gen 1 in it 2 years ago. Note; (i'm not real wordly in this) It could have been a floppy because 3~ vanes were flopped over permera-hard, and the rest were like a half burned tire!
My reasoning for pulling water is the folks saying that the upper gear case can cook, without water flow in the casting.

The burned rubber of the impeller is nothing compared to the damage to the exhaust tubes, exhaust bellows and the others if it's run long enough. My main bellows felt like silicone rubber when I removed it- it's supposed to be firm, but flexible. Most of the rubber parts are shown below- this damage also included the raw water pump housing, plastic water tube that slides into the water pump outlet, the water pocket cover (directly above the raw water pump) and if you think about how these work, the dry exhaust will do a lot more damage than having no water passing through the upper gearcase, which circulates the oil and has the aluminum lower GC in the water at all times (unless something really weird happens)- the oil is always losing heat to the gearcase.

If you look, you can see that the exhaust valve is slightly open- that's because it was bent.

 

[Glenn in AZ]

Thanks Jimm
I just looked at the Globe Impellers online , I saw many complaints and recomendations to switch back to OEM.
Originally where I fell into the rabbit hole is when I came back to gold Canyon thinking my boat wouldn't have changed much after leaving it in my back yard all summer long, and then some. I had it all covered and protected from rain wind and blazing heat.... I thought!
I soon learned that You need a new impeller.ALOT. I also learned that "I'm not all that" I used to be, when it comes to RnR and stern drive ovhauls. My "fried in place" Impeller upset me, and I thought it rediculess it could need such frequent atention.
Thanks Everyone fo your contributions.

 

[jimn]

Thanks Jimm
I just looked at the Globe Impellers online , I saw many complaints and recomendations to switch back to OEM.
Originally where I fell into the rabbit hole is when I came back to gold Canyon thinking my boat wouldn't have changed much after leaving it in my back yard all summer long, and then some. I had it all covered and protected from rain wind and blazing heat.... I thought!
I soon learned that You need a new impeller.ALOT. I also learned that "I'm not all that" I used to be, when it comes to RnR and stern drive ovhauls. My "fried in place" Impeller upset me, and I thought it rediculess it could need such frequent atention.
Thanks Everyone fo your contributions.

I think the best thing to do is (re)learn to service an outdrive, or find someone you can trust, to do it for you. I understand not wanting to and I reinstalled mine after messing up my left knee- it was difficult, but I got it done. I had the specialty tools from working on a boat for someone who bought a boat with a bent prop shaft and he said he'd buy the tools as part of the payment so, WOOHOO! I ended up working for another boat dealer a few years ago and didn't need to use the tools they had, unless I didn't have something.

Also, the manuals are easy to find online and aren't expensive, so that's another good thing.

One of the things I learned by working at boat dealerships is that rubber doesn't last long and while an impeller may look like new, it won't move enough water to do any good and another- NOBODY wants to clean their flame arrestor. That seemed like the one item that was neglected more often than anything else.

 

[Glenn in AZ]

I agree jimm
Some folks dont seem to understand how important a flame arestor is! "Yes you rreally should put it back on"!
I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I don't love that kind of work anymore. Just drag me behind the boat!

 

[jimn]

I agree jimm
Some folks dont seem to understand how important a flame arestor is! "Yes you rreally should put it back on"!
I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I don't love that kind of work anymore. Just drag me behind the boat!

It's not about removing it, they don't seem to know that it collects a lot of crap that chokes the engine, then they take it somewhere for a tuneup, saying "It seems to have lost power". Really? I'd like to tell them "Cover your mouth and run a marathon and tell me if you feel faint".

I really don't mind doing this kind of work and one of my favorite things to do is diagnose problems. I did car audio for 20+ years and when I needed to change one of the speakers in my van, I decided to install keyless entry, too. I hated every minute of it.

Guess how many speakers were replaced. One. Removing the door panel was such a PITA that I decided to leave the other one in place since it sounds OK.