Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Ran my toon up on sand bar and now the gauge shows higher water pressure than normally and the engine overheats and warning buzzer buzz. Ive noticed the pisser is pissing good but the exhaust port has no vapor or exhaust whatsoever. Brought it to the dealer and it won't be covered under warranty due to its with the cooling system. there going to change impeller and water pump ,I tried insisting it may be a clogg in a port maybe , just thinking the water pump is good since it streams out the tattltale good and the pressure is high when I'm turning over 3000 rpm and above at about 25 lbs of pressure. What you guys think? Cant wait to get it back, weather is nice and its buggin me my boats somewhere else

If you just got it on the sand once i would think the impeller would be ok but it depends on how long you ran it on the sand i would flush it real good with muffs. Might also try to take a little bit of wire (clothes hanger or bailing wire) and poke into the cooling ports that are visible to break-up what may be stuck then flush. If you do want to change the impeller then its not that hard of an at home repair. 4 or 5 bolts to pull the lower unit and the water pump (impeller) is right there.If you do decide to change the impeller make sure to put in forward gear before removeing the lower unit.

High water psi indicates a restriction on the exit side of the cooling system.... Higher than normal water psi is not usually a water pump issue. My guess since you are not seeing water through the ports on the mid is that you have a restriction in the poppet valve area which is located with the t-stat or in the powerhead mounting plate. The poppet valve opens around 1800ish rpm and dumps excess cooling water, some of it exits through the ports on the rear of the mid section...probably why you are not seeing it there. If its not the poppet then there is a chance its under the powerhead which will have to be pulled to clean it.

In all likelihood you've got a clog downstream of your water pressure sensor as previously stated. The fact that you've got good water pressure tells me it's not your impeller. It's probably just a clog which can be flushed out. Finding a good honest mechanic is so very hard today. Flushing out your cooling system won't get your mechanic the money a impeller change will so he diagnosis it that way. So he flushes out the system and gets it running again and says he replaced the impeller ($250 or $300). Unless you intend to drop the lower unit yourself and verify that the impeller has been changed you won't know the difference. I hate them all.

That at best is an unfair blanket statement to make regarding boat technicians and is wrong in almost every aspect. I have NEVER charged someone for something I didnt do to their boat...there are crooks in every industry but 99.9 % of the ones I know dont pull shady crap like that.

Would removing the thermostat flush it out?

lakerunner wrote:Would removing the thermostat flush it out?

worked on one of our older PWCs

lakerunner wrote:Would removing the thermostat flush it out?

Yep...I'll bet that's where the bulk of the sand ended up. High water pressure means the pump is doing it's job but the water's exit is being restricted at some point....

i appreciate all yall comments, I thought I would be on right track when otherwise stating to the dealer "i don't think it is waterpump or impeller", due to the high water pressure. LTB racing I tried not to lead on anyone to make any bias statements but I know how it feels, I build automatic transmission for a livin. I will fill yall in the details when i get the boat back. Ohh I tried to flush out system thru earmuffs and thru the water flush hookup at top. Yall have a good day! Tough people outlast tough times

No disrespect to you intended but my statement stands. The industry goes largly unregulated. Countless nightline news stories involved mechanics who are thieves. That combined with my own experiances leads me to question many mechanics. In this case the tech decided that he neened to change out the impeller given the symtoms. Would you have handled this casae the same way?

WD No prob i was just responding to SS's statement. Its unfortunate that the few bad apples give all mech's a bad name sometimes. Keep us posted on the repair...I hope ya get it fixed soon.


SS-Going by the description I'm seeing here no I would have started at the t-stat/poppet... in search of the restriction... I'm not defending this tech or dealer by any means as he could be one of the bad apples.....or.....he could (and it sounds like he is) just be wrong in his diagnosis but that in itself doesnt make him a crook. In my honest opinion the industry lacks qualified technicians more than anything.

Yes, also a lot of marinas are hiring unqualified techs to save $$ (in the long run it ends up costing them more for his/her mistakes anyway) because of the economy. My marina got rid of it's Mercury certified tech and hired a guy who's experienced in the automotive field, but not marine. Now the marina's reputation is "nice marina, don't let them touch your boat though".

WOW, I think this is what happenned to me. I just had the impeller changed and I did run it on some sand after the service. I just took it back to the dealer to have it looked at because I was geting an overheat warning. I never thought of flusing it out myslef first.

BTW, are there any good websites that can give you a step by step of how to change the impeller yourself?

Thank you,

Good looking toom by the way. I like your taste!!

Of course I meant TOON!! I used use spell check!!