mlitefan

OK, here is the deal. This past Sunday, I go clean up the boat (again!) and get ready to take it to the lake for the first run of the year.

I hook the muffs up (bravo 1, regular pickup, not low water) cut the water on and fire up the boat...just like I have already done two or three times this year. Thirty seconds to a minute later, I jump out, check to make sure all is well and BHAM...no water out of the exhaust. I jump back in and cut the engine off but I am too late...see some smoke out of the engine hatch and smell the impeller that just burned up...

I lost an impeller about half way through the boating season last year in the driveway as well but I chalked that up to some dredging that had been done a few weeks earlier...damn sand bars...

What in the hell am I doing? Should I get a new set of muffs? If so, any particular kind? Is it uncommon for the muffs not to seal tight when you first fire the engine up or was this just bad luck?

I am not happy... Especially since you have to take the seat out to get to my impeller!

US1 Fountain

Same thing to me just a couple weeks ago. I been using the Merc muffs that have the wire that goes thru the pickup holes in the drive. It's worked fine for last 2 yrs, but decided it wasn't going to work anymore. I went back to the clamp around cheap muffs. They have ALOT more clamping pressure (read sealing pressure) than the Merc muffs.

mlitefan

Well, these muffs do have some age on them. Which ones did you get US1?

US1 Fountain

Not sure what or where these came from. I've had them for bout 10 yrs. Just the cheap ones that have the heavy rod that goes around the front of the drive. The cups on them are smaller and way more stiffer than the Merc muffs. With the Merc muffs, I even tried to hold them tight by hand and they still wouldn't seal. I thought that my supply line was plugged, so I removed the outdrive looking for a blockage. None. So with the drive still off, I then hooked up the Merc muffs to see what would happen. They wouldn't even seal tight enough, with me holding them tight, to flow water up thru the outdrive. A short raise of around 10-12 inches, No flow. The cheapies sealed and flowed like the Niagra!

Cignificant

I've burnt up so many impellers with muffs that I use my fresh water flush-outs now. Might want to look into adding one to your boat...

mlitefan

Thanks guys...

Cignificant...I think I may want to take a look at your setup at Buggs next week if you don't mind...

This sucks!...Wouldn't be so bad if mine wasn't such a pain to get to...

MIKEHTMSR24

Gary Grimes told me not to run a motor on muffs. He said put the foot in a drum. So I did. I found a plastic drum filled it with water and then started my engine. With very little r's the motor consumed all of the water in the drum.
Guess what the hose was running all of the time while the motor was running.
Grimes was right, the hose can't supply enough for the motor. This could be your problem.

hauling ass-a

This my have no bearing but, do you have city water or well water? City water should have enough volume and pressure! Well water my not have enough volume on the low side of the well cycle. Also sounds like a sea strainer might be need to keep the sand and other debris out. Have always run my 502 on city water and never had a problem.

BajaBoss252

Will a sea strainer really keep sand out? Sand is made up of pretty fine particles. I have burnt up my impeller twice from sand. If a sea strainer would prevent that, I would buy one.

Ted

CigDaze

That's a good point hauling ass-a,

I burnt up impellors repeatedly years ago on another boat because the lake house had a well system.

Typical city water runs an average of 60 psi with peaks of 80 and lows of 45-50.

Wells typically have a hard time supplying 20-30psi through a hose.