Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Forgive me for asking as I am new to boats last fall.......


when we put our toon away in the fall, we had no issue with getting the water circulating through our '85 35hp mercury. yesterday we launched it and of course...... it doesn't circulate any longer. nothing is spitting out.

the first obvious answer I know is the impeller/water pump or whatever its called has failed. can they go bad from sitting for a few months? it was replaced spring of last year according to the previous owner.

it was suggested that the spout at the top has plugged up so I disconnected the rubber line and blew through it and it seems clear.

besides pulling the bottom half of my motor apart, is there any other suggestions that I should try? right now it is tied off to the dock and if I can avoid having to pull this p.i.t.a out of the water to repair it, I would be very happy...lol.


as always, I certainly appreciate the help I receive from you good folks on this forum
Billy.

I wouldn't necessarily lean towards a bad impeller. I don't really see how they could just go bad, from sitting over the winter. I can see the "pee hole" on the engine being plugged. Have you tried fishing some weedeater string through the hole backwards, to see if you can dislodge any debris? I know that others have had mud dobbers build in that hole, so this would clear it out. Could also be a clogged water pickup, on the lower unit.

Good luck to you though. I hope you find the problem, and get it figured out.

GXPWeasel wrote:I wouldn't necessarily lean towards a bad impeller. I don't really see how they could just go bad, from sitting over the winter. I can see the "pee hole" on the engine being plugged. Have you tried fishing some weedeater string through the hole backwards, to see if you can dislodge any debris? I know that others have had mud dobbers build in that hole, so this would clear it out. Could also be a clogged water pickup, on the lower unit.

Good luck to you though. I hope you find the problem, and get it figured out.

Weedeater string insert from the pee hole up..... I keep one on board at all times I usually use it once or twice a year. Spiders or dobbers love that hole.

GXPWeasel wrote:I wouldn't necessarily lean towards a bad impeller. I don't really see how they could just go bad, from sitting over the winter. I can see the "pee hole" on the engine being plugged. Have you tried fishing some weedeater string through the hole backwards, to see if you can dislodge any debris? I know that others have had mud dobbers build in that hole, so this would clear it out. Could also be a clogged water pickup, on the lower unit.

Good luck to you though. I hope you find the problem, and get it figured out.

the line up top is clear and nothing came out. I am going back over to the dock shortly and am going to tilt the motor up and have a look at the lower end.

I am desperately hoping I wont need to pull this back out because our private ramp is pretty treacherous right now with the trailer I have...LOL.

well at this point, I only see bubbles at the bottom end, and nothing coming out the pee hole at the top.


does the motor need time to prime the impeller at all? I only let it idle about 1 min as I didn't want to damage anything else.

Don't know about your engine specifically, I have a 60hp merc 4 stroke and I have to let it warm up for a few minutes before it starts peeing,some thing about the thermostat warming up before it opens up.

sgpwayne wrote:Don't know about your engine specifically, I have a 60hp merc 4 stroke and I have to let it warm up for a few minutes before it starts peeing,some thing about the thermostat warming up before it opens up.

I honestly don't know with mine... I wish I paid more attention last fall when I bought it now..lol.

Yep, It'll need to warm up for a minute or two before the thermostat opens and water starts flowing. If you have a temperature gauge, watch it and shut the engine down before it overheats.

badmoonrising wrote:Yep, It'll need to warm up for a minute or two before the thermostat opens and water starts flowing. If you have a temperature gauge, watch it and shut the engine down before it overheats.

ok.... maybe I am not giving it enough time. I have no gauges yet. I will try tomorrow night after work and give an update.

thank you for all your replies so far!

You can take off the cover and lay a hand on the back of the motor and feel of it, it will be warm but not to hot, you should be able to hold your hand on if its ok. It may be circulating just fine and blowing out water at the exhaust openings, in most cases the pee hole is stopped up. The very small hole is known for that.

well it looks like i'm getting my first experience in impeller inspection......lol.

Well, we got it peeing again after swapping the impeller. A local boat mechanic helped me out and showed my how to do it myself the next time.


I do however have a new issue...lol

the motor will not start while the lever is in neutral position. If I press the button on the side of the control box and then run the throttle it will start and rev just fine but when I bring the lever back down to neutral position so I can put it in gear, it just stalls out.

could this be a safety feature within the controls? I just got this control used this spring so am wondering if something is tripped or mis-wired...

I am trying to troubleshoot this the best as I can before I have to pay someone to come help me again..lol.

will it turn over at all in the neutral position, just not start?

MPosey519 wrote:will it turn over at all in the neutral position, just not start?

that is correct. it turns over, but will not fire

turned out to be a cable adjustment and its now running great!

thank you to those that helped us through this!