First Time Pulling the Pump

[JDFester]

Well, I finally sucked up something I couldn't clear; unfortunately it was a long way from ramp, after dark, and on a lake with no tow options, so I was left with no choice except to ride 8 miles back up the lake at idle. But anyway, I pulled the pump housing and impeller today and freed the thing; some sort of hard plastic chunk. I assume it was not supposed to be a part of the boat, but the hole size matching the shaft size was enough to make me decide to post here to be sure...black plastic piece next to impeller shaft in last picture...

Also, the wear ring looks quite worn to me, but I am not sure what others look like. I will put it back in and check the clearances, but at least to my eyes, the impeller looks great for a 6YO boat with close to 600 hrs, while the wear ring looks like it may have been doing its job and wearing. Are they fairly easy to replace? Anything else I should check while I have it out?

Thank you!

Jon

 

[Scottintexas]

I don't have an answer for any of your questions,

That would bother me also that the diameter of the hole in the plastic is the same as the shaft. Previous years haven't had any adapter/hard plastic seal that fits against the white shaft mounting hole in picture [HASH=432]#4,[/HASH]

of course if it was supposed to go around the shaft it would still be there since the hole is not torn open,

very strange but I'd say it was just a piece of debris

Hopefully someone else with a 19 in that year range will chime in,

I'd put it in the water, monitor it closely the first day for the bilge to be working/or not working and proceed as normal,

If you don't have any performance issues accelerating or top speed I wouldn't worry about the wear ring,

.

 

[Beachbummer]

No way that made it from inside the boat all the way out, with how it looks. And your shaft thru-hull is white and intact. I feel very strongly that does not belong on your boat. Can you post pictures of the side and back of the piece? Pump and cavity look good.

 

[Betik]

I am surprised you were not able to Clear that from the clean out, but I guess it could have gotten stuck real bad. Although I am fairly positive it does not belong to your boat, I would put in a water container. If it floats then even more evidence you sucked up. If it sinks like a rock then I will hold to it just in case LOL

 

[JDFester]

It ended up wedged with the flat dimension squeezed between a fin of the impeller and the ring. Couldn’t force it backwards, and couldn’t pull it out from clean out plug, even with channel locks.

 

[Betik]

Dam!!!! It is big piece to get stuck like that but I have seen rocks the size of a fist in there

 

[Beachbummer]

We have a thread somewhere with weird stuff "found" on pumps my contribution was a 2 litter coke bottle. on another occasion the new owner of my old boat collected about 12 big rocks on a single try when he ran aground into the rock wall that protect the ramp from waves. The wear ring does look pretty beat up on the picture...do you think it would file off? does your nail catch on the grooves? You may have 2 or 3 MPH hiding in those grooves if they are deep.

 

[JDFester]

We have a thread somewhere with weird stuff "found" on pumps my contribution was a 2 litter coke bottle. on another occasion the new owner of my old boat collected about 12 big rocks on a single try when he ran aground into the rock wall that protect the ramp from waves. The wear ring does look pretty beat up on the picture...do you think it would file off? does your nail catch on the grooves? You may have 2 or 3 MPH hiding in those grooves if they are deep.

Quite possibly more than that, I would think. Not just a nail catches; the bottom side feels almost like sandpaper, and easily has 0.025 or more worn away (assuming the core should be smooth all the way like an engine cylinder. I’m quite surprised the edges on the impeller look so good with the amount of wear, though.

 

[Beachbummer]

It's up to you if you wish to replace it or not, but if you have a couple hundred to spare...this is your chance now that it's apart. I have had bad luck and end up sucking up something or other almost yearly, but my wear ring so far is in great shape. I had boat with nylon inserts and those got destroyed twice a season for me... but my experience is not typical. many with the plastic inserts like them quite a bit, so you actually have some options on how to proceed. (And spending $0 and smoothing it up with some steel wool is one of those)

 

[JDFester]

Feeling the section again today, I think the gouges are pretty deep, as in if they were engine cylinders, they would have to be bored out oversize; no way to dress or hone them away. As such, I think a replacement is in my near future. However, since it has been working fine, and at least not obviously happening quickly, I think I will go ahead and put it back together and run it until I can get a new one... We are wanting to check out the Lanier lighted boat parade next weekend, and besides that, my wife made a deal when we got the boat: every month we make a payment on it, we get it out on the water at least once. This happened last Saturday, so I have to get December in, right? As easy as this was to pull, I have no issue doing it again down the line; is there any reason I should wait and NOT run it until I get a new wear ring? If speed/pump efficiency is the only real issue, those are non-issues in the winter months anyway.

To clarify how this thing got stuck, I have been able to find the cut marks in the plastic; the pic shows where /how it lodged. Perhaps if there was a way to spin the engine/impeller backwards very slowly, I could have dislodged it on the water, but short of that, it wasn't coming out, especially in the dark, with 40 degree air and 55 degree water. I did do a float test, and it definitely floats, mostly submerged. No way I'd have even seen it in daylight, let alone at night. Upon closer inspection, it looks a lot like the back part of an air cleaner housing from a weed eater or similar small engine.

 

[JDFester]

Actually, the wear in the plastic shows the depth/condition of the grooves in the wear ring.

 

[swatski]

Feeling the section again today, I think the gouges are pretty deep, as in if they were engine cylinders, they would have to be bored out oversize; no way to dress or hone them away. As such, I think a replacement is in my near future. However, since it has been working fine, and at least not obviously happening quickly, I think I will go ahead and put it back together and run it until I can get a new one... We are wanting to check out the Lanier lighted boat parade next weekend, and besides that, my wife made a deal when we got the boat: every month we make a payment on it, we get it out on the water at least once. This happened last Saturday, so I have to get December in, right? As easy as this was to pull, I have no issue doing it again down the line; is there any reason I should wait and NOT run it until I get a new wear ring? If speed/pump efficiency is the only real issue, those are non-issues in the winter months anyway.

To clarify how this thing got stuck, I have been able to find the cut marks in the plastic; the pic shows where /how it lodged. Perhaps if there was a way to spin the engine/impeller backwards very slowly, I could have dislodged it on the water, but short of that, it wasn't coming out, especially in the dark, with 40 degree air and 55 degree water. I did do a float test, and it definitely floats, mostly submerged. No way I'd have even seen it in daylight, let alone at night. Upon closer inspection, it looks a lot like the back part of an air cleaner housing from a weed eater or similar small engine.

View attachment 108845

I don't see where that would come from in the boat, the part does not look familiar. Assuming your clean-out plug is intact, lol. I have never had a chance to see what's inside a cleanout plug but probably no part like the one you have had stuck in there.
I would boat on, for sure. The wear looks kind of normal, to me. I would consider checking the main bearing (taking off the cone) at some point, at 600 hrs some water intrusion (showing as white-ish grease and maybe some water droplets) would be normal, changing that grease would not hurt. The key there is to get the o-ring back in, and making sure it is in good shape, or buying a new one, not expensive.
If you need one quickly I'm happy to spot you, I have two spares that will not be put in my pumps for weeks now.

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[JDFester]

Grease looks gray and I didn't see any signs of water droplets, etc. O-ring had a good seal, as the vacuum was tough to break. However, since it's open, I might as well wipe out the old and put in some new. What kind of grease goes in here?

Thank you!!!

 

[swatski]

Yamaha now sells EPNOC pump grease

Yamalube EPNOC Jet Pump Grease

Yamaha Genuine Service Manuals for WaveRunner and sport boat impeller ducts call for the application of Yamalube EPNOC grease during assembly. This Lithium soap, high-pressure grease is ideally suited

rivaracing.com

It is also available from other sources and dealers, some mix it with gear lube which is probably a goodf idea.

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[swatski]

Grease looks gray and I didn't see any signs of water droplets, etc. O-ring had a good seal, as the vacuum was tough to break. However, since it's open, I might as well wipe out the old and put in some new. What kind of grease goes in here?

Thank you!!!

View attachment 108855

The original grease in those pumps, as far as I know, is cream/tan color indicating you may have some discoloration due to metal wear, probably nothing to worry about if the shaft moves/rotates nice and smooth with no wobble. If it started rattling and/or the pump starts making bad sounds I would check on it.
If those bearings disintegrate the shaft can wobble and damage the engine.

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[JDFester]

Ordered the grease and a couple of o-rings. While looking up the o-rings, I also took note of the two sections of "Impeller Housing" ... and realized I had been looking at the whole inlet tunnel thinking it was the wear ring, rather than two parts. Given the relative position, the wear ring is the rear-most section of housing, correct? The part I was thinking looked poor is the front section; in particular the transition between the two sections. The rear section, actually looks and feels good, aside from one small pit... Is that pit enough to worry about? (Hard to get a pic to show it...the discoloration is from rubbing the area with dirty fingers, not a heat spot or other visible defect

)

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

@JDFester Be sure to seal the o ring with some silicon when you reinstall the cone just a little to be safe. I am closing in on 800 hours on my pumps and I do add gear lube to the grease.
@swatski I have a video where I disassembled the push button cleanout plugs to show how they can fail and there is nothing in there that resembles his piece of plastic , it is just a odd thing that was sucked into the pump. http://youtu.be/KhsnPrWt7nU

 

[swatski]

@Cobra Jet Steering LLC that spot in the wear ring could be from galvanic corrosion, correct? Not an issue until it perforates and/or swells and should be fine with regular use, I seem to recall you had a way to fix those, if that's what it is.

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[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Here you go @swatski https://jetboaters.net/threads/low-budget-fix-for-yamaha-pump-liner-swelling-issue.12121/ usually you can feel the high spot or see a black area where it is getting hot from friction, you can usually hear the rattle running the engine on the trailer and in some cases you will experience difficulty starting the engine due to resistance between the impeller and the liner.

 

[JDFester]

Thank you for all the help! Got the boat out over the weekend to go see a Lighted Boat Parade; was in the water less than 2 hours after putting it all back together!

Now I'm thinking this could have been a blessing in disguise; ever since I bought the boat, I have wondered about the noise it made when running it on the ramp to clear the remaining water. To me, it just sounded off; almost a metallic clanging or rattling, but I have not had the opportunity to hear another, and the dealer assured me it was normal. Swatski mentioned rattling above, and though I never heard it in the water or under load, the noise was there when out of the water. Everything felt smooth and I could not detect any wobble with a dial indicator, so I just cleaned out the old and added the new grease, then put it all back together

Well, that noise was gone this time, and it even sounded slightly different even in the water, though I can't quantify or describe that difference. Wondering if the bearings may have had some slight water intrusion and if I may have been on my way to a bearing failure? Now I wish I had recorded before and after samples... would love to see/hear a video of the proper water clearing routine on these boats!