water line through transom capped off??? what now?

[turbocorrado]

so my boat has a 4.3 with a closed cooling system, i removed the outdrive to do bellows and a reseal, when i removed the water line it was kinked and just shoved in at a weird angle.

i bought a new line, and went to install it today, but when i cleaned out the hole i discovered its capped.......so does this mean my impeller does nothing and i should just cap off the hose running out of the outdrive? there is a fresh water pump on the engine with a hose running up off the floor into the pump, and then a hose running out of the pump to the back of the motor

 

[turbocorrado]

also, does this mean when i run the engine i need to undo the line from the fitting in the floor and hook the hose up to it??

 

[thumpar]

If you have the engine driven pump and a thru hull pickup The impeller in the drive is only used to keep the drive cool. Don't cap it off or the water won't flow to keep it cool.

 

[turbocorrado]

If you have the engine driven pump and a thru hull pickup The impeller in the drive is only used to keep the drive cool. Don't cap it off or the water won't flow to keep it cool.

so should i just not hook up the rubber water hose and just let it blast out all over the place? the way it was when i took it apart it was spraying its water all over the cap

 

[thumpar]

so should i just not hook up the rubber water hose and just let it blast out all over the place? the way it was when i took it apart it was spraying its water all over the cap

Yep.

 

[Fun Times]

On the inside of the boat, do you have a water fitting block off cover that looks like this, http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show...inbr=1942&bnbr=120&bdesc=GIMBAL+HOUSING+COVER

What's normally done when you have an engine mounted sea water pump using an thru-hull raw water pickup is you'd install the block off cover linked above inside the boat then cut the water hose (at a certain length found in the service manual) running between the bell housing and the transom assembly on the outside of the boat so that water will flow through the drive to cool. The cut hose is to help control/direct some of the water blast. Since you have an alpha drive, while not absolutely needed, it's a much better idea to use the impeller located inside the stern drive.

 

[turbocorrado]

On the inside of the boat, do you have a water fitting block off cover that looks like this, http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show...inbr=1942&bnbr=120&bdesc=GIMBAL+HOUSING+COVER

What's normally done when you have an engine mounted sea water pump using an thru-hull raw water pickup is you'd install the block off cover linked above inside the boat then cut the water hose (at a certain length found in the service manual) running between the bell housing and the transom assembly on the outside of the boat so that water will flow through the drive to cool. The cut hose is to help control/direct some of the water blast. Since you have an alpha drive, while not absolutely needed, it's a much better idea to use the impeller located inside the stern drive.

link isnt working for me, its pretty hard to see the cap with so much going on in the engine, but it appears to be a white piece of pvc like material with i think 2 bolts going through it. a friend of mine is great friends with a guy who owns a marine repair shop, he called and asked about it. the owner of the shop wants me to block off the hull water pick up, take the cap off and run the impeller line into the engine mounted pump. im going to leave it as is for the time being, if i run into exhaust temperature issues then i will go that route.

i will see if i can find the length that is suggested for the water hose

 

[Fun Times]

Sorry about the link, I was able to get them to work. For what it's worth, even though I've seen some do it successfully before, It's not recommended by Mercruiser to run with two impellers. That's why they ask you to cut the inlet hose between the bell housing and transom assembly and install the block off plate when going thru-hull.