New Impeller

I just finished installing a new impeller in my '76 Johnson 9.9. Since I've never had an outboard apart, it went pretty well. However the two chambers on either side of the water-pump seemed to be pretty thick with oily crud.<br /> When I was removing the top cover of the water-pump to get at the impeller, I noticed the previous owner had reversed 1 of the long screws for a short one. I was wondering if this would have been an on-going problem with all the oily residue in these chambers?. I put all 4 screws back in the proper holes when I installed the new impeller. Should I clean these chambers with some solvent, or something, before I put everything back together. And one other thing...<br />should a sealant (silicone) be applied to the joining faces of the lower, and upper unit before I bolt everything back together.<br /> Thanks for the patience<br /><br />Kerry

Re: New Impeller

The oily residue is probably from the exhuast. Just clean those little places out. If an engine is not burning good or the owner mixes the fuel/oil mixture rich, you can get this left over deposit. Also, running the engine at the right temp is very important. So after the impeller installation, check the engine temp at idle and make sure it's warming up. The t-stats for these engines are 143* stats.<br /><br />You don't need to use any thing between the gear case and midsection.