Want to see what sand does to an impeller and insert?

[jdeloney]

I received troubleshooting help in this thread. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=471180

Here are the impeller, insert and plate photos. That impeller looks pretty rough. I assume the engraved circles are bad and will replace the parts.

There was still some sand on one of the gaskets. (The white specs you see is paper towel residue)

 

[j_martin]

Re: Want to see what sand does to an impeller and insert?

Yer pumping lake water through it. That's pretty much normal wear and tear except the impeller has been damaged by 30 seconds or so of running without water.

The impeller is rubber, so it just picks up and carries sand. The cylinder part flexes and tends to shed it in one round and spit it out downstream with the cooling water. Sand caught on the ends of the impeller gets carried awhile and wears grooves in the end plates. That's all pretty much normal wear. Regular maintenance of the water pump is required to find and compensate for this wear before it becomes an issue of engine cooling failure.

 

[merc850]

Re: Want to see what sand does to an impeller and insert?

YEP! (Dave Hester) looks like out of water running to me too.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Want to see what sand does to an impeller and insert?

Sand can tear up the very bottom of the impeller, affecting pumping at low RPM. So if the motor gets hot at idle and runs cool above idle, suspect the base of the impeller was been damaged by sand....

 

[RRitt]

Re: Want to see what sand does to an impeller and insert?

yeah, i was thinking if that he has some mighty soft sand where he lives.
When you plow bottom down here your impeller is pretty much shot. A lot of times you won't even make it home without a tow.

Does somebody have some typical chewed up by sand pictures for comparison?