1987 Merc-Cruiser BAD WATERPUMP

[KLR650]

A friend of mine has taken his boat to a local shop after finding coolant in the engine area last week. ( He was overheating and stopped to find the problem.) Luckily he was close to shore and paddled to the dock.

Now he has been told that 9 out of 10 times when the waterpump is bad there is a "groove" in the camshaft that either caused it or contributes to the problem. They advised if there is a "groove" in the camshaft which runs the waterpump on this model.... he is looking at a bill of at least $1500. This model is a 165 HP 4 cylinder engine.

Can anyone comment on this info? Seems odd.

Thanks in advance....

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: 1987 Merc-Cruiser BAD WATERPUMP

Make sure it didn't simply overheat from a bad water pump in the drive. That supplies water to the heat exchanger and if it fails, the motor boils over. If the rubber impeller shredded, you'll usually find bits in the freshwater side of the heat exchanger. There is a cover plate held in place with a 9/16 head bolt on each end. Pop them off. If there are bits of rubber in there, the water pump in the drive is bad.

 

[KLR650]

Re: 1987 Merc-Cruiser BAD WATERPUMP

Make sure it didn't simply overheat from a bad water pump in the drive. That supplies water to the heat exchanger and if it fails, the motor boils over. If the rubber impeller shredded, you'll usually find bits in the freshwater side of the heat exchanger. There is a cover plate held in place with a 9/16 head bolt on each end. Pop them off. If there are bits of rubber in there, the water pump in the drive is bad.

 

[KLR650]

Re: 1987 Merc-Cruiser BAD WATERPUMP

I should have mentioned that the inboard waterpump is actually leaking coolant. He also advised they had some steam coming out of the engine area as well.

Its not the impeller on the lower unit although I'm trying to get him to have that changed out as well while in the shop. Its at least 5 years old or more.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: 1987 Merc-Cruiser BAD WATERPUMP

The cam shaft can be repaired with "Redi-Sleeves" rather inexpensively.If he has done $1500.00 dollars in damage,I think he has been topping up the resevoir with antifreeze for awhile,and not finding out where it was going.Not really ALL the engine's fault.

DHP