AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

[Aq130c-Mike]

I am rebuilding the entire water impeller assembly on a 1971 volvo AQ130C. I have all the parts and have removed the entire impeller pump assembly. I was careful when removing the old parts in order to ensure I put all the new parts back correctly, however, I am having trouble with the o-ring that goes between the two seals in the housing behind the water impeller since is was destroyed and fell to pieces. I have seen an expoded schematic of how the parts go, but there is approximately 1/8 of an inch between the two seals for the o-ring. I placed the o-ring right in the middle between the seals and can see it through the drain holes in the housing, but I am thinking that it must need to be flush against one of the seals....it seems that it would serve absolutely no purpose in the middle of the two seals if air (and water if one of the seals is leaking) since there is a lot of space around the o-ring in the brass housing. Hope this makes sense...it is difficult to explain. Please help...thanks, Mike

 

[Randflorida]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

I have a 1989 VP AQ131C.

Is the impeller in the drive or the motor? I cant seem to find anything in the manual that shows an impeller in the drive for raw water pickup

Don S has been a very helpful person for me

 

[Randflorida]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

I meant , does YOUR drive have the impeller for water pickup, not mine. sorry if that was confusing.

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

Mike,
Welcome to the forum from another AQ130 owner. I've looked at the diagram and also looked at my water pump to see if the o-ring was visible from the weep hole. It's not. Since the shaft comes out every year during winterization, there must be a groove or something to hold the o-ring in place.

 

[Aq130c-Mike]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

I meant , does YOUR drive have the impeller for water pickup, not mine. sorry if that was confusing.

The AQ130C is an I/O. The impeller is mounted on the front of the engine. The water pickup is from the 270 outdrive. As far as I know, there are any working parts for the water pickup in the outdrive...the impeller creates a suction to draw the water up.

 

[Aq130c-Mike]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

Mike,
Welcome to the forum from another AQ130 owner. I've looked at the diagram and also looked at my water pump to see if the o-ring was visible from the weep hole. It's not. Since the shaft comes out every year during winterization, there must be a groove or something to hold the o-ring in place.

There is not a groove for the o-ring between the seals. The o-ring can move between the seals. I can push it toward the seal closest to the engine or push it toward the seal closest to the impeller, but nothing will hold it. I can't seem to get my head around the purpose of the o-ring. If I pushed the 2 seals together then one of the seals would block the weep holes which I know is not right. For now, I pushed the o-ring closest to the impeller. Maybe it has to do with blocking air from traveling from the weep holes to the impeller, but it seems wierd that nothing holds it in place. If I change the water impeller again and slide the shaft to get to the impeller set screw, the o-ring will move...toward the impeller seal when pulling the shaft and toward the engine seal when push the shaft back in after changing the impeller.

 

[Aq130c-Mike]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

I am rebuilding the entire water impeller assembly on a 1971 volvo AQ130C. I have all the parts and have removed the entire impeller pump assembly. I was careful when removing the old parts in order to ensure I put all the new parts back correctly, however, I am having trouble with the o-ring that goes between the two seals in the housing behind the water impeller since is was destroyed and fell to pieces. I have seen an expoded schematic of how the parts go, but there is approximately 1/8 of an inch between the two seals for the o-ring. I placed the o-ring right in the middle between the seals and can see it through the drain holes in the housing, but I am thinking that it must need to be flush against one of the seals....it seems that it would serve absolutely no purpose in the middle of the two seals if air (and water if one of the seals is leaking) since there is a lot of space around the o-ring in the brass housing. Hope this makes sense...it is difficult to explain. Please help...thanks, Mike

Actually, after doing more research on-line, I learned that this type of o-ring is a floating rotary o-ring seal. The purpose of it is to stop any liquid from travelling along the shaft into the other seal. It will cause any liquid to spin off the o-ring to fly against the impeller housing and leak out the weep holes. If the water side seal partially fails, the water will hit the o-ring and not continue along the shaft to the oil side seal. If the oil side seal partially fails, the oil will hit the o-ring and not contine along the shaft to the water side seal. It basically just helps to prevent cross contamination between the two fluids along the shaft. I can imagine oil residual will creep past the oil seal over time and this o-ring will prevent the entire shaft from becoming a conduit for the residual oil to enter into the impeller housing. So, in other words to answer my first question: It doesn't matter where the o-ring is placed along the gap between the two seals...it just matters that one is there.

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

Thanks for letting us know what you found. I just took the water pump off of mine to investigate. Only removed the inner seal but did not see an o-ring.

Don't forget to at least inspect the cross piece to make sure it's not dried out, cracked or ripped anywhere. The large o-ring on the inner side of the housing seemed to want to pop off so might want to be extra careful while tightening the housing to make sure it stays put.

Good luck and let us know if you find any more small tidbits of "lost knowledge" on these engines.

 

[Aq130c-Mike]

Re: AQ130C - Rebuild entire water impeller assembly

Thanks for your posts. Since the cross piece was included in the kit, I went ahead and replaced it even though the old one looked ok. My Father gave me this boat about 15 years ago and he was the original owner. When I replaced these seals I had to break the paint between the water pump and the camshaft. I also had to cut of the hose between the outlet pipe and the water pump because it had never be removed either. The hose and hose clamps were actually painted blue when the engine was painted. The original seals actually lasted 42 years! The impeller was replaced probably 10 times (3 times by me), but the seals were never replaced. I reinstalled the pump today and started the engine. No leaks...seems as good as new! Take care.