Can a water pump impeller cause engine to not start?

[why3333]

I have a 89 OMC cobra stern drive - 4.3 liter on a 17 foot bowrider. I recently noticed I have a leak in the gas tank, and I believe my gas is contaminated (probably just with water). I know that I have to replace the gas tank at this point, but I want to evaluate the condition of the engine before I commit...

Engine was running 2 weeks ago... today I did something incredibly stupid.... I attempted to start it on dry land without earmuffs.... I just wanted to see if it would start and then kill it. The engine barely sputtered, and the belt moved a bit and died really quickly.... I tried this a couple more times, and then I smelt burning rubber. I saw smoke come out of the the vent on the side next to the bilge pump output. This lasted for about 5 minutes. I had no idea that this could cause burning... the engine never even ran for a second! I was super nervous cause of the gas leak.... so I decided to disconnect the battery and run away for 4 hours.

I came back and replaced the batter, and put earmuffs on the outboard and connected a hose... tried to crank it, and no luck. This time the belt wouldn't even move. I can hear the battery relay circuit ticking, and when I turn the key to ignite the engine, I hear a single loud click. But after that there is no sputtering.

So the question is now... assuming I burned part or all of the impeller to the water pump, would this cause the new development that I am now encountering with the engine? It doesn't make sense to me... I am also wondering if gas with a higher concentration of water has made its way into the engine and that this could cause it not to crank at all.

Ideas? Thanks in advance

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Can a water pump impeller cause engine to not start?

Well, the impeller won't impede the engine from starting, but if you ran it dry and smelt the rubber, you need to replace the impeller now.

There are many reasons for that click, start with the easy ones: corroded connections at the ignition, bad battery, is the starter getting voltage, kill switch. I would start with easy things like this, but make sure you never run the engine dry. Also, try to account for all the rubber missing from the impeller, so it does not clog your water passage.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Can a water pump impeller cause engine to not start?

My SWAG is the engine had water in some cylinders from the last run 2 weeks ago and when you tried to start it it this time it hydrolocked. If this has happened then you need to get the water out asap. Easy enough to check this out, just take out all the spark plugs, and try to turn it over again. If it cranks and water shoots out then you know.

Do not crank it for very long if it does go ahead and turn over. If it does turn over then hook the water back up, crank it until the water is out of the cylinders, then spray in WD40 in all the cylinders and crank again. This will (more or less) purge the water. Then you need to get it started with the water on and run it until it gets warm to finish the "purge". If it is fresh water and not salt then your engine will probably be ok. If it is salt water then 2 weeks is long enough for it to have caused serious corrosion.

The burning smell could have been insulation on some wiring, trying to start a locked up engine draws a lot of current.

As far as the impeller, if the engine only actually moved the little bit you described then it is probably ok.

 

[why3333]

Re: Can a water pump impeller cause engine to not start?

Sorry I should have clarified this....

2 weeks ago the engine ran on land with the earmuffs hooked up. This "locking" just occurred today after I saw and smelled what I believed to be my impeller burning.

Maclin, you may be correct about the wiring, cause I originally thought that the smell and smoke was coming from around the battery.... which is located to the side of the engine. But the distinct smell of rubber made me want to believe it was the impeller. The area where the water pump is didn't seem to have too much smell, but it was tough to judge since it is insulated.

All of this trying to start the engine could have really drained the battery voltage. I will try charging it up and see if the engine wants to start at all.

I am getting a guy to come out on Thursday and pump out all of the gas from the leaking tank, and check all over for gas intrusion caused by this... I don't want to explode
I just really want to try and figure out how much damage I caused today... hopefully it is a battery voltage issue.

Thanks for the super fast response times.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Can a water pump impeller cause engine to not start?

I really doubt what you smelled was the impeller for a couple of reasons. One is that your impeller is in your drive and even if you burnt it up by running dry, you would probably never smell it. You barely turned it over so the impeller is probably ok.

 

[myoldboat2]

Re: Can a water pump impeller cause engine to not start?

Just siphon out the old gas, put in fresh gas, pull the spark plugs, put on the muffs, turn on the water, and try to turn it over. If water doesn't shoot out of the cylinders, put the spark plugs back in and try to start it.

That click is in the starting system. Might be the starter, slave solenoid or connections, as already discussed here. There are easy tests to bypass the slave solenoid--check in Adults Only or do a search. Also check the battery acid level (if serviceable) and put it on a trickle charger overnight before you try this stuff.

Good luck with it, hope it runs for you.