Replacing Water Pump in a 2003 115 ELPTO 2 Stroke Mercury ?

[snickster]

Hi to all !
First Post here.

The economy has not been very good to us over the last few years and I am planning to replace the water pump in our Merc outboad.
I bought a service manual and a water pump kit.
Looked at a couple of You tube videos on the replacement procedure and I had a few questions before I attempt this.

I noticed a blue plastic tube come out with the lower unit when it was removed. I assume this is the tube that carries the water up to cool the engine itself. Do I remove the upper end of this tube before I pull the whole lower unit off ? Also , where does it connect ?
Then , how to I get it pushed back up high enough to reconnect it ?

Also m, how do you get the shaft synched back with the the gears when you push the lower unit back up.
I would like to do this , but don't wan't to botch it up !!

Thank you for listening !

snickster

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Replacing Water Pump in a 2003 115 ELPTO 2 Stroke Mercury ?

2 biggest problems with that removal/replacement are stabbing the water tube and getting the drive shaft engaged.

With the lower unit out, look up into the midsection at the bottom of the block. There are only 2 holes up there: One accepts the water tube and the other the drive shaft spline.

If there are any rubber orings on the tube, when reinstalling insure the orings are back in place. It's not easy, but you really need to see the tube aligning with the hole and don't force it....don't want to bend the tube.

The driveshaft is pretty east to stab but spline alinement can be a problem. To solve this the manual instructs you to put the remote shifter in F gear. Once you do this, do not move the remote shifter, nor when the lower unit is off, the shift shaft....the small, short shaft toward the front of the LU. Upon reinstallation, the shift shaft is easily mated and in engaging the splines on the driveshaft, grasp the prop and turn it, turning the driveshaft till the splines line up and the unit reengages. Additionally, when you reinstall the LU, the shift splines will line up and when you get ready to use your boat again, the shifter will work properly also....not put you in N when you want to be in F.

The book is pretty thorough on the process of redoing the water pump so I'd expect you to not have any problems there.

Good luck,

Mark

 

[snickster]

Re: Replacing Water Pump in a 2003 115 ELPTO 2 Stroke Mercury ?

Thank you for your insight on this Mark.
I posted this and then left town for a week.

Just got back and saw your response.

BTW , my name is Mark also !

Have a great day !
No hurry on the water pump , it's snowing here anyway !