"Chris" wrote in message
om...


Back on the impeller, I am pretty good with wrenches and I have a
decent shop and I'm not scared to do it myself. I've heard that I
need to take the outdrive almost completely off to get to the
impeller.

Nah, not nearly as bad as you make it sound!

The outdrive will have an "upper" and a "lower" section. If the water pump
is in the outdrive at all, it will be at the top of the lower unit.

I say "if" because not all I/O systems have the pump in the outdrive, some
are mounted on the engine. I am not familiar with Mercruiser, but maybe
someone else who is can say for sure.


I have changed a few water pumps on outboards which are similar. The lower
unit usually comes apart at the cavitation plate, four or five bolts that
come up from the bottom (just above the prop). If the outdrive isn't
corroded too badly it should just be a matter of removing the bolts, maybe a
few taps with a rubber mallet.

Once you have the lower unit off the pump should be easily accessible and
obvious. I would expect four bolts holding the cover on. Remove the bolts
to expose the impeller. In a perfect world you would be able to just grab
the impeller with a pair of needle nose and pull it up and out. In the real
world they tend to get stuck on the shaft and you have to work on them some.
In the worse case you have to chisel the hub off the impeller off, which
isn't that hard to do. (at least you can take the lower unit into the
garage!)

Rod