? re shredded impeller & draining

Hey guys & gals ... 2004 Sanger V215 w MerCruiser ...

Had a fairly serious impeller failure on the first time off the trailer this summer (I'll try to post pictures later). Thanks to the threads on WakeWorld, SangerNation, and YouTube, I believe I have successfully changed the impeller. However before I put everything back together, I have a few questions for the more informed among us;

I have been advised to "remove & clean all the little bits and pieces of the failed impeller" from the transmission cooler, hoses, exhaust risers, and any screens" ... I have pulled all the little blue drain plugs. When it comes to draining the exhaust risers and cleaning those out, can anyone give me some instruction and/or pictures as to the best way to perform this? Do I need to remove the large allen-keyed metal plugs from the bottom of the exhaust risers?

Also, I am having a next to impossible time removing the hose that goes from the water pump up to the transmission cooler, from off the transmission cooler fitting itself. Does anyone have any tricks/tips for this? I've tried prying around it and spraying a bit of LPS#2 to break the bonds, as well as twisting/pulling, and have not been able to get it to budge!

Lastly, if I am successful getting the hose off the transmission cooler, does anyone know if this Motor and Trans Cooler has a screen/filter in there to trap any foreign matter before passing into the cooler and onto the rest of the system?

Thanks everyone!

I'd also pull your thermostat and check the thermostat housing. I shredded an impeller pretty bad last year. Got everything fixed and used the boat a little the rest of the summer. Then I started using it this year and was having cooling problems again. Pulled the thermostat and had a large impeller chunk stuck in there. Good luck!

pieces would be stuck by the tranny cooler, you can get an idea what to look for by whats missing from your old impeller, try to account for all of it.

why was the impeller shredded?

I'll try to upload some photos later tonight, however the short answer is, "I don't know". Read on for the explanation of ignorance, stupidity, and procrastination!

I've owned two boats over the past seven years (6 years of Sanger dd ski and 2+ years of years of Sanger vd wake). I replaced the impeller on the ski boat every year and never saw any wear at all. Being religious about never running the motor unless the raw water pickup is in the water, and the overall condition of the wakeboat/hull/interior/etc from the previous owner gave me a false sense of security that I'd be okay for some time.

We've had the boat out 3-4 times a month for the season over the past few years, and between ignorantly thinking it would be a bigger pain than it turned out to be, and never actually taking the time to get in and do it, it caught up with me. I am however surprised about how it failed, although it doesn't look that different from the other pictures I've seen posted on this site and others. When I opened up the pump, the top half of the impeller looked okay, but the bottom half of the rubber vains were completely torn/gone/missing!

Thankfully it happened right at the dock while waiting to pick-up our tow vehicle driver, and as best I can tell so far, the motor wasn't damaged. Anyway, hopefully reading my experience will motivate someone else not to procrastinate.

Just happened to me last week! The out going hose (top) if you take it completely off there should be a screen right there that caught all my chunks , it was sweet! Remember if you have the plastic impeller housing DO NOT over tighten it , it will break! The mechanic at my local shop who I talked while I was buying my parts told me to just make bolts snug, this is after I broke my original while I installed my back up Imelda's ad I had one being I was in the same position as you ,the boat is new to me and I knew I had to do it but was procrastinating !also if you didnt do so remove your fuel filter and the bracket to the pulley(2 bolts) and assemble in its entirety then slap it in. WORD!

Imelda's=impeller damn word check!

Is this a problem with all inboards? Why do these impellers break? DO you need to change them every so many hours?

Originally Posted by CarFanatic5

Is this a problem with all inboards? Why do these impellers break? DO you need to change them every so many hours?

They are rubber they just wear out over time. Best to replace every other year (approx every 100 hours). It is a cheap part like 30 bucks and takes all of 30 mins to an hour to replace not really a big deal.

ah ok cool.

Originally Posted by mach90

Hey guys & gals ... 2004 Sanger V215 w MerCruiser ... (I'll try to post pictures later) ...

As promised, here are the photos ...

30 mins on a vdrive? You gotta be real quick!!

Originally Posted by espritv8

30 mins on a vdrive? You gotta be real quick!!

Not really - I can do the Impellar on my V-drive (01 Malibu Sunsetter VLX, LS1 motor) in about 10-15 minutes.

- Lay on sunpad, so you can easily hang your arms down to impellar housing.
- Remove housing bolts (easy to do), pop off cover
- Spray WD40 in housing
- Bump motor over to move the impellar a bit (this is important)
- Grab wi

Originally Posted by espritv8

30 mins on a vdrive? You gotta be real quick!!

Not really - I can do the Impellar on my V-drive (01 Malibu Sunsetter VLX, LS1 motor) in about 10-15 minutes.

- Lay on sunpad, so you can easily hang your arms down to impellar housing.
- Remove housing cover bolts (easy to do), pop off cover
- Spray WD40 in housing
- Bump motor over to move the impellar a bit (this is important, spreads the WD40 and allows the impellar to come out)
- Grab impellar with needle nose pliers, pull straight out

Install is reverse of removal. Very easy to do.

Not the same on a Merc in a Sangar or Supreme,Nitrous.The pump is on the bottom of the engine,the hoses are blocked by the fuel pump and you can't take the Merc raw water pump apart on the engine,it must be removed from the engine.It's a crap designed pump and pulley set up also,all the belt tension is placed on the pump pulley that doesn't have the proper bearing set up to support the tension.Which means the bearings on the pump wear easily.Also if your Merc pump has the flat inside back cover with the o-ring seal make sure you use the correct torque on the bolts.

Yeah, I have a merc and can probably do this in 3-4hrs...

So heres a question, what happens if your in a cove on the lake far away from the dock and this happens? Can you limp back to the dock and not cause major damage with screens/filters catching the broken pieces or do you hope somebody drives by to tow you in. Replacing one of these on the water just doesn't seem practicle. PS I own a 2005 Sanger V215 and change mine every year to every other year depending on use and lake water (hard/granite etc).

Originally Posted by ghostrider_2

So heres a question, what happens if your in a cove on the lake far away from the dock and this happens? Can you limp back to the dock and not cause major damage with screens/filters catching the broken pieces or do you hope somebody drives by to tow you in. Replacing one of these on the water just doesn't seem practicle. PS I own a 2005 Sanger V215 and change mine every year to every other year depending on use and lake water (hard/granite etc).

It's not whether there's chunks floating around in your cooling system, but the fact that your engine wont get any cooling water, so no you can't limp it back, reasonably.

Keep a spare and have the tools to change it on the water, or get a tow are the only options, IMO.
Even changing them annually you can have one go on you.
I too change mine every year, for the last 10 years now and they have always came out looking fine, except one year, only put 30-40hrs on the boat. Impeller looked like hammered dog *****.
Not sure how it was pumping water.

Possible to change the impeller while on the water? Wont the boat flood from having the intake hose disconnected?

yes its possible to change on water. a screw driver handle fits perfectly in the raw water intake hose.

no you can't limp back unless you ran it for a bit, then shut it down to cool. rinse and repeat. Its doable if you don't have any other option. better have lots of beer on hand.

^^^^ I would think the pump is above the water line so it won't flow in. But I could be wrong LOL

good bit of pressure on that hose. it'll flow

good to know

That would be the one time I wish me supra had a ball valve on the raw water intake.

I'm planning on doing an impeller change on my 1998 Sanger DLX... Anyone know where I can find a how to guide for doing it? Kinda just step by step... This will be my first time changing an impeller. Let me know, thanks!

Originally Posted by KJonesWakeboarder

I'm planning on doing an impeller change on my 1998 Sanger DLX... Anyone know where I can find a how to guide for doing it? Kinda just step by step... This will be my first time changing an impeller. Let me know, thanks!

1. Locate the impeller housing. snap a pic on your phone. Easy to trace raw water line from tranny cooler to impeller housing to t-stat housing to exhaust manifolds. Get in your boat and crawl around. Tranny cooler will be located at rear of engine close to the tranny. See those hoses going from tranny to 2" cylinder about 12" long? Thats the one. Water enters the boat, goes through tranny cooler, then on to impeller housing . Note the orientation of the belt along with which part of the housing is facing you. I like to mark water flow direction as well. Pay attention here; VERY easy to re-install the pump 180* opposite of how you took it off. I have done this personally; one occasion resulted in an overheat which lead to list of other problems!! A sharpie works well as does anything that will score the paint just slightly. Mark the outside face of the housing along with which water direction.
**I've also seen impeller located on the crank pulley at the front of the engine. Orientation is much easier in this case as there's only one way to put it on.

2. Pop it off. Remove hoses and bolts holding housing in place.
2.5 Removing housing cover and remove impeller. Make sure you get the key out of old impeller.
3. Replace impeller. Make sure the key goes on the impeller shaft. Won't spin without the key!! Impeller should flip itself to work no matter which way you faced the vanes on install. Test your install and spin the pulley just like the belt will when mounted.
4. Re-install cover and housing. Use your pics and indicators to make sure its on there correctly. Set belt tension; you want it pretty tight. When pushing on the belt hard with two fingers, it should move about an inch. Any more than that and it's not tight enough. Re-install hoses.

Watch your temp at launch next time you go out.

if the old impeller is in good shape, toss it in your boat glove box along with the tools the change it. had spares come in handy as well. 1/2" and 3/8"s wrenches and whatever you use for hose clamps.