Houston, I think we have a problem

J

jhwilson

New member
First opportunity to get Placid C out this spring. We are planning a week at Fontana Lake beginning Tuesday. Today I was cleaning out the boat and decided to crank her up (Honda 90 carbs) just to make sure everything was in working order.

Put the muffs on the engine intake as always, turned the water to the right fairly minimal pressure and the engine cranked right up...but no water from the pee hole. I let it run a few seconds longer, even pushed the tach up to about 2,000 rpm for a couple seconds and shut her down. Made sure the muffs were on properly and tried again a couple more times. Still no water.

Next I took the plastic grids off the intake and reattached the muffs sans grids. Cranked it up, same story. But...when I removed the muffs there was debris. It was black and looked like chewed up hard rubber or plastic. The smallest particles looked like pepper and the largest about one mm in diameter.

Question is of course: Is that my water pump? If so how hard is it to replace if I can't find a mechanic before Tuesday? Also, what could cause it to do this sitting over the winter? We last had the boat out in early December and everything was fine. Boat has just over 100 hours. We had several below zero days this winter but engine was down and I assume drained, etc. We did have over 120 inches of snow which, of course, came up on the lower unit. I have had this model engine since 2002 under the same conditions and the first Honda 90, which I had til about a year ago never had any problems like this.

Thanks much in advance for any help.

Harper
 
Harper-

1. Often the "pee hole' gets clogged with an insect nest and has to be purged, like with a fine wire or large weed whacker monofilament line.

2. I'd hazard a guess that the black debris was your former water pump impeller. Either it was dry 'frozen" in the pump housing, or something else blocked water ingress to it, and it heated up an disintegrated. It's probably still 60-70% there, but won't pump water very well as a displacement pump at low rpm's, and its too dangerous to run the motor at higher rpm's in case it can't pump at all. (Does your motor have a flush fitting up where the cowl meets the lower unit to flush the motor out w/o running it?)

The replacement process/procedure for a water pump for a Honda 90 has been discussed here on the site before, but you'd have an initial problem of where to get a replacement impeller to overcome. Most local sources are the same ones that have the mechanics to do the job, and, of course, are closed until Monday, I'd guess.

Hopefully others will see this thread and also offer some guidance.

Good Luck!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Probably your water pump impeller; but go ahead and pull the lower unit and find out. As Joe said, it is easy to do, and easy to change. Put in an entire rebuild kit. Some places are open on Sat. Depending on where you live. Also you can do it much faster than the mechanic--there you have to get in line behind those who brought the boat in before.

Take a piece of trimming line and push it up into the water discharge or "pee hole". That may dislocate any debris--but there may be pieces of pump up there--which brings us to another problem--if the pump has failed, it may be that some pieces are in the passages and hoses. Those have to be removed.
 
Thanks Joe and Dr. Bob. I'll try the trim line thing today. It's hard to believe that critters got in the line since I had a fairly tight fitting cover on the engine since it was last used. I keep the cover on religiously since I had several problems in the past with small birds building nests in the last engine.

Harper
 
Sorry to hear of your dilemna unless you can do it yourself I would bring the boat into your mechanic early mon morning it's less then an hour job I just had mine done at the Yamaha dealership $ 150 or so . drain the lower unit while your at it .Good luck with water pump I try to have mine done every 2 yrs whether it need it or not .

We are going to Lake tellico this summer have you ever been up that area its 2 dams away from lake Fontana about 50 miles or so
 
Jim,

Thanks, plans are to take the boat to the mechanic first thing tomorrow morning with fingers crossed. Just downloaded and printed detailed instructions from Alma's Own in case I have to do it myself. Problem with that is I have work obligations most of the day tomorrow. I'm a small business owner and the boss is tough.

We have not been to Tellico Lake yet but I am familiar with it. We hope to make it there this year. I have been in that part of the country several times and it is beautiful.

Harper
 
Well, I was at the mechanic's with the boat when they opened at 8 this morning after an hour and a half drive. Three weeks backlog on work. So, I got the part and will attempt the repair myself in the morning. Mechanic said he couldn't believe that the impeller self-destructed unless the engine had been run without water...it hasn't of course. So, we'll see what we find. I used to rebuild auto engines occasionally for a hobby so maybe some of that skill will return. Got to find my torque wrench.

The instructional posts by Alma's Own should be of great help. I'll let you know how it goes and what I find.

Harper
 
Well, the repair to the water pump was actually a piece of cake thanks to Alma's Own posts. I did have to go back to the mechanic to get a new impeller housing liner. I took the old parts and the mechanic says that the engine must have run without water for a short time. I agree but simply can't figure out how that might have happened since I have had the boat (over a year). He said it would have had to happen recently as opposed to before I owned the boat. A real mystery I sure would like to understand. Boat is stored on trailer at my home. No one else has had access to the boat and batteries are always shut off, fuel line disconnected, carbs drained, cabin locked and keys in house.

The only thing I can think of is when I last used the boat in December I disconnected the fuel and let the engine idle to empty the carbs while I went to retrieve the TV and trailer and a plastic bag or something got over the water intake port. Any other ideas?

Thanks again Joe, Dr. Bob, Jim and Alma's Own.

Harper
 
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