350 Magnum BIII raw water pump

[charlieft]

My marina said that they couldn't replace the impeller on my raw water pump. They said that my model required that you replace the entire pump. I have a 2004 SeaRay 260DA with a 300hp 350 Magnum and a BravoIII drive.

The job took 3 hours labor plus $285 for the pump (they gave me a break on the pump) for a total of over $600 to replace the impeller. They recommend that I replace it every year.

Does this sound right? (I've got to learn how to do some of this stuff myself.)

-Charlie

 

[Dave S]

Charlie

Something doesn't sound right if your dealer said that. And three hours labor is way too high for a 260DA where the pump is easily accesible especially if they just replace it and don't have to rebuild it. Ask a few more questions of your dealer and ask if you have the plastic pump or the newer brass pump which is on my 350MAG.

On the plastic ones you can replace the housing if it wears too much rather than replacing the whole pump but maybe it's almost as cheap to replace the whole pump.....I am just not sure on that one. We have also been talking about problems with the newer brass pumps in this thread . http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?p=75240&posted=1#post75240

Dave

 

[tginz]

Something sounds questionable. My 5.0 has a brass pump and I just bought an impeller kit - it was under $50.00. I can pull the pump, change the impeller & O-ring, reinstall the pump and hoses in about an hour.....And I'm slow, take my time, and clean everything the process.

If you have a plastic pump, yes you probably have to replace it, BUT they just have to change it out and don't have the "labor/time" to rebuild it.

Just my $.02

 

[charlieft]

Thanks Dave and tginz,

Three hours seemed a little high to me also. If you're an expert who commands $100+ an hour then you should be able to do a routine job like that in your sleep. As a boater I should be used to this stuff.

The pump is down at the bottom of the engine on the starbord side. It doesn't look plastic.

I had an '86' Larson and I did all the work myself, but I paid so much for this boat that I was reluctant to do the maintenance.

-Charlie

 

[MC1600]

Well, Charlie, I can't speak to the issue of the impeller, but that price isn't THAT far off. I just had to have mine done, and the total was $497. Now fortunately, since the seal blew on it, Passport covered it, so I didn't put a lot of energy into worrying about the labor.

In my mind, the biggest difference in the labor would be if the boat is in or out of the water. It's a much trickier operation if the boat's still in the water, but either way, 3 hours sounds a bit much. I was there when the tech did mine, and once he had the part, I would say it took him 1/2 and hour at MOST.