water leak between upper and lower (Alpha 1)?

[boatman37]

So I replaced my impeller a couple weeks sago and finally fired it up today on the muffs. With the muffs on and water on but engine off, I get quite a bit of water coming out between the upper and lower. There is/was no gasket here so I would sort of expect this? With the boat running I have quite a bit coming out of the area of the exhaust bellows. The bellows were replaced summer 2015 and at quick glance looked fine a few weeks ago. I know the exhaust bellows isn't important but makes me wonder about the others.When running not much coming out between the upper and lower and hardly any out of the prop.

I let it run about 15 minutes between 1000 and 1500 RPM and temps never went over 140*

Is this normal?

1986 Alpha 1 Gen 1

 

[boatman37]

Anyone?

Is it possible the water pressure was up too high and the leaking between the upper and lower was overflow? From what I have seen there are no o-rings on the water pump tube, just a slip fit? Not sure how I could have screwed that up? If I did I would think the engine would have overheated?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Drive should be a Alpha1 ,the copper water tube is a slip fit into the top of the water pump upper housing, no O rings and there is no opening between the upper and lower

 

[boatman37]

Yeah, just not sure what to look for when i pull it back off? can't imagine what could be wrong. seems pretty straight forward. I do know the first time i tried to put it on i was by myself and had trouble and the new plastic tube popped out. i got a helper and slipped the tube back on and it went right together with the helper.

i didn't remove the upper when i did this as i was only changing the impeller.

 

[BillK2632]

When you run on muffs, water pours out from about everywhere. All around the transom area, the exhaust bellows are not usually water tight. Also, the upper / low is just a dry fit with no gasket, so it is not water tight either. I can't see what is going on, but to me it sounds normal. If the water tube for the pump was loose, it would overheat pretty quick - I guess if you want to be sure, pull the raw water hose up at the engine and check the flow - but I think you are fine.

 

[Bt Doctur]

On the Alpha1 the plastic guide tube pushes into the top of the pump housing
and its used as a guide to get the copper tube into the top of the pump housing. If it was not in there you would be overheating

 

[boatman37]

So since it isn't overheating I should be ok? I ran it about 10-15 minutes on the muffs and it went to about 140-145*. I though maybe since it was from a pressurized garden hose maybe it had enough pressure to fill that cavity in the lower/upper and eventually force water up into the copper tube? If that isn't the case then I think I am good to go then? Like you said, if the tube wasn't connected then it would overheat real quick?

When the engine is off but water running it overflows out where the 2 surfaces meet. Once running most of it comes out near the exhaust bellows and very little out of the prop hub. Very little, if any comes out where the upper and lower meet once it's running. Just seems like it was pressurized with the engine off and the water had to go somewhere. Path of least resistance was the mating surfaces?

Other than that still buffing and cleaning and waiting on my gimbal anode gasket to show up. Replaced the anodes but there was no gasket for the gimbal anode so had to order one.

 

[Loyd Dinneen]

Inside the top of the pump in the plastic tube area there is a rubber insert that the copper tube fits into if it is missing I guess it could leak water back into the lower case.

 

[boatman37]

That would probably cause a leak but I didn't touch the copper tube so that shouldn't have been the issue. Had it out a few times and everything seems fine so somebody mentioned that maybe the water was leaking around the muffs and hitting the edge where the upper and lower meet and spraying outwards making it appear to be coming from the mating surfaces. I'm thinking that might have been what was happening. Had it out a few times and never went over 160*

 

[Loyd Dinneen]

That makes since to me.

 

[Loyd Dinneen]

I'm sure you have figured it out by now but the rubber insert that was mentioned is what the copper tube fits into inside the waterpump housing and the plastic tube then fits into the housing. I have down both pumps and found it easier to remove the whole outdrive and then check all the seals and bearings for wear. I never had the water come out the seam between the upper and lower drive I don't think its suppose to. I would check the drive fluid for water intrusion before running it much.

 

[boatman37]

I sold the boat in June but figured out that water wasn't coming out between them. It was actually squeezing out past the muffs and up towards the 'fin' and making it look like it was at the joint. Started our new boat up on muffs yesterday and it did the same thing and it's a Bravo III