impellers going bad? other?

[ddummitt]

I have 3 year old Johnson pumps on my 2002 Xstar with factory tanks. They have worked flawlessly for the last 3 years. Recently, they have been a little temperamental to get started. I have to switch them from empty to fill to get them to fill the tanks and they will occasionally trip the breakers.

Is this a sign the impellers need to be replaced? Or is there another issue? It seems to be the back to pumps primarily. In there life the only operational difference would be that if I forgot to turn a pump off immediately when it ran empty it would be the back pumps.

Likely, Unrelated issue that started about the same time is that the boat has started taking on water. Bilge pump runs when my rider falls and return to idle. I suspect the packing as it has not been adjusted in 3 years.

[blackhawk]

That doesn't sound like the impellers are the problem. If they are worn, they wouldn't cause the breakers to trip. You probably have worn or rusted bearings.

[Rossterman]

Thought your post was one I made as they were exact same timespan, pumps, and issues. I actually took them apart to see the issue and even emailed wakemakers. Pumps trip breakers and yours is likely what I found- black rubber (not plastic) impellers had stuck to the housing and need to either be lubed up (not a long term fix) or replaced with the orange poly impellers (similar to green jabsco which will also work). Frankly, I am kinda pissed since I remember reading on their site that the jabsco and johnson both had similar impellers, just johnson pumped a little faster. Obviously that was BS or the stock I recieved didnt have the correct impellers.

Ordered new orange poly ones which feel like they may be oil impregnated to prevent stiction in the future.

Wakemakers just blew me off saying the impellers I have are exactly the same as the poly green ones in the jabsco pumps only black in color and they started making them orange as a marketing gimmick to compete with Jabsco. Also that the impellers should be replaced every year! Just a bunch of BS as I can tell rubber from plastic and mine sure were not plastic. No replacements or discount on the proper parts was offered even though I didnt get what I payed for.

Putting the new ones in this weekend to get things up and going. You may want to put some glycerine on yours when installing like I will do. Will also be more religious as to cycling them each outing to keep the. From siezing up.