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OK, I give. Is it just me or is the location and design of the water pump just plain stupid?
I don't want to go on a rant here but I spent the better part of 3 hour screwing around doing something on a 2012 Ilmor that I could have done on any Indmar in 20 minutes. Now I know a good part of this was just me refusing to (at first) remove the entire water pump to change the impeller but this is supposed to be a somewhat serviceable part right? You know, the kind of thing that if you're on the water and the impeller takes a dump for whatever reason you should be able to service. Right?
Now I'm not saying changing an impeller on a Indmar installed in a vDrive can't be challenging on the water but doing so on an Ilmor would be all but impossible. The issue comes down to some non-boater genius picking a pump that used a key way instead of a spline shaft. As if this wouldn't be challenging enough, let's add a little more challenge to the job by locating it so that it sits at the lowest part of the motor, then attach 3 hoses to it and just for extra points let's put a plastic threaded elbow in there that will be easy to cross thread and I'm sure will stay flexible and won't crack over time. The level of stupid here is off the charts. I mean let's take something simple and totally screw it up for sport.
So after playing with this mess trying to get the impeller on without the key falling out then playing "in search of" for nearly an hour I finally bit the bullet and just removed the 3 hoses, 2 bolts and the accessory belt while standing on my head to pull the water pump out. I will say after the pump was out it only took 2 tries to get the impeller in without the key falling out. Then just another 45 minutes of standing on my head to reassemble everything and I was done. What a joke.
So whenever I do something like this I like to see if I can make it a learning experience for myself. Someone please school me and tell me the secret of how to do this the simple way? My dealer told me the simple way was to not "f" with it until the pump is removed from the boat and change the impeller on the bench. Wanted to see if any of you came up with a better method as pulling the pump is no peach either.
BTW - when I changed it 2 years ago I was able to just pull the impeller and slap the new one in. My dealer told me I missed my chance to get a winning lottery number that day as the odds of the key way staying in place were about the same.
I stand here before you humble awaiting to hear the error of my ways.
I don't want to go on a rant here but I spent the better part of 3 hour screwing around doing something on a 2012 Ilmor that I could have done on any Indmar in 20 minutes. Now I know a good part of this was just me refusing to (at first) remove the entire water pump to change the impeller but this is supposed to be a somewhat serviceable part right? You know, the kind of thing that if you're on the water and the impeller takes a dump for whatever reason you should be able to service. Right?
Now I'm not saying changing an impeller on a Indmar installed in a vDrive can't be challenging on the water but doing so on an Ilmor would be all but impossible. The issue comes down to some non-boater genius picking a pump that used a key way instead of a spline shaft. As if this wouldn't be challenging enough, let's add a little more challenge to the job by locating it so that it sits at the lowest part of the motor, then attach 3 hoses to it and just for extra points let's put a plastic threaded elbow in there that will be easy to cross thread and I'm sure will stay flexible and won't crack over time. The level of stupid here is off the charts. I mean let's take something simple and totally screw it up for sport.
So after playing with this mess trying to get the impeller on without the key falling out then playing "in search of" for nearly an hour I finally bit the bullet and just removed the 3 hoses, 2 bolts and the accessory belt while standing on my head to pull the water pump out. I will say after the pump was out it only took 2 tries to get the impeller in without the key falling out. Then just another 45 minutes of standing on my head to reassemble everything and I was done. What a joke.
So whenever I do something like this I like to see if I can make it a learning experience for myself. Someone please school me and tell me the secret of how to do this the simple way? My dealer told me the simple way was to not "f" with it until the pump is removed from the boat and change the impeller on the bench. Wanted to see if any of you came up with a better method as pulling the pump is no peach either.
BTW - when I changed it 2 years ago I was able to just pull the impeller and slap the new one in. My dealer told me I missed my chance to get a winning lottery number that day as the odds of the key way staying in place were about the same.
I stand here before you humble awaiting to hear the error of my ways.
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