Scheduled Water Pump Impeller on F-150 OB

[clevey4222]

I have a F-150 4 stroke. Mfr'ed in 2014, bought in 2016, now with 150 hours on it. The manual says to "check" the water pump at 150 hours and replace at 300 hours. How do you "check" it without disassembling it, other than watching it pee which we should each time we start it up. Am I over due? Not sure of the schedule here.

Also - I may attempt it myself. Does anyone use gasket sealer or grease, or just put it on dry (with surfaces cleaned of course)? Thank guys.

[robert graham]

Buy a new impeller, drop your lower unit and install the new one....I put grease on impeller to re-install to help installation and start- up.....it's a fairly easy job. You may want to remOve prop for inspection and grease splines...and lower unit will be a bit lighter during removal and re-installation. Inspect water pump body for any overheating while you have it apart....YouTube has some nice films showing the water pump service....

[fairdeal]

How do you "check" it without disassembling it

You don't - the intention is to disassemble;
which, on that yearly schedule,
has the 'side effect' that nothing - bolts, propeller, driveshaft -
have time to seize together from corrosion.

Per Yamaha, if the impeller then appears to be in good condition,
it can be re-used until the following year,
until its been used three years.

In practice - many (most? all?) shops simply replace the impeller if they have the water pump apart
- its less work to install new, than think about whether the old one is OK
- it avoids responsibility should the old impeller fail despite appearing OK
- it earns the profit of markup on the part

[robert graham]

After you do this impeller replacement once then you'll feel a lot better about the procedure and lose your fear/anxiety of dropping your lower unit for future replacements or repairs.if you boat mostly in saltwater then this preventive maintenance is more important....freshwater maybe not as critical.....but still needs doing...

[panasonic]

I have a F-150 4 stroke. Mfr'ed in 2014, bought in 2016, now with 150 hours on it. The manual says to "check" the water pump at 150 hours and replace at 300 hours. How do you "check" it without disassembling it, other than watching it pee which we should each time we start it up. Am I over due? Not sure of the schedule here.

Also - I may attempt it myself." Does anyone use gasket sealer or grease, or just put it on dry (with surfaces cleaned of course)? "Thank guys.

Does anyone use gasket sealer or grease, or just put it on dry (with surfaces cleaned of course)? "

Are you talking about the lower unit itself? If so then there is no gasket where the LU bolts on. Grease the bolts when you reinstall them.

All other information has already been given above from the others. I would invest in a Yamaha Service Manual..tell you everything you need to know about your motor.

I use dish soap on the impeller.

[99yam40]

Does anyone use gasket sealer or grease, or just put it on dry (with surfaces cleaned of course)? "

Are you talking about the lower unit itself? If so then there is no gasket where the LU bolts on. Grease the bolts when you reinstall them.

All other information has already been given above from the others. I would invest in a Yamaha Service Manual..tell you everything you need to know about your motor.

I use dish soap on the impeller.

Some grease can and will attach rubber.
have read something about maybe silicone grease being used. the called it water pump lube grease

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Plus one, NO GREASE on the impeller, liquid dish soap works fine.

To hold the rubber seals on the pump housing in place, I'll use just a smidge of Yamaha's water proof grease on the SEAL itself. That alone will hold that seal in place.

And use either genuine Yamaha WATERPROOF MARINE grease for splines, (or equivalent) as well where the mid section /shaft bushing rub together.
Regular marine grease will NOT hold up and it'll be squeaking in a short period of time

Attached pic's are from when a MT used sealer on my pump.. (a frigging mess which took me quite awhile to remove all that crap)
An 06 F150 as well:

[panasonic]

Some grease can and will attach rubber.
have read something about maybe silicone grease being used. the called it water pump lube grease

Some grease is fine for sure. But whatever is put on there is going to end up in our water, so I just use dish soap.