kbkindle how often do you guys change your water pump impellar

they say about every 100 hrs thats about once a year the water here at my home lakes is not the cleanest

if you did have it changed about how much does it cost for a 200 hp motor or larger by yamaha.

kb i dont think the kit is to expensive just the labor here they charge $95.00 hour

I change mine and grease the drive shaft spline every three years.  That's 250 - 300 hours on my motor.  They are easy to change if you have any mechanical skills.  Impellar's for big motors are usually $35 - $45.  The whole kits can vary $50 - over $100, depending on make and model motor.

I usually usually pull it apart first, see what the gaskets, seals and other parts look like.  If they are in good condition, I replace just the impellar, it they looks used up, I buy the kit, if the housing looks like it's getting near the end of it's life, I buy the whole water pump.

I'm sure most shops will charge you two - three hours labor, even though most can be replaced in 1 - 1 1/2 hours.  That's provided it's a fresh water motor.  If it's a saltwater motor, don't even think about trying it yourself unless you are a pretty good mechanic.  You can bite off a whole lot more than you planned to chew when you start trying to get saltwater motor parts off.  You can usually expect the have a higher bill when you have one replaced on a saltwater motor, especially one that has not been apart for several years.

It's pretty easy to change the impeller. The hardest part is putting the lower unit back on the motor. You will need someone to help you line up the shaft and gear pin. I change mine 2 times a year and the lower unit grease every month. It's more than needed but I tore up a lower unit 2 years ago because the seal went bad and I did'nt know it. Water filled the gearcase and cooked the gear set.

Grease is cheap compared to $3000 for a new lower unit. Same goes for the impeller, $50 is better than a blown motor. If the motor does'nt get run much they will dry rot and crap out at the most inconvienent time. There are plenty of people online that can talk you through it. If you have a digital camera take pictures of the disassembly as you do it and then you have a record of how it goes back together.

Good Luck

Rob

There is nothing wrong with changing one that often, unless you're having to pay a shop to do it, even then if you have that kind of money to throw away, no problem. That is however, way more often than ever needed.

I would venture to say, most water pumps/impellars are never changed unless they fail. They will go many years before they dryrott. Unless running a lot of shallow water were silt is regularly being ingested, they will last years before wearing the ends off the blades. What they will do is start to harden and develop a memory so the blade tips don't flex back out quick enough for a good strong seal when it moves into large side of the chamber.

I've seen motors many years old still running the original water pump, just not a very smart thing to do. When one does come apart, it can send pieces all up in the motor to get lodged in small ports and passages, causing cooling problems after being replaced. Plus the fact after a few years, the water circulation start reducing.

It's probably almost as important to grease the drive spline every couple of years as it is to change the pump. I've seen them stuck in so bad, the LU would not seperate from the motor, that's why I do both every three years. Gotta drop the LU to do either, may as well do both.

I guess I should say these comments are based on a motor that's not started out of the water and run dry.  If you are one of the idiots that think they have to start the motor before launching just to make sure it starts, or for what ever reason they do that, then all this is out the window.   Several seconds of running dry can destroy a water pump.

I run a Jet Drive and running in a lot of 6" water at times. I suck up a lot of the bottom so I change mine every year. Its not that big a job. I think it was like $47.00 last time I bought one. Its a lot cheaper to maintain this very important component than to let it go. Blown  power heads are not cheap.