How many hours would this job be ? Parts should be pretty cheap, huh ? Less than $50 ? Outboard labor in my area is about $130 to $140 an hour though  > ....and I have no choice but to pay it, to keep my warranty good.

Anyway, my motor is 3 years old now. Impellar never changed... and I don't know if its just in my head, but when I first fire up the motor, it seems like the pisser is a little weak (moreso than normal) until after I start to get on it a little.

BTW, I wonder if their is a way I can redirect the pisser (sorry, I don't know what else to call it ;-) upward, so I can more easily see that I'm pumping water, without having to lean back and to the right side of my motor "while I'm running" to see if it's still pumping.....

Hmmmm,

Fish

Too many things can cause your pisser to look weak.  At only three years old, I would doubt it's the water pump.  I do recommend replacing the water pump every three years but I've never pulled one out that was bad after just three years.  They will be holding a bend in the blades but still very flexable.

If this is a motor that stays on the boat all the time, I would just add a water pressure guage.

First time I've ever heard of having to replace the impeller to maintain warrenty though.  At those labor rates, I think I need to start working on motors for the public.  I thought they had gotten high around my parts at $90 per hour.  A dealer normally installs the whole water pump so plan on more than $50 and figure he's probably going to get you for close to two hours from the time he starts the job until finish.

Just think, for $30 and a little bit of your time, you could do it yourself, it's actually very easy to replace.  

Hey Chris, I changed the impeller on my 6 horse Yamaha and I have never done that before. I did a little searching on line about what is all involved before I started. I guess it took me an hour or so to do the job. I found the impeller on E-bay for $14. I don't think the impeller had ever been changed and the motor was made back in the 90's but not used much. It did "p" water out at idle before the change and picked up when running, but with the new impeller it really "p's" it out now at idle. If you could do it yourself with a little help from someone who has done this before it could save you money plus give you hands on experience how to do the replacement again someday. Good luck.

Jim

A lot of motors don't have a strong stream of water coming out of the tell tale until the engine comes up to temperature. In cold weather/water there may be no water coming out of the tell tale until the thermostats open fully as the engine comes up to operating temp. Never heard of anyone redirecting the tell tale. If you are concerned I'd get a water pressure gauge or an engine temp gauge, water coming out of the tell tale may or may not signal a problem. No water pressure or an excessively hot engine are always a problem.

Chris,

I basically did the same thing you are about to attempt.  My impeller has not been changed for about the same amount of time so I ordered the "water pump kit" for my engine that includes the housing, impeller, seals, and bolts.  Anyway long story short, my SS bolts broke inside the exhaust housing when taking them out. According to Catt and my father, engineer, the galvanic corrosion can and will cause the bolts to weaken so be very careful, when removing exhaust housing from gearcase, other than that everything else was easy.

I figure it would have taken me 60-90 minutes, including draining lower unit and replacing lower unit oil, changing plugs, and greasing lubrication points.  I am no mechanic or engineer, but with the service manual close by I can manage, unless of course I hit a snag.  

Check out my post on small job turns into nightmare.