Another Newbie Volvo Penta Md5B question: weeping water

[piper]

1st, much thanks for the answers to my previous post regarding bleeding fuel lines....ends up there are FOUR points to bleed on the MD5B. Now I know.

New question: I've got a weep or leak of water--fresh water cool system. Is this normal or just another indication that I need to tighten something or replace something (like an O-ring or Flange)? It appears to be coming from near the impellar (which is new--3 months tops). the engine is getting water as it's "spitting" when running and no temp alarms have gone off.

Since I'm still green, i'm looking for all information I can collect before diving in to pulling stuff apart. I'd rather be sailing than not, but need the iron gennie to get out and back, so correcting this, if it's an issue, is top shelf at the moment.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[kenn]

The seawater pump (if this is what we are talking about) can leak from a few different places; the water in connection, the water out connection, the impellor cover, and the pump shaft.

Check the hose clamps, carefully check the impellor-cover screws for tightness (it's easy to strip them), then see if you still have water leaking.

 

[piper]

Cheers Kenn! thanks!

 

[larryw]

Pearsons are great boats, but those Volvo Penta engines don't enjoy much of a rep, but there will be people who tell you 'my engine's been runnin' for a hundred years' yak-yak. Parts are very expensive and hard to get. A good bud of mine is does a lot of boat work and avoids those engines.

 

[Alex Dare]

Chris,
Definitely check what Kenn suggested. It may be something simple. More than likely though, it's time to either rebuild or replace the raw water pump. So long as the shaft and housing are in good shape they can usually be rebuilt. If the shaft is very worn you can end up close to the price of a new pump by the time you buy the shaft and the rebuild kit (bearings and seals). The pump should have a name on it...Sherwood, Oberdorfer, Jabsco....and a model number. You'll need that to order the parts.

 

[piper]

Hello Alex, thanks for the info. It's leaking where I think the sealing rings are--I can't tighten them, so I'm guessing they are not sealing anymore. I'm taking from the responses that it shouldn't leak at all (step 1 to confirm so I'm not "fixing" something that isn't broken); I guess I'll order the sealing rings and try that and hope I'm not replacing the whole thing.

Thanks for the responses!

Chris

 

[piper]

Again, Thanks for the responses. Maybe for no other reason than when I have to do this again here's what it turned out to be: The PO had replaced the impellor just before I took possesion. He mentioned he'd had to practically rebuild the sea water pump.

Yesterday, after a few bruised knuckles and lots of grunting and cussing, I got the pump off the engine--checked the shaft and the seals. There are two seals that must be installed where there are drain holes in the shaft housing--the seals were blocking the drain. Fortunately, I'd ordered two new seals just in case I needed them. Learning as I pulled the bits apart, I destroyed the installed seals (which looked new, but not installed where they needed to be--and the shaft looked new too) and replaced them with the new ones, but so the drain holes were clear. Re-installed the pump, hooked everything up, opened the sea cock, turned her over and she ran with nary a drip of water. So simple, yet....

Again thanks for the suggestions--I wouldn't have got to this point with out them.