Fishing Forum

Are you supposed to change your impeller annually? Anything else that needs to be changed annually besides gear oil?
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Some people change them yearly but it isn't needed in mose cases unless the water stops coming out of the weep hole. Also some people change their spark plugs yearly but that too is a personal call and likely depends more on how many hours you use your motor, I change mine every third year. The most important thing to change yearly is your gas and fuel filter if your motor has one. When I get a new boat or used boat I check the gear oil that first year but if it is ok, I don't check it every year unless I hit the prop which could damaged the seal and cause it to leak. This is only my opinion and I'm sure everyone has their own way of maintaining their motors.
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Unless you are running your boat in very shallow silty water you oughta be good for five years at least. If you ever run the engine for even 30 seconds without being in the water or hooked up to a hose, replace the impeller.
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Yep, what you said. + if a person revs the engine while its not in a test tank or hooked to water hose the impeller can be toasted in much less than 5 seconds.
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Everytime I pull my boat out of the water, I let the water drain from my outboard motor engine/impeller and then start the motor for about 2-3 seconds in order for the impeller to pump any residual water out of the system. This keeps water from freezing inside the motor. I check my impeller once/year and replace it about every 5 years or when I think it looks even the least bit worn. I have never, EVER had an impeller go bad from running the engine for a few seconds each trip to pump out that residual water that won't drain. I have seen several people who don't do this, and the next time they show up at the lake they have one of two issues.
1). The impeller is frozen and when they go to start the engine the shaft spins and ruins the impeller; or
2) The piss-hole is blocked and it takes about 5 minutes for the warm water to melt the ice in the piss-hole line. It won't hurt your engine, but I've seen people unnecessarily panic when there is no water coming out the piss hole and go home before their trip even starts. As long as water is coming out the exhaust, it will melt the ice in the pisser line and then you will be able to "see" the water.
My point is.......if you just crank the engine out of the water like I said above you can avoid both of these problems.
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The reason why this hasn't damaged the impeller is due to it being wet, I think most people are talking about a dry start. and that should never be done.
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Right, I do that also during cold/freezing air temps.. We can get away with starting it for short brusts because the impeller housing retains some water/moisture providing some lubrication between the impeller housing and impeller. But to start and rev an engine with a dry impeller housing only brings major grief.
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I do almost the same thing as you do to dump the water out of the impeller lobes for that exact reason.
But instead of risking your engine starting and cooking your impeller or housing just disable your engine by taking the safety lanyard clip off. To dump the water you only need the engine cranked one or two cycles.
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Thanks Don, I was referring to a dry impeller when starting the engine. I always run my engine for a few seconds at idle immediately after taking it out of the water. All ya gotta do is let it start & immediately shut it off to clear the water from it.
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[quote HATH]Are you supposed to change your impeller annually? Anything else that needs to be changed annually besides gear oil?[/quote]

The instruction manual for my Merc 115 says to change the impeller every year, but I thought that was a bit too soon, so I changed it at 2 years this time. The damn thing still looked brand new, so I'm going to wait three years this next time unless there's an issue. HTH, Fred K.
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Yep, thats always a good idea Tom. While we on the subject let me add that I once got ahead of myself and changed an impeller and yet the lack of cooling water continued. It turned out to be a stuck thermostat and I was amazed at how much crud had built up on it. So with as much crap as we may suck into the cooling system I now check and clean the thermostat every year.
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+1 The thermostats can build up crud on them, just as important as replacing the impeller. I change mine every two years, sparkies every 4 years, drain and replace lower gear oil every fall. If there is water in it your lower unit can turn into a rusty anchor. Fishing line can damage the seals on the shaft...trust me.
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Where is the thermostat located?
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Yer runnin' a different boat now aintcha Curt?
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No, same boat, I just did not know outboards had thermastats[:/].
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I've got a 200 Merc, not sure what you are running. This video is pretty close.
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