Help! 496 Mag H.O. - will not suck water
 

Hello all -

Here we are, the day before one of the biggest "boating" days of the season and I'm having issues with my Z278. For some reason, when running this boat (on the muffs or in the water) I cannot get the water pump to suck water from the inlet. I've replaced the pump impeller, flushed all necessary hoses (running from drive to water pump, water pump to heat exchanger) and everything seems to be flowing freely. I've also pulled the hard water hose off the transom in the engine compartment and stuck a garden hose into it - With the engine running I CAN get the boat to cool.

I know I'm waiting till the last minute to post this problem that I've been having, but any help would be greatly appreciated. At this point I'm out of options - I've been a backyard boat mechanic for about 5 years and never experienced anything like this - I'm afraid my last option is a boat repair shop which I won't be able to line-up until sometime in the middle of June.

Once again, any help from anybody out there would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time, and enjoy your holiday weekend!

Regards,
Todd

Re: Help! 496 Mag H.O. - will not suck water
 

One additional thing I should mention - when I put it away last season, I was having no cooling problems whatsoever. When I winterized the boat, I went through the standard 496 winterizing procedures (air pump, pulled all blue drain plugs).

Thanks again,
Todd

Re: Help! 496 Mag H.O. - will not suck water
 

Perhaps the rubber hose that runs from the bell housing to the gimbal housing has a kink in it? This could definately restrict the flow of water from the drive.

Re: Help! 496 Mag H.O. - will not suck water