[Hrdcor]

My boat is a 1997 Mariah shabah with a 5.7 carb. Motor with a bravo 3 mercury lower unit.

Hi everyone ,,, I had an issue with my water pump located at the lower left of the engine ( the pump that pumps the lake water to the engine I assume ) any way, i pulled up to the shore cut the engine off normally , as I restarted the engine 15 minutes later ,the belt started squealing ... Killed it , opened the engine cover noticed the belt not turning . Pulled the belt turned every pulley ,,, lower water pump stuck .. I pulled the pump , found no problem , put a little oil I had on board in the housing reinstalled the impeller and it worked perfect and problem free the rest of the weekend . I'm at a complete loss as to why it would freeze up like that for no apparent reason . Impeller war perfect and new looking . And the boat has been in use for the last 4 months on pretty regular basis...
Does any one know why some thing like this would happen ???

Thanks
Hard Core

[luke7575]

Its a water pump they just go bad.

My 7.4l Just did something similar, My pump impeller was bad and changed it for a new one, then took it out again, and blew the port side exhaust boot for the second time, took it to the mechanic and the water pump was, bad, and i never saw temps over 165.

[theeasynine]

They do like to go bad. Mine has been replaced twice, currently in the shop now for fuel and water pump.

[Hrdcor]

I realize they go bad , but there wasn't a problem with the impeller ... It just stopped the pulley from turning and had the belt squealing and smoking for a second at start up , til I turned it off . Like I said in my first post ... All I did was pull the pump , took it apart added a small amount of oil to the housing for ease of install of the impeller .. And poof it was good as new ...??? I'm at a complete loss I'm pretty mechanically inclined an I'm not used to not fixing something that definitely was a problem ... O- well ... It's working fine now . I was just wondering if any of the other Mariah boat owners had ran into this before .

Thanks for your replies ...

[Hrdcor]

So is there a water pump impeller in the lower unit as well on this motor / lower unit ..? I know there's a pump in front of the cam with the center pulley on it . Know I know there's a pump for the lake water at the bottom left of the engine area , is there also one in the lower unit like my last boat ... It was a maxim ...

[theeasynine]

Must have had some debris in there that made it quit turning and when you took it off you cured it. Always nice to fix it yourself.

[Hrdcor]

Originally Posted by theeasynine

Must have had some debris in there that made it quit turning and when you took it off you cured it. Always nice to fix it yourself.

... Well I found nothing , butt.... Obviously something stuck it . So ... I'm just glad it's all good now
And yes I love the fact I can do some things my self .

[luke7575]

Buy an extra and keep it in handy just in case

[ColoradoDiablo]

I hate to tell you , but it is going to do it again. The bearing on the shaft is seizing up.
And it's gonna do it at the worst possible time...........out in the middle of the lake.
I sure wouldn't trust it.
Replace/rebuild it and you won't have further issues.

JMO

[mikeyt]

I'm not absolutely positive about this but i believe the Bravo 3's dont have an outdrive impeller & they rely on the engine mounted water pump. I'm with Larry on this one. Sounds like a bearing starting to fail & the bit of oil will provide some temporary relief. Its time to replace the water pump.