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Lots of smoke from the boat!


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So we took the boat out for a very short ride yesterday. We made it less than 1/2-3/4mi at 20mph and saw she was smoking bad. Turns out I forgot to tighten the hose coming of starboard side of the impeller pump. Smoke or steam, not sure was just pouring out the back of the boat and water was definitely present in the bilge. We hit a nearby dock to offload the kids and check things out. All seems to be well, I towed the boat back to be safe and checked the impeller today after it all cooled down. The impeller is fine. I figured that was what the smoke was coming from, it running dry and smoking but no. Any ideas? Only thing I can think of is steam? 

Also, how hard is the main water pump to turn? The pulley spins super free. Almost wondering if it spins too free? Not sure if I want to replace is just cause or if it's okay. Looks to be a pain. 

Any ideas on if I hurt anything? Temp ran up pretty high but came down fast too. I ran it for a couple minutes today to pump some anti freeze back through it and it ran fine  

Thanks, Cale  

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Any time you drop the boat in the water with the engine dry (first time every spring), you need to prime the raw water pump. I do it by giving it a little throttle while the boat is backing off the trailer. Plus check the engine & trans for leaks. And watch the temp gauge.

I would have thought the impeller was smoked.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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It was probably steam from the antifreeze that was in the block and hoses from storage.  Take it out and check through everything slowly. I always go out solo for the first trip of the season so there are no distractions. 

I can't turn any pulleys easily by hand with the belt on. Make sure the belt is turning that pump.

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16 hours ago, Bill_AirJunky said:

Any time you drop the boat in the water with the engine dry (first time every spring), you need to prime the raw water pump. I do it by giving it a little throttle while the boat is backing off the trailer. Plus check the engine & trans for leaks. And watch the temp gauge.

I would have thought the impeller was smoked.

I always drain the block then run antifreeze in through the vdrive inlet when I put it up so its not dry, plus it takes less time that popping off every hose. The ballast pump hose fits over the inlet perfect. Also, yes the impeller was still wet and in perfect shape.

 

13 hours ago, minnmarker said:

Starboard side should be pump outlet so impeller probably fine. I'd be more concerned about the exhaust manifolds.

Maybe a compression check if it got really hot.

They look the be fine? What should I look for? I will do a compression test next time I take it out.

13 hours ago, jrvs23 said:

It was probably steam from the antifreeze that was in the block and hoses from storage.  Take it out and check through everything slowly. I always go out solo for the first trip of the season so there are no distractions. 

I can't turn any pulleys easily by hand with the belt on. Make sure the belt is turning that pump.

The belt IS turning the pulley, pump Im not sure. I mean the pump turns very free, you could cough at it and it will spin. I could spin it with the belt on it (belt stayed stationary and water pump pulley spun). Now the water pump is the ONLY pulley I can spin freely. I loosened the belt, removed it and it seems to spin straight and smooth...

13 hours ago, ahopkinsTXi said:

Was the temp gauge reading anything above normal operating temp?

When I noticed it first smoking I looked down and it was about 180-200. Then I noticed the hose was off, reached down to connect and fired it back up to circulated cold water and it cooled down pretty quick. (water temp 45*). All seemed well after it cooled so I attempted to head back solo and then noticed smoke again (hose popped back off) and saw the engine temp go from 160 up to 220 in about a second, I think the reading was from steam. Immediately killed it and put the hose back on AGAIN and fired up the boat to circulate cold water again. Boat fired up and temp came right back down. At that point I had another boat tow be in. 

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If I read all that right...

The engine water pump should not spin by hand with the belt on it.  First make sure your belt is tight. That is usually done at the alternator.  Second, always carry a spare hose clamp, a utility knife, and a combo screw and nut driver so you can put a hose back on and have it stay.  If you replaced the hose and then had it pop right off again you should get some basic wrenching training from someone.  Not everyone who has a boat worked on their cars when they were teenagers - but they should have...

If the over heating only lasted a minute or so I would not sweat it.  Just keep an eye and ear out for performance issues.  A compression check and a close inspection of the exhaust manifold gaskets and fittings (especially of you have the plastic ones) would be a good idea.

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1 hour ago, minnmarker said:

If I read all that right...

The engine water pump should not spin by hand with the belt on it.  First make sure your belt is tight. That is usually done at the alternator.  Second, always carry a spare hose clamp, a utility knife, and a combo screw and nut driver so you can put a hose back on and have it stay.  If you replaced the hose and then had it pop right off again you should get some basic wrenching training from someone.  Not everyone who has a boat worked on their cars when they were teenagers - but they should have...

If the over heating only lasted a minute or so I would not sweat it.  Just keep an eye and ear out for performance issues.  A compression check and a close inspection of the exhaust manifold gaskets and fittings (especially of you have the plastic ones) would be a good idea.

I have worked on plenty of my own cars and trust me, it is tight now, the hose clamp that is... problem was that I could not get my hands in there to tighten the clamp without burning my arm. I could however reach down and slide the hose back over the impeller pump so that it would flow water at an idle. Anything much more than an idle would blow the hose off. The hose clamp was left loose by myself for lord knows what reason or just plain forgetfulness.

 

The boat is rewinterized now, she had plenty of water in the block when I drained it and she took in a belly full of antifreeze with good flow out of the manifolds so I think all is well. No smoking yesterday while running on the pump and a full night to cool down. Ran smooth and sounded fine too.

 

The belt was as tight as she would go from the alternator... I tightened it when I winterized it about 5 weeks ago. New belt is in the mail along with all of my filters, impeller etc for winter maintenance

If I take the belt off the water pump should I be able to turn the pulley by hand? 

Edited by triscadek
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3 minutes ago, triscadek said:

If I take the belt off the water pump should I be able to turn the pulley by hand? 

Yes for the engine water pump.  No for the raw water pump.

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13 minutes ago, minnmarker said:

Yes for the engine water pump.  No for the raw water pump.

Just to clarify, Engine pump is the one that is belt driven? The one with the impeller inside is driven from the crank it looks. belt or not, its still spinning with the engine rpms. 

Is there a way to confirm the water pump is pumping water into the engine? I had the belt break a while back and we ran it almost all day and had not clue until I got a buzzer for low battery. Engine temp was fine, never over 160-170 (water temp about 60*) and we never went over 23-25mph. Again, this was a couple hours with no belt until the voltage dropped, beeped and I went looking for answers... How did the engine stay so cool if there was no water go through it?

Edited by triscadek
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18 minutes ago, triscadek said:

Just to clarify, Engine pump is the one that is belt driven? The one with the impeller inside is driven from the crank it looks. belt or not, its still spinning with the engine rpms. 

Is there a way to confirm the water pump is pumping water into the engine? I had the belt break a while back and we ran it almost all day and had not clue until I got a buzzer for low battery. Engine temp was fine, never over 160-170 (water temp about 60*) and we never went over 23-25mph. Again, this was a couple hours with no belt until the voltage dropped, beeped and I went looking for answers... How did the engine stay so cool if there was no water go through it?

Yes, engine pump is belt driven, and it may actually be a bit redundant in our boats since the raw water pump does provide pressure into the block, but I would not count on it because it also flows freely into the exhaust manifolds.  In your case there must have been enough pressure from the raw water pump so the water was forced through the engine water pump and into the block.  Not much flow needed at moderate speeds.  The engine water pump is just a centrifugal vane pump so it can spin without pumping if flow is blocked, and it can allow flow through when it's not spinning.

If it's not leaking out the shaft then it's not broken.  Not really much that can break.

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3 hours ago, minnmarker said:

 

If it's not leaking out the shaft then it's not broken.  Not really much that can break.

Re: engine circulation pump, water dripping out the bearing weep hole indicates a problem, but sometimes the bronze impeller breaks and the pump will fail without water leaking out of the bearing weep hole.  

Edited by Bozboat
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1 hour ago, Bozboat said:

Re: engine circulation pump, water dripping out the bearing weep hole indicates a problem, but sometimes the bronze impeller breaks and the pump will fail without water leaking out of the bearing weep hole.  

So how do I confirm that it IS working properly?

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13 minutes ago, triscadek said:

So how do I confirm that it IS working properly?

Bozboat is correct in that the impeller can break - but it is very rare.

If you want to check for sure you can loosen the belt and spin the pump by hand.  If it doesn't make any grinding or rattling noises it's fine.  If your engine is not over heating, as you said earlier, then all is OK.  If there is a noise, replacement is a simple remove/replace.

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3 hours ago, triscadek said:

So how do I confirm that it IS working properly?

For me, after I had eliminated every other possible cause of intermittent overheating, I pulled the circ pump and took it apart. Symptoms: engine temp would spike above 4K rpm, and occasionally at idle and low rpms. Almost always it would cool off with hull speed in between.   I used an infared thermometer on the block to second guess the dash gauge. 

I'm guessing it has to be a rare event, but one to consider if you have confirmed the raw water pump is working and the thermostat is not stuck and you have good water flow in and out.  Spinning the circ pump by hand felt normal.

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Yikes! I may end up replacing just to be safe... I don't like unexpected issues come go time during the summer. I usually try to do a lot of preventative maintence come winter while we don't use it as much and that way I have a full season of boating with no issues. Knock on wood. This will be my third season with the boat and have had 0 issues with it aside from last weekend which was 100% my fault for not tightening the hose clamps about 6 weeks ago when winterizing it.  

I am really impressed with the indmar (having 700hrs now) after owning several other non-tow boats in the past. They're really very well built. We have been thinking about getting a cruiser as I don't wakeboard as much after dislocating my shoulder in 2015 and the lake we are on is very rough due to such large boats. It is hard to let the pretty wake, seating, styling and overall satisfaction with Malibu go. That and the kids can swim without worries of them slicing their foot on a prop hanging off the back. 

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Indmar had a bulletin about broken circulation pumps. Said to pull the plug out of the top of the pump (just behind pulley) and stick a screwdriver in to lock up the impeller, if the pulley would still spin then the impeller was broken. I would not bother changing the circulation pump unless the weep hole is leaking or broken inside.

 

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