Sea Water Pump Impeller

[nauticalrich]

As recommended for winterizing my Universal 14 HP diesel, the manual suggested removing the raw water (sea) impeller. It stated be careful not to pull the shaft out when removing it. I put a screwdriver against the shaft and pulled the impeller off. Unfortunately I did slightly move the shaft but just a little. It went right back in. It was sort of a jerking motion, real quick and very short.

They state if you pull the shaft out by accident you have to remove the pump and realign it etc. However, I can''t turn the shaft at all by hand so it must be still properly seated (I hope).

I guess the question is for anyone knowledgeable to tell me it''s ok????????

Its an Oberdorfer pump.

[Denr]

nauticalfilthyrich:
The instructions probably state that you should not pull the shaft out so that you don''t cause potential damage to the lip seal on the engine side of the pump. You should have two seals in the body of the pump, one oriented toward the engine to keep oil from leaking out, the other oriented toward the raw water side to prevent sea water from getting into the engine. When you pull the shaft and impeller out of the pump, you''re actually pushing the shaft against the engine side seal in the wrong direction. If you do happen to pull the shaft out just put a little lithium grease on the end of the shaft, if you''re careful you won''t damage the seal.

Sometimes they also have a slinger on the shaft, you can potentially drop this if you pull the shaft out. This is supposed to keep contaminates from getting to close to the two seals. When I rebuilt my water pump a few years ago I did not put the slinger on even though it came with the rebuild kit. The slinger is more useful on engines that run in an open unprotected environment such as for power generation.

I can''t tell you it''s OK, your engine could blow up any minute but, when I get to the east coast on business you''d better offer me a ride.

[pirateofcapeann]

Not too familiar with the Universal 14 hp but I''d be willing to bet that the injector pump is driven off of the raw water pump shaft. God only knows why they do it that way instead of the other way round. The raw water pump gets serviced more then the injector pump!

Anyway, they put the pump on this shaft because it spins at half the RPM of the crankshaft, which is closer to the optimum RPM for this type of pump. This shaft is timed with the engine so the injectors will open at the correct time.

That it went right back in with a click and nothing had moved, I''d say that all is well. Some mesh with the injector pump with like 8 splines on the shaft so you’d have to turn the thing pretty far to throw it out of timing.

Pi

[nauticalrich]

Denr

When you come to the East Coast, Bridgeport, CT area let me know.

I''d take all members who are kind enough to reply to my messages for a ride, on my boat that is.

Thanks