Water pump impeller

I have run Suzuki motors for many years. I currently run a Suzuki 175 four stroke, about 4 years old. In past years never had any service issues including one motor that never saw the service shop for the 12 years I had it. Just wondering if replacing the impeller is something I should consider. Never did this before but my owner’s manual suggests it. Can you tell if you are in need of a replacement? What does something like this cost?

If you can tell by how much water is coming out it’s borderline too lake. The only way to tell, if you want to do it before it fails, is open it up and take a look.

Then… just replace it.

I think a lot of guys here run rivers and see A LOT of silt sand going through their motor. If you are fishing clean lakes it takes quite a while to wear one out. I’m on 5 years on mine and I have yet to make time to replace the damn thing. I do have a water pressure gauge so I can see when the pressure gets low.

I think its a good idea to change it every few years. You never know what gets sucked in there and they are a rubber part so they can degrade. The last thing you want is that to rot out and you risk starving the engine of water.
I changed mine after 6 seasons on my Suzuki 150. I havent touched anything else. I take the hood off the motor and I just scratch my head with all the gizmos going on under there. LOL

How many hours a year are you averaging on the big motor? Clean versus dirty water does play a part IMO. I fish clean water, put about 50 hours a year on my big motor and replace my impeller about every 5 years. The impeller always looks and feels new when I change it.

I think it runs around $200 – $250 for a shop to do it. A lot of guys order the kit and do it themselves but the amount of time it takes me to do it is worth more than what I pay, so, I let the shop do it.

I just changed the impeller in my 2012 175hp Verado for the first time this spring. I run clear water (superior/rainy/namakan mainly) at least 90% of the time. The impeller looked new still, and I average about 60 hours/year.
In my 2000 Honda 90hp, I changed it one time in the 12 years I owned it.

I average about 50 hours a year and fish clear water lakes year round, mostly Leech lake. Thanks for all the tips guys.

Yes, you should change the impeller, but it generally wouldn’t be necessary on an outboard that is less than 5 years old. The problem is that the only way to really tell if an impeller is worn is to take it out and look at it. And then, as long as you’re there…

I changed impellers every 5 years and that seemed to be MORE than often enough. Honestly, I think I could have gone 10 without a problem. Now somebody’s going to claim that they changed a 3-year-old impeller and found a busted vane and it was all worn to nothing, so obviously operating conditions will dictate how long anything on an outboard will last.

Impeller replacements are straightforward to do and the parts for your HP range tend to be in the $50-100 range depending on if you do just the impeller or the full kit that includes the pump housing. That is just a guesstimate based on others I’ve done, so it’s easy to go to Crowley Marine’s site and look it up if you want to know exactly. Just get your model number.

You can watch YouTube videos to get an idea of what’s involved. IMO this is one of the easier DIY projects for an outboard owner. For a larger outboard like a 150+, I’d like to have help, but it’s still a 30 minute or less project for me, even if you’ve never done one, it’s an hour.

The reason to consider the full kit is that the rubber vanes of the impeller spin against a steel liner inside the pump. If hard material like sand gets into the pump on a consistent basis, it can scratch the steel liner which will then wear on the new impeller if not replaced. I would note that in MN with freshwater and the fact that guys put relatively few hours on outboards each season, I’ve never seen this occur to any great extent.

So if it makes you feel better, replace it in the offseason and then you’ll know the relative level of wear that you get in 4 years. Then you can plan future replacements accordingly.

Grouse

I put my third one in my 2002 Merc. every 5 years or so. that’s what my mechanic tells me is a good idea. who am I to argue with a experienced Merc mechanic.