My son has a 1994 Suzuki 25hp M# DT25CE on his johnboat. It was barely peeing, so he replaced the water pump impeller and housing. It still just pees a little then quits while the motor is running in a flushing tub with plenty of water.
I helped him pull the foot, inspect the impeller (OK), and put it back together. Same problem.
Also, while working the shifter after hooking the shift linkage back up, we heard a snap under the cowl. We pulled the cowl, and all the shift linkage is moving except the downrod under the bottom carb. How do I get at the top of that downrod linkage that goes down into the foot? Do I pull the bottom carb? Pull the powerhead? Drop the top part of the foot?
Help! Son says this must be a DIY. My 14 month old grandson gets all the spare $$'s these days!
Don’t know for sure but by dropping foot to do impeller may have let
rod drop , may have to pull foot to realign rod linkage. Also check
pee hole for dirt dabber crap filling tube and hole…just sayin!!!
Boat was originally owned by my dad. He removed the T-stat completely. Pee hole had a light steam coming out of it when it is not peeing, so it appears to be open. We did not let the motor run long like this.
The shift rod has a threaded joint that you take loose at a gap visible/accessible just above where the lower part of the foot comes off. You have to separate the top and bottom parts of the shift rod by unscrewing a long nut that joins them to drop the foot. Is there some way for the part of the shift rod that runs up the upper foot to the powerhead to get “unaligned”? It sounded like something snapped where the top of the shift rod joints the rest of the under cowl shift linkage under the bottom carb? This would, of course, be very difficult to get to.
Anyone know the best way to get to the top of that downrod under the bottom carb. Any other ideas on the pump? I don’t want to tear into a bunch of stuff, only to find a simple solution afterward. Of course, I have never done that in the past!
I had a problem with my 1997 25 Johnson a few months back where it would not pee and only steam came out. I replaced the impeller and all water pump housing, put it back together, and still no water peeing! I tore it down again and figured out that the copper tube that runs from the bottom of the lower unit and carries water to the block actually broke at the top where it attaches to the block. So…the water was just circulating through my lower unit and not actually getting through the motor block to cool it down. replaced the copper tube and it pees like a champ.
Thanks ya’ll. BTW, we took off the oil tank, the reverse switch, some linkage, etc. and were able to retrieve parts of a plastic piece that goes on the undercarb end of the shift handle. Part of it was still hanging on the downrod. My son will get the new part tomorrow morning. It will be very interesting to replace.
Sermon, How did you find the cracked tube, or was it completely loose? Ours seems to not be loose on the bottom end where it goes into the water pump housing grommet. We found that if we plug the intake hole in the bottom of the cavitation plate and use muffs, instead of a flushing tub, we can get water to come out of the thermostat hole. But, just in the tub with the foot as deep as it will go, we get the intermittent pee and steam from the T-stat hole. The tub more closely simulates idling or running offplane in the river. We would have no water in the top of the water jacket at idle/offplane.
We removed all inlet strainers in the foot and the passages there are clear. We ran the muffs on the (removed) foot with the bottom inlet hole plugged and just the bottom plate of the water pump in place, and we got water through the plate. We turned the driveshaft clockwise while installing the pump housing, etc.
I guess we need to run it in the river and see what happens. We’ll let the tide and TM bring us home if it squeals!
My Bad. My Son did not replace the water pump housing at first, just the impeller. He replaced the housing, and installed a thermostat, and problem solved - pumps good. Also, I learned from a buddy that you can pull the foot, put it in a tub, put a 15MM socket on top of the driveshaft, put an adapter between the socket and a power drill, and use the drill to spin the driveshaft clockwise to see how much water the pump throws out of the grommet that the water tube goes into.
We were able to replace the broken plastic part in the shift linkage under the bottom carb by removing the oil tank, and the shifter handle, mounting clips, and switches. We then loosened the carbs and pulled them forward slightly, leaving all the linkages intact. This gave us access to both sides of the broken part on top of the shifter downrod that goes to the foot. We then used a piece of string tied to the new part plus a pair of long needle nose pliers with 45 degree crook in the end I got at Advance Auto parts, plus a pair of long, curved, locking medical pliers borrowed from a buddy to position the part and hook the downrod into it. Tough to do, but a Suzuki mechanic told my son you have to either pull the powerhead, or be a contortionist. We took the latter plan.
I am putting all this on here in the hopes that this will help someone else. I learned that when replacing the water pump impeller, spend the $$ and replace the entire housing and the thermostat. It does not take much wear in the housing to weaken the pump’s output.
