Holiday parade

[cowboy4]

Here is a decent camera phone pic of my boat almost ready for the oklahoma christmas parade. It's sponsored by devon energy and on the same part of the river they did the worlds on. First year to try it so hopefully it goes well.

One tech question is last time i went on the river (all no wake) i had trouble with it running hot because there was no forced water into the pick up. All summer i have never had a issue with temp but with only idle and no wake wondering if i will have issues with temp again.

[Salty87]

that's awesome

is your thermostat sticking? old impeller? belt loose? it should draw water, doesn't need to be forced.

[DKJBama92Mariah]

Very cool man. Looks like you put a lot of work into it.

If the engine gets hot at idle and cools down once you're moving faster then I would strongly suspect your impeller is shot and maybe missing some blades. When was the last time the impeller was changed? Has it been run dry out of the water since then?

The logic for my conclusion goes like this: At idle the damaged pump can't pump enough water to keep the engine cool. Once up on a run, the bronze front-facing strainer on the bottom of the boat acts like a scoop and forces water through past the pump and through the system, thus cooling the motor off.

I dealt with this issue back in 2000 before I knew much about our boats, including the fact that the impeller is actually a maintenance item to be replaced BEFORE it fails.

Basically, what Salty said above. Also like he said, A loose/slipping raw water pump belt could present these same symptoms.

Good Luck,
DKJ

[cowboy4]

impellar was replaced mid summer. Never been run on land except with a water hose and fake-a-lake. It's a new 160 thermostat and i can let it idle all day long after the pump has "primed" from running at speed for any amount of time. Just seems like it gets air locked.
I changed both inlet and outlet to a reinforced clear hose so i can keep an eye on it and make sure it's getting water to the pump. I would say screw it and throw in my brand new spare but the housing to the pump is stripped and so it took me forever to get it to tighten down using backing nuts so if i pull it off again it will be for a new pump housing. So gonna try to hold off for spring as after this one day it's back to the barn for the winter. Also last time i ran it in the river was after i had ate up a impellar and had missed a piece or two of pump and is totally clean ed out now so cross my fingers. Not like there won't be help seeing as it's ran by the dealers association. lol I'll try to get better pics with a real camera later.

[DKJBama92Mariah]

the housing to the pump is stripped and so it took me forever to get it to tighten down using backing nuts so if i pull it off again it will be for a new pump housing.

That could be your problem right there. If the housing isn't sealing well, a tiny pinhole leak could cause it to not prime, to lose prime, and/or let air bubbles into the system. Any way you can get the pump pressure tested during the offseason?

Do you have a water-strainer? A pinched gasket in the strainer bowl or a leaky connection without teflon tape where the hose barbs screw into the strainer could cause you to pull air bubbles and cook the impeller pretty quick.

Since you've got the clear hose on there, carry a flashlight and look specifically for any air bubbles before or after the pump.

[cowboy4]

Will check that out. I know when running the pump doesn't leak any water even at high speeds (first thought i had also.) I know the pump isn't leaking through as i tried pulling vacum on it with my big shop vac and it was air tight. I will check the strainer out, but being as it should be cold hopefully I won't have much issue. I'm thinking after 1k hours the pump just needs to be replaced. Figuring it's prob had the impellar changed 20 plus times already it's bout time for a new one. Oh and to everyone who suggested getting rid of the holley and going to a edelbrock I am so thankful. Best money i spent on the boat yet.

[Salty87]

good idea to use the clear hose. have you ever seen bubbles? any drips from the pump on the block?

i'm with dkj on the pump housing being suspect. i would think you'd see a leak too though. the only way i see that happening is if the leak is at the top of the cooling loop.

does your temp gauge work? mine has never worked since i've had the boat. gauge works but i haven't found a sender that works. i've tried 4 or 5 and given up. sucks

[myturndad]

where in oklahoma was that pic taken.

[cowboy4]

Well up until 4th of july (first time on the river and time i burnt up my first impellar) I thought mine didn't work as after an entire day wakeboarding it never moved up. But i guess it was just the boat running that cool. But it does work. I left it at the house with the hose on it and it never got above about 180. and the hose doesn't have enough pressure to force water all the way to the pump so i know it was pulling some vacume.
I have been checking around and they are very proud of those pumps.

[cowboy4]

It was in my drive way in edmond. The parade will be on the oklahoma river in bricktown (okc) it will be this friday round 6pm. If you come out i will be fairly easy to spot. Not many older supra's round here let alone gonna be in the river. Hopefully be the one you can "hear" all over the river.

[myturndad]

that will be neat. i am over in tulsa. went to the worlds this last fall and it was a blast.

i can assume the cowboy4 will be for the pokes on saturday. let's hope they can do it.

[cowboy4]

I'm a pokes fan but the cowboy name comes from my nickname from my sportbike riding side. I spent 3 years in tulsa for work (sulfuric acid plant). Pretty area.
The worlds was ok the river was a nice venue but it was expensive and not much from the vendor side let alone no representation from supra besides a few boats around but no reps or info on them. At least they raised the water level when they did the amature with the tige dealer they had the water level so low that the wake was ok but the double ups were soft. Kind of poor planning on the okc side.

[myturndad]

we went on sunday of the finals. i thought there were quit a few sc people there. to bad there is freaking NO supra/moomba dealer in oklahoma anymore.

in re: to the vendors it was horrible. the only thing they had to eat was sandwiches that were way to high and not very good.

if okc get's it again hopefully they will do a better job.

hope all have a good holiday.

[cowboy4]

I was there saturday. Yeah if you come down find me. ohh tell me if this road looks familiar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tym3g2uC4v4

BTW the reason i was all over was had a horrible crosswind. Farthest i road was just under 5 miles on the turnpike. But done put up my riding days, water hurts less the asphalt.

[myturndad]

oh, the wonderful ba expressway.

[cowboy4]

newer pic of the boat

[cowboy4]

Wooohooo made it on the news!!!
Oh and not part of the video and compliments of the camera man on my boat taping over the scene, was where I was part of the pre-parade show. The sponsor was the local mc dealer and the driver is a friend. So I got drafted to run parallel so the stand-up freestyle guy could do a backflip off the paired wake. Was a blast and besides a autozone alternator taking a dump on me mid parade it was off the hook! Compliments of 3 batteries the show went on just had to turn off the radio :-(

Oh and the boat ran perfect. No problem with temp whatsoever. Actually ran quite cold the entire time especially considering it was running from 2pm-10pm


http://www.news9.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3185316&h1=Annual%20Parade%20Floats%20Down%20Oklahoma%20Ri ver&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=103034&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=66297459