1987 2-stroke outboard - IMPELLER WON'T PUMP water (tried almost everything)

[handwedge]

Hi guys -- I have a1987 2 stroke 6hp outboard (Serial 6SH-011172). I see a little pee hole where water should exit, but when I run the engine, nothing comes out. I recently purchased this used and i believe it sat for a while. Changed plugs, fogged it, new gas etc. I took off the lower unit and put in a new impeller and gasket. No water exiting pee hole on start up. Ran it for a few mins. I tested the lower unit by removing it again, submerging it in a bucket and attaching my drill on the shaft (spinning it clockwise in neutral). I can see the impeller spinning but NO WATER up through the pump. I ran a wire from below the impeller gasket down to the intakes (could see the wire through the intake holes), so there is definitely an open pathway for water.
I'm pretty stumped. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Herman Melville]

well if the water pump intakes were DEFO submerged and spinning the shaft with your drill didn't draw up any water then I would only think of a full service on the water pump....

I will be interested to know the answer when you do fix it mystery ones are the ones you learn most from...

[99yam40]

could you have installed the wrong parts, or put them in wrong?
what about the housing and other parts of the water pump?
could they have a problem also?

[handwedge]

Thanks guys -- It could definitely be the pump housing . Someone else told me to make sure that the leg is submerged so that there is 8" of water above the impeller (seems like a lot, but they seemed to think this was required for priming). If that doesn't work, I may replace the pump housing etc. Thanks!

[Herman Melville]

Putting it deeper in the water makes sense to me.

[Keithbaja]

After doing 1000's of impeller's. I always spin the drive shaft with a round vice grip. Making DAMN sure the impeller is actually spinning. Some models its easy to have the keyway, pin, tang, move on ya

[handwedge]

Thanks guys -- When I spin the drive shaft (I used my drill at high speed), the impeller was spinning like mad, but not much was coming up the outflow pipe. If I submerged it (thus, filling the water pump housing) it would pump that water out, and then fizzle out once that water had passed. Hopefully, starting it in deep water will help (maybe there's an element of pressure there that could aid with the priming??) I'll let you know how it goes. Cheers!

[DennisG01]

No, I think you've done more than enough to verify there's an issue with the pump. Are you sure you put the impeller into the housing in the right direction (vanes bent the right way)?

[handwedge]

Update! - I lowered it on the stand and put it as deep into the trash can (full of water) as I could (so that the water was ~8" above where the impeller would be). Voila! Water started pumping. Not an amazing flow (there might be some blockage up there which I'll work on) but I ran the motor for 15 mins and the motor didn't heat up much. Thanks to all of you for the feedback. Glad I got this sorted out just in time to winterize and store Cheers!