No water coming out when fake-a-lake is on

[brook1724]

I just got my boat out of storage, cleaned it up, and hooked up the fake-a-lake, made sure it had plenty of suction and turned on the water. Waited for maybe 5-10 seconds and No water is coming out of the back of the boat. We winterized the boat with RV antifreeze and when I pulled the fake-a-lake off after trying this it had some antifreeze in the plunger on the fake-a-lake.

Any ideas of why this happens?

Will it just take a little while to travel through the engine block? Or is there something I am forgetting?

[chpthril]

You did start the engine, right?

[brook1724]

Yes, started the engine and nothin. We did this twice for approx 5 seconds each

[skippabcool]

When I did this the first time it seemed like it took more than 5 seconds. Did you check your impeller before you started it?

[tnvolgrad]

It takes a can take a minute or so if you haven't started since winterization. Same problem and the dealer told me this normal after winterization. Mine takes a good 10-15 seconds after it starts for water to flush through.

[brook1724]

We replaced the impeller last year, everything was turning on the belt this year before we started it.

How would I check the impeller? take it all apart?

[brook1724]

Im just kind of nervous about burning up the impeller. Big boating weekend and don't want to be sittin at home with no impeller

[Wickedcummins]

Mine dont get water out the exhaust till the T stat opens.

[chpthril]

I think the black was just filling up. You should be fine.

[manuntguy3]

It takes a good bit, especially if coming out of winterization. Open the engine compartment and make sure the belt is turning freely. If it seems to be struggling or acting weird then its possible your impeller seized for some reason. Turn on your engine, check the belt, then wait to see if water begins to move through. I would wait and look at the temp guage and if it begins to rise very steadily the I'd shut her off. But don't sweat running it for a while even if there is no water running through right away. You do, however, want to make sure you don't run the engine hot. If there is something wrong with the impeller you'll have to replace it anyway, so might as well make sure its going to function properly instead of worrying about tearing up what could be an already faulty impeller! good luck

[IDBoating]

Only caveat to this is that if you DO have a damaged impeller and you run it that way, there is some risk of fragments breaking free and getting into the engine's cooling system. Getting those out could be unpleasant....

[Tantrum1]

I used to be a Tige and Malibu mechanic, it CAN sometimes take near 20-30 secs for it to completely fill up and start to cycle out the exhaust. You will notice the exhaustr being loud and when the exhaust start to queit down thats when you know the water is getting there and will start to exit the pipes. I wouldn't worry to much about the impellar if it was winterized with rv antifreeze, the gylcol in the antifreeze will give it enough lubrication that you have no real worries of damaging it.

[brook1724]

okay, thanks for the advice tige peeps!

[kko]

Mine dont get water out the exhaust till the T stat opens.

UM no way. That cant be true. It can take a good 20-30 seconds anything longer than that you have an issue. After a long sit up it may take a little bit.10 seconds is not long enough.
Look at the fake a lake when you start the boat you will see it suck the water or even suck it tighter to the bottom of the boat.

[kko]

I used to be a Tige and Malibu mechanic, it CAN sometimes take near 20-30 secs for it to completely fill up and start to cycle out the exhaust. You will notice the exhaustr being loud and when the exhaust start to queit down thats when you know the water is getting there and will start to exit the pipes. I wouldn't worry to much about the impellar if it was winterized with rv antifreeze, the gylcol in the antifreeze will give it enough lubrication that you have no real worries of damaging it.

Very true..sound advice.
this is excatly how it goes down.