New Serpentine Belt

[Sammamish22V]

My belt just melted and I need a new one pronto. I have called every Mercruiser dealership in Seattle and it is anywhere from 3 days to a week to get a replacement. Is it possible to go to an auto parts store to get this belt? I have a 2003 22V with the 315HP engine. Thanks for any input.

[lee]

I had a customer go to Auto Zone last Sunday and the guy there came out and matched up a belt for him.

[poohpotta]

Of course that weatherstrip from Home Depot wasn't a good replacement for the trim on the pass-thru window on my boat either!

[lee]

It was not weather strip from Home Depot, it was made for your application

[Sammamish22V]

Must be an inside joke with the weather strip? Ok, got a belt from the auto parts store and it works fine. It is half the price of a belt at a Mercruiser dealership too, so got a back up as well. Unfortunately, there is another reason the belt burned. The water pump pulley isn't turning, so that was the culprit. Now I need to take that apart and see what is up. I am thinking it is the impeller? Any other ideas? Hoping the water pump isn't out.

[lee]

Sounds like you need a new impeller and maybe another new belt.

[Sammamish22V]

Well, had an interesting afternoon today. Got a new belt, and also took apart the water pump pulley and inspected the impeller. Everything looked fine, no evidence of shredding. I sprayed some WD40 in it and when I put the housing back together, the pulley seemed to be turning much better. Still needed a little effort to turn, but seemed ok. There were some weeds that came out of the housing, so I was thinking that might have been a problem.

I put everything back together (lots of fun), put the new belt on, started her up, and no screeching. Took it out for a 5 minute test run and everything was perfect. No screeching, no smoke, temperature was fine, etc.

Went out about 2 hours later for an evening session tonight and as soon as I started it up, the screeching was back and the belt was not turning. Tried to rev it up a few times to see if it would break loose, but all I got was some smoke. Damn.

Now back to square 1. Even though the impeller looks ok, do you think it is the culprit? I yanked on the belt with the engine off, and could not turn the belt, so I don't think it has anything to do with the tension on the belt. I just can't understand why it would work fine and then go back to the problem 2 hours later. Any ideas from anyone?

[Matt Garcia]

Is it possible that the impeller turned the opposite way? That same thing happened to my buddy a few weeks ago, and he mentioned that impeller reversed it self. Dont know if that is possible or not but something to consider.

[Sammamish22V]

I took a look at that, but everything was going clockwise. It is just strange how everything was fine when put back together, but 2 hours later it went back to freezing up.

I am thinking at this point the impeller is dried out and worn out. I am going to get a new impeller and see if that solves the problem. When everything was taken apart, the pulley turned easy compared to when it was put back together.

How easy is that pulley supposed to turn?

[poohpotta]

Sammamish22V Didn't mean to hijack your thread, just a little fun jab at Lee!

[scootc]

Check your alternator to see if it turns freely. Mine froze up earlier this year and broke the belt.

[Sammamish22V]

Yes, I have a brand new HO alternator that works fine. The water pump pulley is the one that is stuck. All other pulleys turn fine.

[lee]

Did your boat have a hard time starting? If so the engine could have rotated in the opposite direction for a quick second causing the vanes on the impeller to flip over.

[Sammamish22V]

Nope, the boat starts just fine. Turns right over. Still going with a dry, hard impeller as the culprit at this point. Really don't know what else it could be.

[lee]

When you replace the impeller check the inside of the housing for wear. That could cause the impeller to hang up also.