Again, very much appreciate all of the replies. I had success changing the seawater impeller this weekend, but it was a PITA🙂 Barely got it done in time for our boat haulout this morning! Not the smartest move to attempt to change out the impeller for the first time on a weekend right before a Monday morning haulout. I guess that was my way of fully committing to do it! 😀
What made it such a PITA, other than the tight working area, was working the old impeller out (took me about 45+ minutes), and the fact that the large o-ring was too big. To remove the old impeller, I did use bent needle-nose pliers, so thanks all for those suggestions. It's really a bummer that Volvo Penta didn't add threads on this impeller to be able to use their puller tool, as that would have made life so much easier.
Regarding the over-sized o-ring, that was a panic attack, as I wasn't sure what to do about it. I tried both putting it in the freezer to shrink it (no avail), and heating it with a heat gun to shrink it (online sources suggested heat can shrink it, but also to no avail). I then found some Youtube videos that demonstrated cutting an o-ring to the required length with as square cut as possible (X-acto knife), and gluing the ends back together with super glue. This did the trick. I did a test run with the old o-ring first. I needed to remove between 5mm and 6mm of the o-ring to make it fit properly. Once I did this, it fit perfect.
Here is a summary of tools I used for the job, followed by some tips:
*10 mm combination wrench
*10 mm ratcheting combination wrench (thanks for the tip!)
*10 mm socket & small socket wrench (only needed for 1 or 2 of the 6 bolts)
*Bent needle-nose pliers (thanks for the tips!)
*Straight needle-nose pliers
*Zip Ties (1) to compress the impeller blades to make insertion easier; and 2) to keep the fuel line between the primary & secondary fuel filter out of the way, and to keep the electrical line to the secondary fuel filter water sensor out of the way.
*Glycerin (to lube the impeller blades and inside pump housing)
*Spring Clamp (small but firm) to hold the end-plate to the pump body to make it easier to get the bolts back in.
*X-acto knife and super glue (Loctite Super Glue Gel worked great) in case you have to shorten your large o-ring to make a proper fit.
*A bar of soap (for washing your mouth out when you're done).
Tips:
*First remove the secondary fuel filter (the one on the engine body) to make access to the raw water pump easier.
*Zip tie fuel hose and fuel water sensor wires out of the way.
*Curse Volvo Penta for (1) not adding threads to this impeller to be able to use their impeller puller bolt, and (2) providing an incorrect size o-ring.
*Start practicing yoga to be better able to contort your body into the positions needed for the job.
Due to the impeller extraction difficulties, and more so, the incorrect size of o-ring provided in the impeller kit, and needing to research what to do, and make two trips to the hardware store, this took me the better part of a day. With what I know now, It should take one less that 1-1/2 hours (if the impeller takes 45 minutes to remove), less than an hour if the old impeller comes out easy, but you need to resize the o-ring; and less than 45 minutes if the impeller comes out easy and the o-ring in the kit actually fits.
Happy boating!
-Mike
