Oberdorfer 202m3 pump leaking oil

[sastanley]

So, the only 'issue' I can currently find with my A4 this year so far is a nice small oil leak from the 202m3 raw water pump hanging out on the accessory drive.

It has been 4 seasons & maybe 150 hours since I replaced the seals in this pump. 5 winters ago, I rebuilt the pump with new seals and impeller. This winter, after realizing I've had the boat since late 2008 and had a 5 year old impeller in there, I replaced that impeller with a new shaft/impeller assembly, which I've decided is a little bit cheaper than carrying around an entire spare pump. I've since put another impeller on the old shaft and packed it away in my spares box.

Does the pump need seal(s) again? Should it need it again after 5 seasons? I am wondering about comparing the two shafts to see if maybe the new shaft is causing the seal to leak?

I have been getting my annual mid-season Moyer maintenence parts list together, so I am getting ready to call up Ken here soon. Figure I should add a couple of seals, and probably the M7 cam shoe upgrade too, unless someone can convince me I don't need to replace the seal. Right now, I am just catching the oil in a oil sorb rag so it doesn't get all over the place. The leak is slow enough there is no discernable loss in oil level.

[JOHN COOKSON]

I Don't Know If This Applies To Your Situation.......

The way I understand is as the bore in the pump body wears the shaft starts flopping more and more wearing the seals out faster.
Since you have an oil leak maybe something in the accessory drive is not running true?

TRUE GRIT

[hanleyclifford]

The shaft in the pump now is new so it seems likely that the housing is now oversize allowing wobble and hence a leak. It is possible to resleeve the housing but the work and cost approaches the cost of a new MM pump.

[sastanley]

Hanley, you are touching on what I am getting at. Is it just easier to bite the bullet and get an MMI pump to replace the 202m3?

I have some money invested in the current pump...such as the $80 I've spent on an impeller & spare shaft I bought a year or two ago, which I am currently (finally) using. I am not really keen on spitting out $260 for a pump if I can get a couple seals for a lot less. As far as I know, this pump is original...I did not have any noticeable issues for the last 5 years since the late 2008 rebuild. The new shaft is the odd factor here as far as I can tell.

Another option is to keep the oil sorb rag and think about this next season!

[hanleyclifford]

Shawn - You can drip a lot of oil before getting anywhere near the cost of seals or new pump. If you can tolerate the leak, it will certainly take you thru the season. But if you do any cruising beyond say 50 miles I would recommend the MM 203 and keep your current pump as the spare.

[Marian Claire]

Having just rebuilt two Oberdorfer pumps I have a few comments. The pump I ran on my last trip developed a slow oil drip at "high" 1700 and up RPMs. I just used a oil rag for the end of the trip and then rebuilt when I returned. No problem. Will be interesting to see how easy/hard the new seals are to remove verses the old metal encased seals. I was mixing the best parts of two pumps, spares I have bought, when I found that one shaft would not fit into the other housing, both shafts have some wear and one housing had major scars. Having read the earlier posts I have a feeling that when these pumps fail it will be time to replace instead of rebuild. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[sastanley]

Dan, I was curious that I did not see the old style metal seals here in the Moyer catalog anymore..have they shifted to a different style, as it seems the current seals are the more familiar black rubber with a spring inside the lip?

I guess I am not going crazy after all..

As usual, Don Moyer has brought up a good point to me via PM. He asked me to use a mirror and flashlight to make sure the lower bolt is not leaking oil before I spend a bunch of money on seals/pump parts. I thought about it for a minute and I did in fact remove that pump from the accessory drive this winter and did the impeller replacement & grease cup cleanup/reload on the work bench. I think that guy must have ESP!

I'll get back to you all when I have some time to get to the boat. We have a bunch of family arriving this weekend, so I've been busy at the house. The boat will be tugging at her docklines for a few more days.

[ndutton]

Shawn, I'm wondering if the oil you're seeing isn't lube grease from the grease cup forced into the chamber by frequent manipulation. If the grease in the cup is lube grease rather than packing grease it could certainly be softening up with use to the degree of a viscous liquid.

[sastanley]

Neil, definitely a possibility.

Mo is making me be more cognizant of the grease cup since he likes to spin his grease cup every time he uses the boat. I am not that diligent. - I may be overspinning it....

I will follow up on Don's recommendations too..he thinks it might be leaking out of the Moyer extendo bolt, which I am sure I did not seal with Permatex as he recommended.

It will be a few days until I can get to the boat, but I will investigate all suggestions and hopefully come to a conclusion.

[sastanley]

So, I finally got to the boat today after work to check up on this issue. I Permatex'ed the bottom bolt into the block, so the next time I run it we'll see what happens.

So.anyway, just a quick update for now..more later when I have time to run the motor a bit.

Neil, to follow up on your earlier post, I am pretty sure I put red wheel bearing grease into the grease cup.

The oil I was seeing was brown...like motor oil.

I've wiped up all the oil, and will put down a nice white rag to see if anything (hopefully nothing) drips out on the next run.

[sastanley]

OK, so I think I've solved the issue with the water pump by Permatexing the bolt on the bottom of the water pump..I did not notice any oil leakage...thank you Mr. Moyer.

However, Now I am back to the engine shutting off after 45 minutes when only pumping 11.2 volts into the coil.

I know I have fuel (mech. pump with 3+ PSI) & compression, so I must have fried a coil.

Guess I have another item to add to my mid-summer Moyer order!

[hanleyclifford]

Shawn - If you fried a coil with 11.2 volts that is going to fry our coil theories...(again)

[Ball Racing]

This October will be 2 years since I rebuilt my A4 from the ground up.
I put new seals in my pump, but the shaft had wear, and some pits on the shaft.
Well, when I fired the motor I had a water drip.So I buy the new shaft from Moyer.
Leak Stays away for almost a season.
Most of late last year and all of this year I had a lot of dripping from the weep hole again. I figure now the housing is just toast.
So I pull the shaft just to do it, and find a BIG groove cut into the shaft where the seal was riding. I take another old pump I had and swap out shafts (knowing the seal must be toast as well to cut into metal like that).
It' been almost a month now of use every other day and NO drip!
That is a tuff seal.Now I have a dry motor mount that is going crazy with rust.

[sastanley]

hanley,

I do not know what to think now. It was VERY hot this weekend, and the coil(s) were almost too hot too touch when they failed, but each behaved the same way. Incidentally, and this is my theory now, each of the coils I had aboard the boat were a part of the original installation, at least for a short period of time while I sorted out the resistor(s) a couple of years ago.

I am calling Ken today and picking up a Moyer coil. Sailing into and around Solomons harbor, getting to the pump-out dock, beating out of "The Narrows" while surrounded by paddleboarders (incidentally having a clueless blast as to why this big 30-footer is doing all this back and forth stuff around them), and ultimately up a dead-end creek where the travel lift is located, while exciting, was not my idea of fun on a mid-July weekend with tons of other people around. It was good practice though & the boat and Admiral did great..

To bring the subject back around to this thread & the water pump, I did not notice any weeping oil around the extendo bolt, although I will admit I was not actively looking for it either given the other issues. I do have a catch pad that would make any oil from this weekend readily apparent.

Daniel, I was just thinking the same thing as you commented..with the oil dripping down the aft right, I had no trouble with keeping the rust down or the rubber in the mount supple, but now with the leak fixed, who knows..

[hcrisp]

a PFD

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