Water pump: I can't find my grease cup

[Micky the Torch]

Hi:

I'm new here, so please forgive me if this is a dumb question. I can't find my grease cup. My marina rebuilt the engine last year, and I really think they did a good job (we bought the service manual from Moyer marine). I know they put a new water pump in, but I didn't get the invoice to know what type it was. Is it possible it is a type without one? I have a hole at the top (not where the grease cup should be) which worries me, but nothing on the side where it should be. I've attached a pic that shows the hole, and also lack of grease cup.

This is looking straight down at the pump. This is a raw water cooled system.

Thanks
Mike

[ArtJ]

Moyer sells pumps that no longer have grease cups. Check the on line
catalog and see if you have one of these. Also, if you are or become
fresh water cooled with other pumps, you don't need the grease cup because
the antifreeze lubricates the pump

Best Regards

Art

[hanleyclifford]

That sure looks like the MM 502. BTW, resize pics smaller.

[romantic comedy]

The original pump had the shaft running in the bore or the pump with no other bearings. This is what the grease cup lubricated.
You probably have the MMI pump with packless bearings, so no grease needed.

BTW, as I understand it, the anti freeze would not lube the shaft. If it did, It would then leak out the drain hole in the pump. The impeller should be isolated from the shaft "bearing sleve" by a seal. This my understanding.

Mickey, what is your concern with the pump?

[Kurt]

Mike:

That is most definitely a Moyer Marine designed pump. I can tell because it has the telltale thumb screws on the faceplate. These pumps DO NOT have a grease cap as the shaft spins on sealed ball bearings. The hole you see at the top (there is an identical one on the bottom) is a 'weep hole'. If you ever see anything coming out of that hole (water or oil), you have a pump seal problem and it is allowing cooling water or crankcase oil to slip by the seals. That is an indication that the pump needs to be rebuilt. In the picture, yours looks good. It is a good idea to run your hand on the lower and upper weep holes a couple of times per year to ensure they are not leaking. Ignored or unknown water pump seal leaks are rampant in A4s and the telltale result is a rusted out engine mount that sits under the water pump. Since your marina used a Moyer pump on that engine rebuild, I'm seconding your opinion that they did a good job - they knew where to get the best parts! Your pump is fine - time to go sailing.

[roadnsky]

Mike-
Ditto what Hanley and Kurt pointed out.
You have a MMI 502 pump. (As good as it gets)

[Micky the Torch]

Thanks to all of you for such great info. I looked at Moyer's offerings before this, but totally missed the non-grease cup options. Glad to know they are weep holes, I wouldn't have known to do that. Almost everyone at my marina had an Atomic 4 at one point or another, and were all hammering me about the grease cup.

My only concern with the water pump is that this is my first spring commissioning and I don't want to do something stupid. Also, needed to know when to change the impeller, looks like I have another season on it.

Sorry about the size of the pic, I didn't want to lose any detail or orienting data. Now that i know how good you guys are, I will crop .

Thanks again to everyone who responded.

Mike

[Kurt]

I thinking changing the impeller at the start of each season is a good practice, although probably overkill. You can always take it out and inspect it and, if you don't see any visible wear or cracks, use it for another season. They are so easy to take out with the Moyer pump - just unscrew the thumbscrews on the faceplate, take off the faceplate and use needlenose plyers to work the impeller out. Depending on your use and length of season, you can probably get away with two seasons between replacements. They are such a cheap part that I just don't see pushing it as there are too many reports of folks having overheating issues that are hard to diagnose - just to discover that there are tiny bits of impeller that broke off and clogged up sections of their cooling system. If you change that thing each season, you will in all likelihood avoid that issue and ensure that you are getting maximum performance out of your pump. Worn impeller = suboptimal pump performance.

[Micky the Torch]

I will risk it this year because it was new last season and I didn't get to go out much last summer (too damn hot!). Once I get the hang of it, I may just do that. Also, the moyer service manual says to remove one snap ring and then you have to break the other off with a flat punch. I assume that's not the case anymore, but that scared me off.

[Kurt]

The instructions in the Moyer service manual refer to the Oberdorfer pumps. The service manual was published (I believe) prior to the MMI pumps being available on the market - they are fairly new. So, ignore those instructions. There is no snap ring on these pumps. Just grap a fin on the impeller with a pair of needlenose plyers and wiggle the impeller while pulling away from the pump until it slides off. To reinstall or put a new one on, just push it on. Really is that simple.

[Micky the Torch]

Yay for simple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, everyone. Got the engine running yesterday.