Check your cones.

[Chillypilot]

Well I pulled my pumps today and was dreading inspecting the cones. Sure enough, one of my cones was full of water and it had significantly less grease than the other. My first sign of trouble was that there was grease residue on the outside the the cone.

Contaminated.

Not contaminated.

The bearing seams to run smooth, so I think I'll clean it up, replace the grease and install a new O ring. I'll inspect it again at the end of the season to make sure it's not leaking.

Does anyone think I need to replace the bearing or any other parts?

Thanks to everyone who did this before me. I would have never found this problem until it was too late.

 

[Trevor Shipman]

How many hours would you say you had on the boat? I have an 06 with probably 100 hours on it. Should I check? What grease are you filling with?

 

[dan144k]

There also are front seals. They install between the impeller and vein body.

I would want to replace all the seals front and back, unless you found and obvious defect in the cone oring.

 

[Chillypilot]

@dan144k thanks. I was considering those seals too. Do you know if I have to pull the whole shaft out to get at those?

@Trevor Shipman I probably have around 150 hours in my boat. If I were pulling the pumps I would check inside the cones. It only takes a minute. The grease that Yamaha puts in there is near impossible to find. I'm not sure what the dealers use but I'm going to make a slurry of gear oil and grease.

 

[dan144k]

@Chillypilot
I have a 2010 AR240 I do not know if the pump units or seals are the same.
However, You should be able to pull the seals with the shaft installed. I think I put a screw into the seal and then pulled them out. I did an extensive write up on these seals because I had damaged threads while changing the impeller and had to install new seals. Manual is very vague regarding the seals, and when I went to the dealer there mechanic was not much help. So I pulled the other unit for comparison.

link
https://jetboaters.net/threads/impeller-and-drive-shaft-front-seals-between-impeller-duct-replacement-explained.4027/#post-69952

 

[Chillypilot]

Thanks @dan144k. That's a great write up. I'm now thinking of just rebuilding the entire pump.

I still haven't removed the impellers but I will take a look at those seals when I do. Did you get any water in your cone? Have you inspected your cones after you replaced those front seals?

 

[dan144k]

@Chillypilot
Last winter installed the shaft and seals. So this year it is on my list to pull the cones and check. Boat has been in storage 6hrs away. Sh I uld be picking it up in a few months.

 

[Speedling]

I pull mine every winter or spring and check and regrease. Just easy maintenance.
So many little things to do before boating is also why i am not on the water though...

 

[Chillypilot]

@Speedling what do you regrease with.

 

[Speedling]

Since i do it every spring i just use marine grease. It's blue in color and when i had first opened mine it was slightly frothy like the above pictures. It hasn't been bad since i cleaned everything and put new grease in it but i like to check it visually every time.

 

[chesbay007]

What grease does everyone use on the cone bearings? I have spent hours reading the forums. The manual says EPNOC AP#0 but it is impossible to find. What grease can I safely mix/repack the cone bearings with? I am leaning towards the Island Racing liquid marine pump grease. Thanks.

 

[Speedling]

What grease does everyone use on the cone bearings? I have spent hours reading the forums. The manual says EPNOC AP#0 but it is impossible to find. What grease can I safely mix/repack the cone bearings with? I am leaning towards the Island Racing liquid marine pump grease. Thanks.

That stuff would be your ideal i think but the most important thing is to keep the water off the bearings.
No regular grease i would say. Some use gear oil, which should work but will all dump out when you take the cone off. Marine grease or that stuff from island racing is your best bet in my opinion.

 

[dan144k]

I used the Yamalube Marine grease. It is blue in color.

 

[Bruce]

My ubderstanding is that "EPNOC AP#0" is impossible to buy in small quantities. Some people use the Island Racing mix. Many others use a 50/50 mix of marine grease and gear oil often choosing Amsoil products.

 

[Chillypilot]

Well today I removed the impeller and noticed there was evidence of grease leaking out of the front of the shaft as well. I brought the pump down to my Marina and they figure they Can rebuild the pump for the cost of the parts and an hour or two of labour. I decided to let them go ahead with it. We discussed at length the type of grease to put in the cone and the mechanic mentioned that Seadoo has a specific cone oil that they use and it's easily available. I think I'm going to go with that.

 

[dan144k]

@Chillypilot
Yamaha uses Ball bearings in the pumps. Seadoo with there oil, use to use a needle type bearing. I think, someone correct me if I am wrong.

I use to have 2 seadoo wave runners, the 1995 era. I think it would be the same oil seadoo uses today. You could use the seadoo oil, but Klotz makes a red oil specifically for seadoo's pumps, at the time I was told it was better quality and if it did happen to leak it was easier to see the red oil. For what it is worth.

Personally I am still just using the yamaha marine grease. Until I am convinced otherwise.

 

[Bruce]

My ubderstanding of the grease vs oil debate is that grease will be slung off of the bearing and just stick to the walls. Oil is too viscous to get enough in there the way it is designed. So the solution is to use the "EPNOC AP#0" which is a grease and oil mixture or make your own.

Some owners have drilled and tapped their cones adding a plug in the process. They fill the installed cone with oil which makes the oil a good solution. Personally I worry that this could cause the entire shaft to be out of balance.

 

[Chillypilot]

I've done a bit of research on this and it seems like people are filling these cones with everything from butter to snake oil. No matter what they choose they seemed to be satisfied with the result. Realistically pretty much any lubricant will be better than the water I have in there now.

I only found the issue because I took the time to open up the cone while upgrading my impellers. Those bearings were working fine despite the fact that water contaminated the grease inside the cone. I'm only rebuilding the pump because I hate the idea of being broken down for a week or two during our short Canadian summer. Who knows that pump may have continued to work fine for years. It's a Yamaha.