Boating How-To’s - 2003 mercury optimax water pump

I havea 225 optimax that I'm trying to change the water pump in.
I got the lower unit off and took out the water pump housing. I replaced the 3 gaskets (rubber, wear plate and seal gasket). But I have a few questions.

1. There is a little seal that goes on top of water pump housing on the drive shaft. Does this seal just simply seat on top of the water pump housing? Or does it go inside the housing and then poke thru the shaft hole in the housing. Right now I placed the seal thru the housing so I put together the seal and housing then I slid it down the shaft of the lower unit.


2 What is the tips on getting the black little tude infront of the lower unit hook up with the connector up in the lower unit.Not sure if this little flexible black tube is for.

3 What is the trick of getting the lower unit back on the motor? I tried a few times and can't get it to come together. I get close like1.5 inches or so. My motor was in neutral when I took the lower until off.

Go to youtube and watch the videos of the merc waterpump change.

The little black tube is the water pick-up for the speedometer.

to get the lower unit back in you need to turn the shaft a little at a time until it goes in all the way. also make sure the shift connection(the small short shaft just behind the water pump) is lining up properly. the rubber bushing that you mentioned you did install it correctly

You did NOT install the rubber bushing correctly. It does NOT go inside water pump housing. It slides over the shaft after housing is installed... it sits ON TOP of the housing. There is a black collar supplied in the new kit which a tool for setting it. Read the instructions....you will have a failure if you do it wrong..

Also you need to put the lower unit on when it is in gear....this way you can turn the propshaft to align the splines on the drive shaft into the motor.....otherwise you will never get it to align and slide up....

Tom

Im pretty sure you can install the lower on in the neutral position. Just line the driveshaft up in the midsection and have a friend turn the flywheel while you push up. Should slide into place. The trick is to get the other components to line up while you do it (speedo tube and shift rod). Try using bungee chords to hold the lower close to the mid section and hook up the speedo tube.
When hooking up the shift rod grab and adjust it from the point where it is exposed about halfway up the midsection. All this while holding/adjusting/lining up the lower to the midsection.