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Universal 5411 Sherwood coolant pump leak. Pump access?

jreddington

Member III
I have a coolant leak out the weep hole of my Sherwood pump. Of course this is on the BACK side of the engine.:mad: Looks like at least the throttle bracket needs to come out to allow me to back it out for replacement. What else? Seems like the transmission housing may also be in the way. Any hints on how to access this for replacement?

Jim R
1984 Ericson 28+
 

jreddington

Member III
Well, I removed the mounting bolts (and disconnected hoses). Pump is now loose but I can't back it out enough to remove. It hits against a bolt on the transmission bell housing. Another struggle needed to hold the nut with one wrench and turn bolt with another. Am I going to have to unbolt the whole bell housing just to get this pump off?

No response from the mechanics in the yard. I'm in even worse shape now. I could at least run the engine with the leak. No, I can't even start it.:mad:

And I'm not even sure I have enough access to install one of the mounting bolts.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Interesting problem!

My former Universal M25XP had the closed-system pump (antifreeze/coolant side of the system) on the front of the engine, very near the alternator. Our raw water pump was also on the front and replacing the rubber impeller was not too difficult.
I never had to replace any part of the 'iron vane' coolant pump in 20 years. It was pretty easy to get at, FWIW.
 
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
You might try an email or private message to the guys in this thread who've been there.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?4477-Kubota-Water-Pump-for-Universal-Motor

You are also correct that changing the fresh water Sherwood is a big job that takes 4 to 5 hours on my 28.5 Ericson mainly because of the difficulty in reaching the bolts that hold it on and in what you have to remove to pull the pump free but it is well worth it because of the peace of mind in that not maintaining this pump could potentially ruin the engine.
Regards,
Al Jenneman
 
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jreddington

Member III
Ongoing Saga and Request for Part Numbers

Update on the pump work. They removed, rebuilt, and renistalled the pump. Looks like I was pretty close to access. They just removed a bolt and pivoted the throttle bracket out of the way. Started up and checked. No Leak!:egrin: Headed off the next morning. A mile or so down the river I had coolant vapor wafting out of the cabin. Limped back to the dock. Turns out the yard had damaged the cover to body gasket and it blew out:esad:. Yard went back in and fixed the next day. But now I had a much smaller leak still. About one drop every couple minutes vs. drop every couple seconds originally.

So down the river I go with no issues on the trip. And no coolant level loss when I checked when I got to my mooring (about 6 hours of engine running).

Now confusing part. Original pump is a "2 bolt unit". Mounting flange is "4 bolt". Has not been a problem before since, with gasket, it seals fine to the block.

This is not a Universal part since engine was originally designed as a raw water cooled engine so did not have this coolant pump. I believe this was added by Ericson when the boat was built with the "fresh" water cooled, hot water tank option.

Yard is scratching its head over what the "right" pump is.

Does anyone know what the original Sherwood Pump model for this application was? And was it 2 bolts or 4 bolts to the block?

Those pumps are now obsolete. What would be the current model number for this pump?
 

jreddington

Member III
My best guess would that it would be the same (obsolete) Sherwood as the raw water. Just checking if anyone can confirm. Also, if the replacement for this pump (quite a different design) would fit in the space.

As for the impeller, it sees in one way, easier duty than the raw water unit. No debris and less chance of running dry. Suspect the coolant has some lubricity over raw water. But the operating temps probably wipe out any of the advantages. Wish there was an impeller material specifically for this application. Wonder if the Globe blue "run dry"impellers would be an improvement.

I don't think relying on an electric pump seems wise. Optimum fix would be adding a belt driven centrifugal pump to the front end. But not practical on this 35 year old engine.
 
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