Flush Pro Failure - Still A Good Day
 

I was riding with my wife driving and the engine tone just did not sound right and I could smell the exhaust which was odd. It smelled hot. I dropped the handle and asked her to look at the gauges. What's the temp? 40 degrees. No the temp? 240. Shut it off! I then recognized the bilge pump was running for a long time.

The flush pro fitting broke and the bilge was now full. The pump could not keep up. I stuffed a plastic Target bag into the intake hose and assessed the situation while the pump caught up. To get home, I put the pump intake into the bilge and flooded it a little thinking I could limp home but it would not draw water. Pulled the impeller and it was fried. Put in the spare impeller, flooded the bilge again but between the pump and the new impeller I could not keep enough water in the bilge. Instead of disabling the bilge I decided Boat US would finally earn my business. I was home in 30 minutes.

My wife credits Target for saving the day and decided it was an omen to shop there today. Go figure.

I never liked the plastic fittings below the water line or the fact that many manufacturers fail to install a seacock but at least it failed where I could resolve the problem.

The good news was my just turned 3 years old son got up on doubles, 100% by himself, long line, and skied until he was tired. It was all his decision with no pressure to even try and no fear. It was his own pure desire and inspiring to watch.

Where did the unit break? If the impellar hadnt fried could you have fixed with spare hose, etc? I have the flush pro kit on my nautique just below the strainer on the intake hose, so it is pretty accessible, but I am wondering if I should keep a spare hose length in my boat just to be on the safe side.

Interesting... actually my 02 SANTE has a emergency shut off valve on the water intake. Also recently I have removed my fresh water flush because after burning up several impellars someone told me there could be an air leak on the flush system. So far so good so I hope that was my issue.

We've had a few of the flush pro kits fail, mostly in the off season..... temps are cooler, we're using them a lot to flush the engine out, and the cheap plastic just fails.

The out fitting broke on the flush pro itself. Sheared right off 100%. The hose was fine. The impeller fried because I was not drawing any water. With an extra/longer hose I could have removed the flush pro and reconnected to the inlet but this would have been a chore with water rushing in and I was close to home. I've had my share of broken hoses, most times they break at the fitting and you can cut the end and reattach. Regardless, I carry extra hoses having been there 5 or 6 times though the years.

Kevin, if you were sucking that much air I would expect you to have an overheating issue along with impeller failure. I had a problem on a boat after putting it on the lift. The water would run out the hose and the impeller would be dry until it drew water.