Jabsco not pumping sea water

[akpiperandjane1]

When we pump our Jabsco the plunger gets harder to push until it won't push at all. I took it apart at the handle and if I push on the lever sea water will come out (so seacock seems to be open) but the plunger won't pump it. If you continue to push on plunger the fresh water in tank will go down a little at a time until there's a big whoosh and it's back to working for a short time. There doesn't appear to be a blockage. Could it be trapped air? Anyone else have this problem? If so, what did you do to fix it? Thanks in advance!

[thinwater]

There is a cam at the top of the pump assembly that is prone to misassymbly. Check the instructions.

[peghall]

Sounds like you have problem that's very common in Jabsco manual toilets--a failed wet/dry cam. The wet/dry "valve" is actually just a little "gate" (the cam) that the lever swings to block or unblock the flow of incoming flush water. Due to either a tooling or mfr'g flaw, it hangs up...creating back pressure that feels like pumping against a clog or blocked tank vent, except it only happens in one mode--usually the wet mode, but not always.

The cure: replace the wet/dry cam assembly. Jabsco often sends out a new one for no charge...but then you have to take the pump apart to replace it, which can be a PITA and really messy because you can't flush water through the pump to clean it out before you take it apart.

So my advice: just replace the pump instead. It's prob'ly overdue for a rebuild or at least a joker valve --and besides, modern Jabsco toilets have fairly short lifespan--they're purposely made to be "disposable" like everything else today. A service kit costs almost as much as a pump, which doesn't cost that much anyway...HopCar (regular poster here who owns Hopkins Carter marine) will give you a good price...and swapping it out only requires removing and replacing the 4 bolts that hold the pump on the base and two hoses, which beats the socks off taking the pump apart!

[sck5]

Another vote for just replacing the pump assembly. My new to me boat came with jabsco heads and you can get the complete pump assembly for a little more than $100. Took around 10 minutes to switch it out. Beat hell out of messing with unsanitary innards of the pumps, which I have tried before. I promise you that before you are done with disassembling/reassembling the pump you will say to yourself "I would pay $30 not to be doing this". Since that is about the difference between a complete pump and a rebuild kit just save yourself the trouble.

[Capt.andiamo]

Everyone is correct. You can see my video on YouTube, "Replacing a Jabsco Pump". Buy a whole new pump unit and install. That will fix you up.

[akpiperandjane1]

Thanks! That was the problem!

[akpiperandjane1]

Originally Posted by thinwater

There is a cam at the top of the pump assembly that is prone to misassymbly. Check the instructions.

Thanks! It was the cam wasn't on correctly!

[TheThunderbird]

F..K any Jabsco


I found a membrane pump by Ocean, exactly the same product, only label is different


LABEL only

Jabsco 430eur

Ocean 135eur

F**K Jabsco and ITT TOO