4.3L alpha 1 overheating problem

[AnchorManagement]

any of you guys have any idea why my 4.3 might be overheating? if I sit in nuetral, it will eventually overheat, (it goes to 180 degrees & beyond, but if I raise the rpms to just 1500 rpms even still in neutral, it will go right back down to 140, I'm guessing it's probably the sea water impeller, but just a guess at this point, I don't have a manual yet so i'm not sure how hard it's gonna be to replace it, i hear you have to take the outdrive apart to get to it, doesn't sound like much fun to me, anybody got any Idea's or have any problems similar to this?

[Boat Doc']

Water pump in drive is definitely the place to start. Not that hard to do, just split the case and it sits on top of the lower housing. Make sure you refill the gear oil when done. Only tricky part is realighning the shift shaft on reassembly. I would advise getting a manual if you do it yourself.

[AnchorManagement]

thank you very much for replying, any Idea what you guys would charge to do it? I don't have a whole lot of tools & I don't want to screw anything up, I just read somewhere that you HAVE to have it in forward gear to do this or you'll screw up your gear alignment?

[Boat Doc']

probably run around 125.00 plus parts. When reinstalling the lower half it needs to be in the same gear as the upper. You don't need to remove the whole drive just the bottom half.

[Mo Money]

How long do water pump impellers last?Are they supposed to be replaced on a certain time frame?

[AnchorManagement]

I've been reading that it should be done every 2 years, some even say every year, but it sure isn't very easy to get at on an alpha one outdrive.