# Eheim motor making knocking sound and not pumping out water.



## JRMott (Jul 30, 2010)

I'm going to guess it's impeller related. Is it air locked?

When I clean out my marineland canister, it often takes a little bit to start pumping water and stop making a racket. Make sure you've got the filter full of water and it's primed.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

I did and I know that they can get air locked, which is why I took off the top a couple of times to see if that was it, but I had no luck.


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## monkeyfish (Jul 5, 2010)

All valves are open, no blockages in the tubes? No pockets of air in the intake line? These are obvious ideas but sometimes it's the little things we miss.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

So I was able to look at it fora few seconds ( I have a 15 month old) and one of the tube on the intake side of the filter was clogged. Freaking MTS! That got some bubbles pumping out and then it stopped again. I will be able to look at it some more tonight after the kids go to sleep.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

A knocking noise is not a sound I have ever heard from an Eheim filter.

If you also cleaned out the impeller well area, make sure you did not lose either of the two black rubber bushings that support the impeller shaft as that could be the cause of the sound you are hearing.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

Knocking sound generally means that the impeller shaft is not seated, or the bushing is excessively worn.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

How do I fix that?


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Hammer


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

What?


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Sorry...couldn't resist.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

will5 said:


> How do I fix that?


If you're lucky, take the impeller out, clean it and its housing thoroughly, and put it back together carefully. If you're not, there may be a replacement bearing available somewhere.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

it's fixed! I took everything apart and cleaned it with a tooth brush.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

Excellent!! Did you find anything unusual?


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

Yeah...MTS clog's throughout the filter. :angryfire


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## JRMott (Jul 30, 2010)

will5 said:


> Yeah...MTS clog's throughout the filter. :angryfire


How close to the substrate is your filter intake? Wouldn't the filter medium prevent the filter from clogging (the medium would clog but the entire filter shouldn't).

Anyways, try putting your intake a bit higher.


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## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

MTS are wily little guys and have learned to crawl down the intake pipe and creep into the intake strainer so they really don't care how close to the substrate the intake is.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

JRMott said:


> How close to the substrate is your filter intake? Wouldn't the filter medium prevent the filter from clogging (the medium would clog but the entire filter shouldn't).
> 
> Anyways, try putting your intake a bit higher.


My intake is not close to the substrate at all. But they appear to be getting in because I have the intake up against a piece of driftwood. They were not the only problem though. They clogged the tubing where I had put some connectors and some of the filter floss got wrapped around the impeller shaft. And I guess it just needed to be cleaned over all.


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## JRMott (Jul 30, 2010)

lol, I was thinking of the wrong acronym!

MTS = Malaysian Trumpet Snails -but also-
MTS = Mineralized Top Soil

I thought you were talking about soil getting into your filter...


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

lol


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

JRMott said:


> lol, I was thinking of the wrong acronym!
> 
> MTS = Malaysian Trumpet Snails -but also-
> MTS = Mineralized Top Soil
> ...


I hate conflicting acronyms.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

I'm going to start referring to mineralized topsoil as MinTS. Maybe someone has a better acronym, but this isn't the first time these two have been confused.


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