www.iFourWinns.com

Damn Lou...I SURE wish you lived closer to me, I'd PAY you to do that to my boat, just so I knew it was done and done right. My shop does NOT pull the outdrive as part of the winterization package. They do the fuel stabil, drain water, add anti freeze, fog engine, grease all zerks, charge and disconnect battery. That's it.......$225

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

Aren't they also changing the motor oil & filter and the drive oil?
When was the last time the drive was off?
For what they did that's not a bad price but there are important things that need to be done each season.
I'm in Long Island NY and labor for mechanics here is very expensive because real estate taxes and energy costs are very high.
What I do on mine including the drive R&R would probably cost $450-500

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Man I'd gladly pay you $450-500 for that!! LOL

NO, the winterizing does NOT include engine oil, filter change, or outdrive fluid change. They DO "CHECK" the fluids and let me know if they think they need to be changed.

This is WHY I am going to start doing my own winterizing, outdrive fluid changes, and engine oil/filter changes too. I do it on all my cars, so figure I NEED to start doing it on my boat as well. I am going to invest in a oil "pump" to draw the oil out of the oil draw tube on the engine. etc etc.

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

The boat is actually far simpler than modern cars; it's just different than what you're used to. I grew up with cars of the 60s and 70s so small block Chevrolets with Rochester Quadrajets and points and condenser ignition are very familiar to me. I just had to learn about marine cooling systems and all the outdrive work. I use the Topsider Vacuum pump with a fabbed up garden hose adaptor. This works much faster than the little tube down the dip stick method. For changing the gear oil in the drive you need a gear oil pump, Mercury (Quicksilver) makes a nice one.
I use the Merc 25/40 motor oil and the Merc High Performance gear oil in the Cobra
Doing a tune up on these is total old school circa 1966. Simple and I love it that way. No electronic mystery boxes that are no longer made. Simple Stuff that works.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I can buy quicksilver oils and lubes at my local wally world, so that is good oil to use for both engine and my outdrive? what about oil filter? Also, should I clean my throttle body? never done it, but if it helps, I'll do it. do you have directions for cleaning TB?

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

I also agree with how easy it is to work on older engines....when I was in High School (late 80s) we drove old Chevy Novas, Impalas, dusters, chevelle's, etc...all super easy to work on, with SO MUCH room in the engine compartment. New, modern engines are like looking at a foreign language to me. don't understand em, and don't want to.

with that said, I did replace the engine in this boat about 6 years ago, and the new 3.0 on my boat no longer has points and condensor, it does have full electronic ignition.

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

I started in the early 70s learning from my friend whose father was the shop foreman at the local Ford dealer. They always had cool cars around, he would get driven to high school in a Boss 302 Mustang, Torino 429 Cobra, etc. He built a '23 T Bucket replica back then with a Ford 302, C-4 automatic and a Ford 9 rear in it. My other good friend taught me about power shifting and street racing with his '70 Chevelle SS 396. So its hard for me to get excited about some of the boring cars we have now, only a few suvs and high performance cars interest me at all.

In any case, the Merc/Quicksilver motor oil and the High Performance Gear oil is fine in your Cobra. Also they probably make an oil filter for that engine but you really can use a regular auto filter as well. If you have a water separating fuel filter (looks like an oil filter) I use Sierra or OMC/Bombardier for them. If you need OMC original equipment parts right away, look for an Evinrude dealer, they can order parts from BRP and they may have common items in stock like impellers, tune up parts, etc. Otherwise I get stuff from Crowley Marine in Colorado, they are very good.
About the electronic ignition....you mentioned stiff shifting....well...the original OMC ESA module, is designed to work with a points ignition system only, it will not work with an electronic distributor. When yours was changed, did whoever changed it use an updated ESA for that distributor? If not that would explain your stiff shifting. The ESA has to work (ie lower the idle from 600-->400) when you shift from fwd-->netural or rev-->neutral.

You don't have a throttle body on the stone age 3.0 GM, you have a carb...and yes carbs need to be cleaned and rebuilt every 5 years or so, but if its running well I'd leave it be. Very simple 1 bbl carb. Nothing like the complex 4 BBL Rochester Quadrajet (GM's main carb on most V8s from 1965 up to the end of the use of carbs in the mid 80s) that I have on my 4.3.....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

About the electronic ignition........how do I KNOW if it's an updated ESA? I do know at my last tune up, they replaced the dist. cap, I don't know any more than that. Is there a way I can tell if I have old ESA or new updated one? I would assume, when they replaced the entire engine with a brand spankin new one 5 years ago, it would have the new ESA included on it?????? Am I assuming wrong?

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

Well who knows what they did, but I know for sure that the CDI electronics in Huntsville Alabama does make a module for that Delco electronic distributor. The ESA for your engine is a black module mounted on the bracket where the shift cable for the outdrive is attached (probably a red cable) its on the inner side of this bracket. The OMC modules had no markings on the outside of them but the CDI ones have a CDI sticker somewhere on them. The way to tell if its working is this:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ouzf0thrg3qn0 ... s.jpg?dl=0

In this pic, the switch that is responsible for activating the ESA is the interrupt switch. You can test it by running the engine in neutral and then either lift or push down the piece labeled 'load lever' or just lift the little metal lever that is attached to the interrupt switch. You should hear and feel the engine slow down while its idling in neutral. If it does not, then your ESA is not working. So check this and report back. I had this problem, I thought the switch was sticking and it was but the bigger problem was the ESA module just died after 28 years of use. So I replaced it with the standard one from CDI and got a new set of switches from Crowley Marine. Works fine now.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Thanks Lou

I have ALOT of stuff to "look at" when I get back up to our camp ground, where the boat is right now...I won't be back up there for another week, so I will most certainly have probably alot to report back at that time.

Dan

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

You have to explain 'camp ground' to me, we don't have those here in Long Island lol...lucky if we got a lil 1/4 acre plot of land. However, I do live up above a harbor on the north shore of LI, and can keep the boat back there for little $$. I like it that I can keep an eye on the boat from the house. We have access to a couple of nice major harbors and Long Island Sound. But no camps at least not here....too crowded....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Hey Lou,

Ok..got my boat back home, and will be winterizing in the next week or so. Anyway, I took some photos of my engine, as I am following your winterizing instructions, and printed out the images you posted as well..BUT I think my engine water drains are on the OTHER side of the engine, as opposed to the right or starboard side.

I am going to post a bunch of photos here. I also thinkg I have an oil "dipstick" to check engine oil levels, but there is also another"tube with a little lid with a chain on it, that travels all the way to the bottom of the engine. I assume that is the tube to "suck" oil out.

Here's photos:
ENGINE
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side with brass drains is "left" or "port" side
[/URL]

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

Here's a few more shots:
this code/serial number is on the bottom port side of my engine, no clue if it means anything
[/URL]

Oh...here is that "tube" that goes from the little "cap" up higher on the engine, and this is where it goes down and enters the bottom of the engine, in the "oil pan"
[/URL]

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

oh..one last photo...here is my "shift linkage/assembly" near the engine. It does not have "red" cables, like you had mentioned, it has "black" I'd love if the shifted a bit easier.

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.

sorry..one more photo. in this photo you see that "cap" with the little "chain" hanging off of it. I assume this is to drain oil from the oil pan?????

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1990 Four Winns 170 Freedom, 3.0 OMC Cobra 4 cyl.