Original Volvo Penta Wires or Aftermarket 8MM Taylor Wires?

ric · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:18 am

Cap'n Morgan wrote:

ric wrote:

Cap'n Morgan wrote:

You are a complete basket case, please seek professional help, before it's too late......

You just hate it when I'm right don't you?

When you are right for the first time, I will rejoice. Until then, I just keep pulling my hair out.

A boat's engine is in a sealed compartment (for the most part). Salt water NEVER touches a boat's engine unless you sink it. A car's engine is totally exposed. Drive on a mushy snow covered road and salt laden water/ice/snow/crap splashes everywhere, including in the engine compartment. There's a much much higher concentration of salt in road salt covered roads then in ocean air.

So why would "Marine" wires be better in salt environments compared to automotive wires? Exposed from underneath automotive engines (and everything else on the outside of a car) are designed to withstand harsh salt environments.

Think about this: If in the marine world parts were not meant to fail on purpose to create income for the industry... why are water cooled exhaust manifolds (temps never getting above 200*) made from cast iron? Cast iron is one of the easiest to rust materials known to man, especially in wet/warm conditions. They are designed to fail.

You would think.. hmmm... shouldn't they be made from aluminum or at least ceramic coated cast iron? Ceramic coated aluminum boat headers will last a lifetime. They also weigh much less.

but NAH. Volvo Penta and Mercruiser will just use painted cast iron. In a few years the boat mechanics will make a grand or two in replacement keeping everyone happy.

LouC · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:29 am

Ahh, ric, if I had a pic of it, I'd show you what a little tiny drip of salt water from a manifold drain did to a starter solenoid, in maybe one season. Totally rusted up that sucker, to the point where I had to re-terminate all the wires including the big hot cable from the batt switch. I had to cut off all the wires, it was that bad.
My Jeeps live in the North, salted and sanded roads in the winter, and are parked 300 feet from salt water all year. The boat lives in the same environment but is on the mooring 6 months of the year. Any little leak in a raw water cooled system on a boat, of salt water, will cause a ton of corrosion. What I learned from the boat, (corrosion control) I applied to the Jeeps and it works. But the engine compartment of an I/O is not sealed so to speak. Damp, salt air, etc. At least the truck engines dry out and there is much more air flow around them.

Getting back to the question, I don't know for sure if there is any difference between marine and auto spark plug wires, but I used the OE to be on the safe side. The marine plugs for sure are more corrosion resistant, I would not use auto plugs in a boat motor, same issue. One little leak of salt water and that plug is not coming out in one piece. I put some OMC triple guard grease on the threads and they always come right out. I would think the main difference in marine vs auto plug wires would be the corrosion resistance of the terminals. And, for obvious reasons, its REALLY important that there is no leakage from the terminal to a ground in the engine compartment. OE costs more but like I said, the ones on my old engine were fine at 15 years old. So what if they cost more.

ric · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:59 am

Well we're talking about two different things now. Use in failure conditions with lack of maintenance and repair because of laziness and stuff breaking because of that is the boat owners fault, and their fault only.

You knew the manifold was leaking and you let it leak. What ever happened next is your fault, not the quality of the parts that got leaked on that were never designed for that.

LouC · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:05 am

I think if you have ever looked at a marine 4.3 you would know that the starter solenoid is UNDER the manifold, you can't see it unless you pull out the back seat and get down in there. It could leak and you'd never know it, unless you are crawling around in the bilge. It is not out in the open like an inline 3.0 4 cylinder. So since then when I replace the drain plugs, I put a little OMC gasket sealer on the threads and no leaks. Another bit of free advice from yours truly. The point is that this stuff is going to happen no matter how careful you are and if you use the best stuff you will have less problems.

Even the marine starter solenoids are not really rust resistant. And guess what, THEY SHOULD BE. The manifold drain is RIGHT OVER the starter, when you drain the manifold to winterize the water drains RIGHT ON the starter.

Now if you had to winterize it fast and it still had salt water in it, you'd be draining salt water right on the starter. OMC or whoever put the drain there, not me, so they should have spec'd a more rust resistant starter. I always flush the motor with fresh water but still anyone who has owned an I/O for any length of time knows that the starters are the weak link. In 40 years of driving, I have replaced maybe 2-3 starters. Boating, well I have replaced one and one extra solenoid. There is no reason other than cost that the starter and solenoid could not be more rust resistant. That's what makes OBs less trouble, they are designed for salt. No reason why an I/O could not be too. Stainless mainfolds and better starters would reduce the 2 main salt water issues with inboards.

I smear OMC triple guard grease all over them and the terminals.

ric · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 10:54 am

Well, it all goes back to stern drives use automotive engines modified for marine use. Outboards are designed from the start for marine use.

The marine industry survives on repair. There is not enough new boat sales to keep a company like Four Winns' doors open. They survive and count on parts breaking to sell you replacements making ungodly amounts of profit to stay in business.

Winter Sux · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:57 pm

Jafo, in your original post you asked about hi-perf wires and Taylors. So I gave you the poop on hi-perf wires. Secondary ignition you also asked about. That is the high tension or high voltage end of the system starting with the coil then wires, cap, rotor and spark plugs. The primary ignition is everything in the 12 volt side of the system.

Ric, in one of your posts you mentioned automotive stuff is designed to withstand road salt. You could not be more wrong. Some after market parts maybe and I stress the word "some" as in very few. Some manufacturers coat brake and fuel lines with plastic but once it gets nicked, it's worse than having nothing. The salt gets in and never gets washed off. I have also worked on some boats that have been brought here from salt water and the difference is dramatic. They are a mess compared to fresh water boats in the engine room, period!

My tip for having a corrosion free engine and related things is get a can of Rust Check. Line the bottom of the bilge with news paper and lightly fog all metal parts. The news paper is to get any overspray and drips. After an hour or so remove and toss the news paper. Do this every couple of years and things will look and work great.

John :mrgreen:

theoriginalgiga · **Joined:** Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:47 am **Posts:** 26

A long while back I used to work for Honda as a detail monkey. Because we lived up in the hills (by Tahoe) we saw a LOT of cracked, weathered and damaged CV joints and virtually anything rubber. To help our customers, every time a mechanic did any sort of work on a car, we'd spray the CV boots and the major hoses with a silicone spray. We saw a huge decrease of damaged rubber. Now I know that's just salt on the road to keep the ice from freezing on it, but I would assume as long as a person kept proper maintenance on their rubber with some silicone lubricant you'd decrease the chances of bad rubber whether it's marine grade or not.

I can see where ric is coming from, but there's a definitely a larger amount of salt around the boat than on a road and I would surmise that rubbers for boats have a bit more preventative materials in them to get them to last longer.

Just my .02

www.iFourWinns.com

Original Volvo Penta Wires or Aftermarket 8MM Taylor Wires?

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