www.iFourWinns.com

So I help a friend deal with some odds-and-ends on his boat. We're almost done but his AC panel shows a galvanic isolator fault. Long story short it wasn't the boat, it was his ancient and well-past-its-prime shore power cable. We didn't know this until I'd been hopping up and down into the engine compartment too many times to count trying to chase down the possible wiring problem. The problem being chaparral, in their infinite lack of wisdom, decided to put the elbow fittings for the gas tank SQUARE in the middle of the bilge area RIGHT where you'd put your feet down. So, of course, one of the hose connections got snapped off. JUST GREAT. Now, to make matters worse it's a 1/2" pipe thread to 3/8" hose barb connection, IN ALUMINUM. Which are damn near impossible to find, and certainly not anywhere near Cambridge on Labor Day weekend.

I'll try to post a picture when I go back and try to fix the boat. Which we had to leave back in Oxford, MD because at the mere 9mph it would make with just one engine, there was no way I was going to sit behind him for the projected SEVEN HOURS it would take to get home. Better to leave it, get the parts, and come back home under full power.


I did try to fix it with a locally found brass fitting, but apparently the volvo 4.3 can't prime itself when there's just a hose barb connection on the fuel line. Apparently it has to be an anti-siphon connection. Which was unavailable anywhere I could think to check (and was open).

With luck I'll be able to use a brass 1/2"-to-3/8" reducer bushing and a 3/8" anti-siphon valve for a few days in order to get the boat home.

The galling thing here is all chaparral would have had to do to prevent this nonsense would have been to put an 12"x8" plywood cover over the spot. I can only imagine how many times those fittings have gotten broken due to this inane design.

With luck the weather won't be snotty tomorrow on the Bay... and I can get it started.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Seem's to be a bit of carelessness entering an unfamiliar bilge area, rather than a design flaw. I suspect the fitting has never been stepped on and broken before this incident.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Fuel pickups are a pretty standard item...most marinas stock them. The anti-siphon valve has nothing to do with priming, it just keeps fuel from siphoning out of the tank if a leak develops in the fuel system. Many fuel systems will not self prime, I always fill the filter and it will usually take right off.

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Brian Borchik
The Winds of Cold Springs Harbor Marina
Baldwinsville, NY

An excellent point, thanks for the helpful comments.

We had neither a funnel nor a gas tank with plain fuel handy. I did check the fuel filter and it was only half-full. That and even after cranking the line up to the engine was dry. So it just wasn't pulling enough to prime itself. I've seen various posts elsewhere concerning the priming and anti-siphon issue. Given this is not my boat I'd want to avoid him getting stuck at some point in the future and having to re-prime it manually.

What's uncommon about this setup is it uses a 1/2" pipe thread, not the MUCH more common 3/8" pipe thread. Those I can get locally, but only in brass. I did manage to find a 1/2" to 3/8" reducing bushing, but also in brass. So we'll be able to get it home today, hopefully. That'll do until the right one can be purchased.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

To follow up, it would not restart. And it wasn't the fuel flow. I'd put a straight barb on it as temporary fix. Thinking that was the problem I found an anti-siphon valve and installed that. But before I did that I spun off the fuel filter and noticed it was full. So the fuel pump WAS priming. I did some troubleshooting and found the coil was providing spark to the distributor but none of the plugs were firing. I put on a new cap and rotor but that did not solve the problem. His old cap contacts were SERIOUSLY crusted up inside. While I was in there I noticed he'd had a water leak coming down from his transom locker... straight down onto the coil! The coil bracket was pretty rusted up. But it was making spark out the line from the coil at the distributor.

I don't know anything specific about the Volvo Penta 4.3 GXI-E engine. It's basically just a GM Vortec setup. I'm inclined to think there's some sort of sensor involved at this point. The coil's making spark but perhaps there's something at the distributor deciding not to allow that spark to be sent to the plugs. His plug wires looked pretty tired but it's extremely unlikely 3 of the six I checked were all bad. I did not specifically check to see that the rotor was in fact turning. What with having to take off the throttle wire and fuse box to get to the cap screws, I was pressed for time. It would be something 'pretty bad' if the rotor wasn't turning and there weren't any previous signs that would have indicated this.

I gave him a good ration of Hell for the poor state of his engines, they're well overdue to a basic tune-up.

At this point I was out of daylight and well beyond 'fixing what I broke'. So now it's in the hand of the mechanics at that marina. Hopefully they'll be able to figure out the problem. I'll update once they figure it out.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Update: the coil was also bad. It was making a spark, just not enough to get the plugs to fire. The mechanics at Oxford marina replaced it and the boat started right up. I figured that was next but a) ran out of time and b) could not really get myself back in there to replace it.

Meanwhile I've been very, very busy moving us out of the house we're about to demolish and rebuild new. Oy, what a chore. A lifetime's worth of stuff to sift through, pack up and move. We're only moving 3 blocks away to a rental, so at least that part is simple. Next up is the deconstruction salvage work next week. For a tax break I donate the house and they scavenge it for all resalable materials. Plumbing, flooring, doors, windows, even joists/studs/rafters. Once that's done the demo plan calls for 'to the dirt' scouring of the lot. Then it's an estimated 9-10 months to build the new one. We've got the rental for a year (you do NOT want to know what 4br/2garage houses rent for in Bethesda) and the lease has an easy-out if we're early or month-to-month if it runs long. So at least THAT won't be stressful to manage.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista