www.iFourWinns.com

I have an OLD desk top. It can only run word docs pulled up from my main computer. They are networked, and I can pull up my maint history and manuals for everything I own. Let's face it..... I can't get a paper manual for my 1967 Cub Cadet riding lawn mower, but viola! Someone had one on-line for free! I also play my music through the 'puter, but sounds like trash!

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Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

Since I am new to boat matience I am having a local OMC mechanic get the boat ready. They winterized it for me and fixed a couple of things. I am going to have them change all of the fluids and check the outdrive. I want everything ready to go. I am getting the manuals so I can do most of the work myself in the future. While having them set it up for the summer since it is an OMC what should I have checked? Also I have no idea if the impeller has ever been replaced. Where is it located on the OMC Cobra?

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Todd
1988 Four Winns Horizon 200
AKA "Summer School"

The best thing you can do is to get the factory manuals if you can still find them. I heard there was a guy on E-Bay selling them, I forget his name but if you go over to Iboats and check the I/O forum you will find posts on that subject (search on user name GaryNC). Anyway, the impeller is one of the best parts of the Cobra design. At the rear of the upper unit is a plastic cover held on with 3 bolts. You take that off and there is the impeller housing, also held on with 3 bolts. To change it is easy, you just have to make sure you get the housing gasket in right. It has seal right for it to pump water.
When you winterize it's pretty much the same as any other sterndrive, with the only exception being there are 3 plugs in the pivot housing that have to be removed (it's the part of the transom that the drive bolts to) to let water drain. Merc does not have this so many people do not realize that if they don't have an OMC manual.
The other OMC specific thing is refilling the drive with drive oil. You have to do it the OMC way, not the Merc way or else it can be underfilled and you will ruin the upper gear set. The Cobra takes about 2 qts of gear oil. All this is spelled out in the manual.

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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

Well, today was the day. I got in the garage and attacked the impeller. Like Impulse said, its not quite as easy as some folks have made it sound, but its not hard either. You have to be a bit of a contortionist to get to a couple of the bolts. One of the main problems is that they have too much damn paint from the factory on the heads of the bolts, and the tolerances around the heads of the bolts for the impeller housing are so tight is almost impossible to get a socket on them. Half way through I dropped my 8mm wrench down in the bilge. It was hard to find, but I finally did. It bounced WAY aft of where I was working. Oh well...small delay.

My "impeller" was as expected, in great condition. I tossed it in my boat bag to use as a spare if I ever need it. I am still sold on replacing every year, so I figure I will just rotate my old ones out as spares anually.

After it was all done, I hooked up the water hose to the blue inlet in the engine compartment, lowered the drive, and turned on the water. I jumped back in the boat and gave her a crank. As expected, she quickly fired up. I let her idle for a while and checked for any signs of leakge..all is good there. I got a little smoke as the fogging oil burned off of the cylinders. I let her idle for a while before I goosed the throttle a little. A little sputter and then she smoothed right out. I suspect there is/was still some fogging oil in the cylinders still working its way out. I kept a close eye on the temp gauge to be sure she was getting a good enough water supply and to make sure she didnt overheat. She ran 15-20 minutes before I shut her down. I couldnt help myself, so I towed her to the gas station to top off the tank. I know I should have probably done that BEFORE I got her winterized.

Its in the 80's here in the Dallas area and if it wasnt so damn windy on the lake, I would be taking her for an afternoon cruise today just for fun. Oh well. As always, its therapy (for me) to get up in the boat and work on it. I definately have a sense of satisfaction of doing the work myself. I know there are some other things that need to be checked prior to the season so I am going to try to track down a manual for my boat and get the rest of it handled. All of the fluids were changed when I winterized, but I am sure there are some lube points and such that need to be addressed.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Sounds like it all came out well. Knowing how to do this basic maintenance is very satisfying in addition being able to save money and having the knowledge to fix things yourself. Sterndrives, esp on a trailered boat in freshwater are really not that hard to maintain yourself. The main thing is to know what needs to be checked and when. I think it's always a good idea to pull the drive off and check it out, making sure there are no bellows leaks, the u-joints and gimble get greased (when needed, some newer models do not need grease) and you can also make sure the input shaft seal on the drive does not leak drive oil. These are the things that if left unattended, can cost a lot of money down the road. I do that after I winterize the boat in the fall. If there is something that goes beyond my ability to fix, then I take it to the mechanic. It's also a good idea to check over all the control cables, making sure retainers such as cotter pins are in place. Here in salt water we do certain things much more often because of corrosion and other issues.

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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