www.iFourWinns.com

hey yall, new hopeful owner tomorrow. I am looking at a 98 horizon 220 with 110 hours on it. we went to test drive it this afternoon and noticed several things. first it has been sitting since last april and on the test ride at full throttle it would what I call skip every 4-5 seconds you could feel and the owner which buys and sells boats left and right said it was the old gas. it ran strong and take off was real good. he is suppost to drain the fuel and put injector cleaner in and we are going to take it out again tomorrow and run it a while and see if it clears up. this guy knows my family and he is like 77 years old and I dont think he would steer me wrong but I just got married and I need to make sure its up and up. anyone got any suggestions? please help..lol


I also noticed the trim gauge wasnt working it was all the way up when down and the speedo couldnt be right.. it said like 35 plained out and we were hauling butt. any problems with the wheel in back known to these? I will not have the extra $$ to have some one to check it out. I am a service advisor for chevrolet and I know the 5.7 is a good motor. but the marine side throws me off. he has known me since I was 5 yrs old but I just want to make sure about this sputter at full throttle. please let me know any suggestions and I will check the forum in the am. btw-- nice forum here............ Mudcon

Bad gas can make an engine run like crud. I noticed that on my 3rd new tank the boat is running better. Sorry I can't offer more insight.

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Todd
1988 Four Winns Horizon 200
AKA "Summer School"

Trim gauge inoperative is normal on that vintage.

Speedo may have a clogged inlet tube or may juyst be inaccurate. Keep in mind, 35-mph on the water feels like 60 in the car.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

Re the speedo; a boat from that year will have a VDO ( Integrated Automotive style) instrument pack, rather than individual gauges unless it's been changed. The sender is a paddle wheel mounted on the transom; they are usually very accurate.

35 mph on the water really does feel like 60 mph in a car ! You would probably have to trim the drive out some to get to maximum speed.

Graham

this boat should run around 50mph shouldnt it? 35 was full throttle. what is the normal cause of the trim? the skipping thing worries me the most though. I hope the gas thing will help. we will see tonight.

Enclosed are the original specs for the boat you are looking at:

http://www.fourwinns.net/fastfacts/fastfact/1998/ff220Hp20-24.pdf

110 hours in 10 years is very low. If it has either of the two 5.7 motors, it should done ca 50 when new. The actual top speed is influenced by quite a few variables though;
Actual power the engine is producing; when was the last time it was serviced ? (plugs, leads, distributor cap, rotor arm, fuel and oil filters, cleaned flame arrestor)
Overall weight of the boat and contents
Growth on hull/ outdrive/ prop
Condition of prop(s)
Correct (original) prop size/ outdrive ratio for the elevation above sea level
Outdrive trim angle
Throttle being fully open at the engine etc

Re the trim; it is probably the sender that has given up the ghost. In terms of getting the correct trim for maximum speed with an inoperative trim gauge, you could start off with the outdrive fully down/ WOT and tap trim switch to bring the outdrive up gradually until the speed doesn't increase any further. Be aware though that it will come to a point where it will become noisy due to the outdrive U/Js and you should back off! What RPM was the motor making at your indicated 35mph ? Can you borrow a handheld GPS to check the actual speed?

Graham

thanks for the replies yall, I have a handheld gps from my atv I am going to carry tonight. does this one have the vac tube I read about getting clogged?

I did notice a few times the speed at 35 would jump up to around 50 and back down. after I plaine the first thing I always do is trim up a hair to right before the point you were referring to. it was running about 4500 rpms or a little over at wot.

On a 1998 boat, you probably will find a paddle wheel on the transom; starboard side. If the speed jumps from 35 to 50 it's either an intermittent connection, the paddle wheel is partially jammed/ faulty or it's the VDO cluster; if you do a search on that subject here, there's a lot of useful information.

Graham

OMG-- I was searching through all the old posts for the last hour. lots of good info. looks like these clusters are POS's lol I guess we will see what tonight brings with the new gas. thanks for you help.

Don't let the VDO cluster necessarily put you off; I had no trouble at all with mine ( a 1999 boat, which I had from 2001 for 4 seasons), apart from the speedo stopped working, but that was barnacles on the paddle wheel, hardly the VDO cluster's fault!

Graham

I am really of no help to your particular model / year but I can share that the trim gauge seems to be a pretty common and high maintenance item.
Seems many have had issues with the pilot hole for the speedo clog as well - depending on the cleanliness of the water where you boat and the little insect buggers that hang around on the hard. I guess your model has the paddle wheel? They are supposed to be more reliable.
A fellow boater let me in on a little trick that seems to help as far as trim when your indicator doesn't seem right and I rarely watch the gauge anymore unless I am putting in shallows.

I start trimmed all the way down and then accelerate to get on plane. When on plane and approacing desired speed I begin to tap the trim up and listen to the engine - it seems to run a little "cleaner" as I am getting trimmed out if that makes sense. If she would start to bounce and sound a little loaded I have trimmed too far - that is a dead giveaway. I rarely make that mistake anymore.
The trick he showed me was to watch my wake or wash I guess is what its called when I reach desired speed. If I am trimmed too far I will be throwing a spray off the water surface in the center of the wake - from the prop. This seems to be the precursor to the bouncing (porpoising). So, on plane and at desired speed I tap my trim up until I see a spray appear over my prop (or a miniature form of a rooster tail I guess) and I then tap down once or twice until its gone. She seems to be running great at that point. Don't know if this is a great trick but it seems to work for me at least.
Try it - planing and trimming up while checking the wake. You will see the prop spray appear as you get too high and dissappear as you tap the trim back down. DONT TRIM UP TOO FAR OVER 1k RPM- It will likely eat your drives U-Joints. Know that for putting through shallow spots also - no more than 1200 RPM (I think) says the manual and no more than the trim gauge indicator (that mark thats like 1/4 of the way up the trim gauge) - that is max trim while in gear!

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2008 Four Winns 210 5.7 GI/SX
2007 GMC Sierra 2500 Crew
1966 Fed-Up Wife

hey blessed, read many of your posts reading through the forum. yes it has a paddle wheel, will it still have the tube I read about people blowing through to clean out?


you trick on the trim is what I have been using for years and it works great.

Don't know - my last 2 boats (my only previous boats) had the paddle wheel and I never had an issue so I never pulled 'em apart. If I had to guess I would guess they are wired - but I suppose the pilot tube is equally possible.

Cool with the trim spray trick - so its not just an old BS tale. It seemed to work so well . . . but at the same time it was equally possible he was F$* ing with me! Sometimes I hate those guys!

Hope the second look goes well - going to need pics!

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2008 Four Winns 210 5.7 GI/SX
2007 GMC Sierra 2500 Crew
1966 Fed-Up Wife

oh yea the trim trick is no bs. also for all is it normal under load at times for a dual prop set up like this to have a vibration? almost like when a torqe converter is going out in a car and feels like running over the ripples on side of the road? he told me it was the duel prop?

update, I dont know what to do know. the guy called back and said he talked to a volvo tech on the vibration and he said it could be the shaft or the ujoints in the lower end. he!! I dont know what to do know. wife is going to be sad..