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I have a 1996 four winns vista with 5.8 boat sat for 4 years i baught it took it to a well known mechanic had him go through it i have put 4 tanks of gas through it this year and it ran great the last few times i have been out it runs great then on the way in it backs its self off from 3/4 gas and stalls it starts but pops if i rev it up it pops stalls a few times then runs good agin i have no idea i changes the fuel filter and the anti syvanig valve still acting up anyone have any ideas thank you

Since you've changed the anti-siphon valve already, your fuel pump might be going bad. If you're fuel injected, it would likely be the low-pressure pump. There's only one if you're carbureted. If it's running on the original pump, you're on borrowed time anyway.

You may also have some vapor lock, which will be a bigger issue with a weak fuel pump. The replacement pumps fit more applications than the oem pump and run at a little higher pressure, which seems to help minimize the effects of vapor lock. One easy thing to try the next time out is to run the bilge blower for 10-20 minutes before starting the engine and heading in. That should help cool the engine compartment down and help get rid of the vapor lock, if that's your problem.

I had all of the above with both engines in mine, which was a real pain to troubleshoot. One anti-siphon valve was varnished shut, another was held open by a sliver of varnish around the check ball that broke lose, and both fuel pumps (2yrs apart) went bad with little-to-no suction. With new fuel pumps and clean check-valves, however, I don't have any problems even on the hottest days.

Hope this helps... Joe

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USCG 50 Ton Master Inland/OUPV Endorsement+Towing

1998 278 Vista - Twin 4.3 GLs, Kohler 4KW Gen, AC/Heat.
1999 Yamaha Waverunner SUV
2003 Yamaha Waverunner SUV w/MR-1 HO conversion

In addition to the above, the 4 year old gas concerns me a bit, even though you have run through 4 tanks if your area switched to E-10 ethaonl gas then that could have cleaned and loosened up whatever crud there was in the tank. I'd want to spin off the water separating filter and pour its contents out into a glass jar and let it sit...if you see a lot of sediment and especially water (it will separate down to to the bottom) then you might need to get the tank cleaned out...

I had some similar issues, the anti siphon on my boat went bad and it would start and idle but had no power, the carb (Rochester 4bbl) has been rebuilt 2x in the time I've had it but still running well on the OE mechanical fuel pump (22 years old)...
We had our problems when they switched to E-10 gas here but since the first year I have not found any water or other junk in my filter when I replace it at winterization...

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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

Did you try a can or two of dry gas. I was wondering if you are getting water in the tank. The vent on the tank might be broke and might be letting water in.
Captain Zero
1999 Vista 238

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CAPTAIN ZERO

thanks guys for your input im going out this weekend i will try a few of these ideas i have dumped 2 bottels of dry gas in already no go on that on im going to run it as low as i can and put in about 100 in premium see what that does also thanks agin

I had a buddy call me up one day describing the very same issue you are having on his Rinker. Through our discussion and troubleshooting he let out that he was in a hurry the previous time out and just filled up with the cheap gas from the local station.

I told him that my manual stated that running ethanol was a big no no, and running anything less than premium grade ethanol free would greatly affect the performance of the engine unless the timing was adjusted to fit the fuel being used. He ran through that tank of fuel as best he could and switched back to the good premium ethanol free gas and the boat went right back to running the way it should.

I thought this was strange for a fuel injected engine to not be able to self adjust for this but apparently this was the case. It could be having the same affect on your situation.

Even stranger than all of this.....Can you believe we live in a river town, launch our boats in another river town, and neither one of them carry the recreational gas we need for the boats. I have to drive 20 miles away from the river to fill up the boat.

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1989 205 Sundowner
5.0 HO OMC Cobra

Well can you believe this....here I am in Long Island, 110 miles long surrounded by water, thousands of boats, and there is NO place to get non-ethanol gas, that's right NONE. We do not benefit at all from the making of ethanol (not too many corn farmers around here) but are forced to use it due to air pollution regs. I have found that using Marine Stabil helps and make sure your gas cap gasket fits well, you don't want any more water making its way into the gas tank. I use 10 micron water separating fuel filters (Sierra) and am going to switch to Racor (the ultimate) when I winterize it this year....change those filters each season....

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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 ran the boat well below a 1/4 tank filled up with road gas drove for about 1 hour and it hasnt acted up yet we will see it doesnt happen every time i go out i dont understand it but hopefully this worked. thanks agin everyone. anyone one from michigan ?

Ive had similar problems with water in the gas one time and on a different occasion, a bad coil.

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21