www.iFourWinns.com

Not sure if I posted in the correct area but here we go..... Boat ran great last night went to the cove headed back to the marina this morning ran great....in the marina picking the family up with engines running the whole time aprox 15 minutes...headed out back to the cove after no wake zone gave it some throttle would not plane, no backfiring, would not go past 3000 RPM's, smelled gas fumes. I did put in neutral and rev both motors went back to idle gave throttle same problem. Headed back to the marina.

Last season I replaced both hi/low fuel pumps and both TBI?/TPI? Fuel? Not sure what you call them. I had aprox 55 gallons of fuel that I stabilized with valve tech stabilizer. My question is is it bad fuel, pumps or? Should I drain all fuel start fresh? Thank you in advance.

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1996 278 Vista Dlx Twin 5.0
1999 Sea Ray 215 ex cruiser (sold)
1989 Seaswirl (sold)

Hey Steve, thought that was you heading into the marina today. Sorry I have no ideas about what could be causing your problem, but I did a little google search and found a post about a loose exhaust flapper blocking the exhaust...here http://www.boatingabc.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/515983/Re_Volvo_Penta_7_4l_power_issu.html..hope you figure it out.

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Chris and Alicia
Las Vegas, NV
ALTIVA
1996 Four Winns 238 Vista Dlx 5.8Fi

Thanks Chris I will show this to my mechanic and see what he says...I will let you know the outcome.

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1996 278 Vista Dlx Twin 5.0
1999 Sea Ray 215 ex cruiser (sold)
1989 Seaswirl (sold)

Might check fuel filters too?

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2004 Four Winns 328 Vista
1997 Larson Cabrio 290 - sold
1988 Rinker Fiesta Vee 248 - sold

I'd probably start with the fuel filters, remove them and dump each one into a clear glass container, let it sit. If its all gas no debris, good if there is a layer of water on the bottom, no good time to clean the tank.
Bad running smelling gas can be an overly rich fuel mixture (not common with an FI motor) or an ignition fault. Pull one spark plug from each engine and look at the porcelain around the center electrode, if its dark and wet with fuel then I'd be looking at the ignition system. Due to the gas smell make sure there are no fuel leaks.
I had a similar problem (carbed motor) but no fuel smell turned out to be a dirty carb, and rusted anti siphon valve on the gas tank.

Re the exhaust flappers, I know Volvo removed them after a certain year and instructed mechanics to do the same. I had the same exact flappers in my Cobra and I never had a problem with them ever till I had an overheat last summer and that melted both of them. You can loosen and slide the exhaust hose on the Y pipe down, and if you see no small holes on the Y pipe it does not have flappers (there are 2 grommets and a metal 'axle' inside that the flapper sits on). If there are 2 small holes one on each side of the pipe then you should remove the riser so you can see in there to make sure its not blocking the exhaust.

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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

Start with the easy stuff, fuel filters. I take it your 5.0's are FI? I don't believe that VP was using the flaky paint fuel pumps/lines in 96', so it might just be bad gas, water in gas, clogged filter probs.

I also don't think there were exhaust flappers in 96' either. Mine doesn't have them.

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

A piston may not be firing if you are smelling gas and losing power, could be loose/bad spark plug wires?

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2004 Vista 298
Twin 5.7L Volvo Penta GXi-E

Winner! Winner! noexcuses! You are correct we found a spark plug wire that was pinched by the motor mount. Will lake test it this next Monday to confirm that was the problem. When the mechanic started the motor it had a rough idle and found the pinched wire.

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1996 278 Vista Dlx Twin 5.0
1999 Sea Ray 215 ex cruiser (sold)
1989 Seaswirl (sold)

Excellent...always great when a prob turns out to be a simple fix. I'd still check those filters tho, preventative maintenance is the best "insurance" you can have.

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

I would still change the fuel filters, while its there. I had same problem wouldnt run over 3k, Volvo also makes a fuel filter upgrade that holds a little more volume. I guess a had issues with it not holding enough volume.I changed mine and upgraded and havent had any more issues.

Rick

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2001 Four Winns Vista 248 by rick2752, on Flickr

I changed the filters out at the end of last season. Could they get clogged by sitting for 4 - 5 months?How often should I change the filters?

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1996 278 Vista Dlx Twin 5.0
1999 Sea Ray 215 ex cruiser (sold)
1989 Seaswirl (sold)

Change every year. And it isn't really clogging I would worry about after sitting 4-5 months, but water seperation from ethanol fuel. Empty your filter into a glass container and check to see if it has water.

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1996 205 Sundowner DLX
5.0FL Volvo SX Cobra
Tow Veh: 2012 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X

I hope the plug wire turns out to be your issue and is a simple fix but.......I started to have the same issue. Last year I replaced my speedo gauge with the MercMonitor and later on my boat would start to limit me to about 3000 RPM and the MercMonitor would tell me that the guardian was on and limiting my fuel. I would turn off the key and battery and then it would start up and allow me to advance past 3K until I came off of plane again and it would do it again and it would also throw up a check engine alarm on the monitor. I brought the boat to a mechanic so he could connect the diagnostic computer and it told him I had a fuel relay circuit problem but he was stumped on how to fix it. Being that I already changed out the relays I told him to put the boat on the trailer and I took it home and changed the entire engine harness. Now the problem is gone and the check engine light is extinguished and the gets on a plane like a champ. Hopefully your problem isn't this bad but maybe something to consider.

I will definitely keep that in consideration gerard76. When this was happening I was able to get a hold of my mechanic on the phone and we went through some of the above mentioned steps including turning off the motors and restart/reset and the problem still continued. I will try to get on the water this coming Monday and I will report back with my findings.

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1996 278 Vista Dlx Twin 5.0
1999 Sea Ray 215 ex cruiser (sold)
1989 Seaswirl (sold)