www.iFourWinns.com

So, been prepping for the season, and looking to order a few maintenance items such as impellers and fuel filters. I've always been a OEM guy and usually try to buy, in my case, Volvo parts when able, but there is always that option, for sometimes a substantial price difference, of the comparable Sierra parts.. Has anyone had any great experience with their stuff, and what's your opinion of it? Is it a get what you pay for thing, or a good option to save a little money. My gut says stick with Volvo, but my head is having a heard time passing up a $20 difference in impeller prices.. And no, I'm not really a tight ass...

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

I have used Sierra parts at times and never had any issues, when I can I try to use oem but for certain items I can't see why sierra wouldnt be good enough.

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"Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes "

1996 238 Vista dlx "Casper's Toy Too"
2006 5.0GXI w/closed cooling, DP-sm 1.95 drive
Previous boat:
1998 Sundowner 205

Used Sierra for quite a few things, to include the U-Joint bellows and distributor. Seems like they have a good reputation. Haven't had any issues at all, nor have I heard of anyone having any trouble. Given the age of my boat, I haven't found the value in spending the extra money on OEM parts...

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Current Boat:
2006 Chaparral 310 Signature

Previous:
2003 268 Vista
2004 Sea Doo GTX

Last summer my raw water pump went out. I used three Sierra impellers before I got aggravated and broght to boat to a mechanic. He did the same exact procedure I did but used the OEM impeller and the pump has been working ever since. The Sierra impleller was softer rubber than the OEM one and apparently wouldn't build up the pressure.

Anything with the name Sierra on it isn't touching my boat.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Yea, the general consensus I'm getting on another forum I frequent is that Sierra is junk when it comes to their impellers, mixed feelings on other parts.. Probably am going to end up sticking with my gut feeling, and going OEM..

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

I've used their oil and fuel filters, and the gasket between the drive and pivot housing with no trouble. I might stick with OE for impellers and the driveshaft bellows though.

BTW, their trim sender is the only one that lasted more than 2 seasons. No more OE senders available.

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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've used tons of Sierra parts throughout my years as a tech. Some good and some bad. The last time I used any was tuning up an engine. The points were made in Taiwan and condenser in China. They are outsourcing for sure. Bottom line; you never know how well they'll peform. For the most part, ya, they do the job and I'm guessing their defective rate out of the box about 10%.

As for filters made by them, no way! Never! Only one bad experience with them but I'd rather buy a domestic filter where the micron rating will be what you're paying for. Our filters are there to protect our investment. I did see a fuel filter come apart and the filter element plugged up a 4 barrel carburetor. Not too big of a deal to fix. On an EFI engine, that would have been 8 new injectors, a new fuel pressure regulator and probably a new fuel pump, as well as an extensive fuel system cleaning.

John

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07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

Like others have said some good parts and some bad parts, VP or Merc outsources everything as well and they can get some bad parts in the pipe now and then. I've used their bellows, raw water impellers, filters, small drive parts (drain plugs, o-rings, gaskets etc) and never had a problem with anything, but some of the stuff does 'look' kinda cheesy. I swear the bellows on the last VP drive I did the Sierra weighed about 1/2 as much as the original VP one, but two years later and its still working fine.

I use sierra when I cant easily get OE, but these days you can buy OE on the internet fairly cheap and if you plan ahead you can keep the OE stuff around. In an emergency when I need some thing something right NOW I'll use sierra if its the only thing I can find locally. A lot of the Sierra stuff isnt that much cheaper and cost really isnt the factor me, its usually availability.

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2006 Vista 248 5.7DP - SOLD
2011 Crownline E6 - SOLD
2007 Sea Ray 260 Sundancer