www.iFourWinns.com

I am thinking about getting my 50 hour service done early. I only have 42 hours on the boat but I don't want to pull it out of the water next year. How much should it cost and any other advice would be good.

50 hour service is usually pretty close to the same as an annual maintenance. Doing it now vs later won't matter much (in my opinion).

nothin' too crazy.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Cost will depend on how much you do yourself vs how much you want done. Around here, a full meal deal service/winterization can be upwards of $1000 bucks. I think it's pretty typical for the $199 oil change, $99 drive fluid change, and/or maybe $300 or so for the winterization/inspection items.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Thanks for the info. I want to keep my warranty valid and get it done. I guess they have to drop the lower unit, realign the motor...

Howdy,

They should remove the drive and check the alignment. It's pretty important to check it early since you would possibly prevent a coupler failure if the alignment was wrong from the factory. Also, if you're in an area that has hard freezes, replacing the drive oil before an actual freeze, would catch a poorly sealed drive with water in it. If you freeze a drive that has water inside, it can break the drive. Changing the oil and filter before winterization, removes contaminated oil (that may have minute amounts of water in it along with combustion products that produces corrosives) that would "sit" against exposed metal in the engine for several months until Spring when you would finally get it ready for a summer of use.

You can easily do your own engine and drive oil changes and winterization. Then all the dealer would have to is pull the drive and check alignment and maybe a few other things (the list should be in your owners manual)


Regards,

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1987 Four Winns Liberator 211, formerly OMC 460 King Kobra powered, replaced in 2006 by a 1997 Mercruiser 454/Bravo III

Volvo does not require this service to keep your warranty valid and i am pretty positive merc does not either anymore. however, what they can say if something fails that is related that proper maintenance was not done if some sort of failure comes about though i have never personally seen this happen.