www.iFourWinns.com

hi, my wife just bought herself a toy, its a 1991 four winns 235 vista, we took it for a test ride last week, and every thing seem to work fine, but today when we put it in the water and took it out , we had a couple of issues that i would like some opinions on. first of all the engine and outdrive are the 7.4 omc king cobra( yes after she bought it i looked it up, so i know about what i am probably in for eventually) now the motor flooded when i first started it today, and all day after that it seemed to have a miss, so i want to change the spark plugs, but what are the best type to put in there? Another issue is the oil pressure gauge seems to bounce all over the place, at an idle it has 40 lbs, but i rev it up just a bit and it starts bouncing all over the gauge, does anybody know where the sending unit is for this? Also what is the correct grade of oil for this motor, i would like to change it after a couple of hours of use, the place i bought it off of said they changed it, but i just want to make sure.

Also is there a place to check the fluid for hydraulic pump for the trim on the drive, i want to make sure it is full? Any help you guys could give me would be great, i have some pictures of the boat, and when i figure out how to post them i will get them up.

We own a 1995 Vista with a 5.8 OMC Cobra. Don't let the OMC label scare you. I know the King Cobra had some issues but they were not engine related. I've done a lot of checking and in my case I've found there are many, many resources to help with maintenance, parts, and support. OMC stern drive parts are mostly from Volvo Penta.


Our 5.8L motor is a Ford 350 255hp. Our oil gauge bounces around a bit at lower rpm (certainly no all over the place).

I'm guessing your 7.4 is a big block Chevy. There should be plenty of resources out there to help you with the specs. I'm not sure about the specs.

the trim tab reservoir on my 258 is in the stern on the port side. It's a box that's got a black top and white bottom. I use a flashlight and shine it inn the bottom to see where the oil level is. there is a marking on it where it should be.

mine looks similar to this ---



good luck with your Vista. We love ours

thank you for your reply, my trim tab reservoir is the same as yours, and it was empty, so i filled it up, i went out all weekend on the boat and it didn't seem to lose any of the fluid i put in, but i will keep an eye on it from now on. I did have a couple of other issues out there, the biggest one being the belts on the motor literally disintegrated and almost left me stranded, good thing i noticed them and got the boat back in before anything bad happened. i sill haven't figured out the oil pressure gauge, but i plan on installing a manual gauge on the motor as soon as possible to make sure everything there is okay. Another small issue is the tach seems to not be working properly, when it is idling (at around 600 rpm) it will climb up to 3000 rpm and stick there(not the motor just the tach) but if i tap the gauge it starts bouncing all over, i pulled the gauge and tightened all of the connections but there was no change.

I also talked to an engine builder and he says i should pull my motor(and have it gone over) because they are only good for about 800 hrs, and mine has 700 on it, this seems wrong to me, shouldnt these motors hold up longer than that.

Welcome - I have a 454 Chevy engine in a FW258 Vista and there is sure plenty of power for me. Like you, I am skeptical about 800 hours of engine life. If we assume that 3,000 rpm is perhaps 80 mph in an auto (I may be off on this assumption). 800 hours would be the equivalent of only 64,000 miles (80x 800 = 64,000) and Chevy would have been broke long ago if their big block engines ran only 64,000 miles. I would think at least double the hours would be more reasonable. Of course, improper care can result in shortened engine life but I will assume reasonable care.

If you are worried, do a compression test and that should tell you much. My engine has 397 hours and a compression test at about 350 hours showed 130+ lbs in all cylinders.

Cheers, and again, welcome aboard.

Let's see ... the engine runs fine (except for some tuning issues, perhaps) and someone suggests that you pull it and "go through it"? Ummm... I would just run it, as long as everything appears fine. That 7.4 will have not worked as hard as a small-block, over it's life, and if it was well taken care of and not run at max RPM all the time, it should be good for many hours to come.

It does sound like it has perhaps had some deferred maintenance in the recent past though ..... tuning issues, wornout belts, etc. I would suggest that you replace all of the hoses (and the belt(s) of course), the raw water impeller and all of the fluids and filters.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

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

thanks for the info, i have already replaced the hoses, and the belts are suppose to be in tomorrow, i did an oil and filter change on the weekend as well, and will do the gas filter this weekend. I also cleaned out the metal type of filter on the top of the engine(i believe it is a spark arrestor), as it was packed up solid with rubber from the belts. Is there something i could clean the carburetor with that will not damage the engine? i am hoping to have everything done and enjoy a weekend on the water without having to do anything but put fuel in it.

Sounds like with what you have done, the boat will perform much better. Check it out and see how she runs!

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2001 Horizon 260 - 7.4 Volvo GSI DP

she ran good all weekend, the only bad part is the oil pressure gauge is still bouncing around way to much for my liking, so i will be trying to get that figured out this weekend. It was really nice just being able to get up and take her out, without having to do any work to her.

On the top of the motor behind the intake is a sender for the oil pressure, a cylindrical object. depending if yours has been changed or not it will either be goldish color or the same color of the motor.

As far as what you have thats good power for that boat, as others said it wont work as hard as a smaller motor to move that boat. The long block is a GM block but everything else is OMC so when you go get parts dont tell them its a Chevy, its an OMC. Marina parts guys hate that, I have heard many say "is it in a car? well then its not a chevy". 7.4 L is 454CI, a 5.8 Ford is 351, both were good engines back then.

The "cleaner" on top of the carb is a flame arrestor to prevent backfires from torching the boat, definitely should keep it clean, i have seen more than one running issue related to that.

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Brian Borchik
The Winds of Cold Springs Harbor Marina
Baldwinsville, NY

Re bouncing oil pressure guage.
I am not familiar with your engine.
In general there may be an oil pressure releif valve which opens when required oil pressure is reached.
At idle the pressure relief valve is opening but as a consequence, the oil pressure drops. This causes the valve to close, resulting in the 'bouncing'.
At idle this may be normal but at running speed it may be a failed spring or sticking valve or just low viscosity oil.
As you report the guage 'bounces all over the place' it would indicate the oil pump is generating sufficient pressure.

well it took the belts off again last weekend, so the marina ended up replacing them again, aparently there was a buildup of rust on the pulley that kept ripping the belts apart, hopefully i will be able to go out with no problems again this weekend. it was very disappointing, as last weekend would have been the first time the wife and i had the boat to ourselves.

Mike:

You might consider getting new pulleys. I'm guessing your talking V-belts. A few years back we were in final phases of construction and starting up a new power plant. Worked 7-12's for about a year. When I got back to my boat the pulleys had rusted an kept eating belts. Sand blasted, sanded an was considering belt dressing, but once they rust you can't get them to stop.

I ended up putting billet aluminum pulleys on the engine. 1992, 351W, Indmar. Problem solved. OEM pulleys would work too.

9BALL

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2005 V268

enjoy your boat 454 will be lots of power, we have 5.8 in our 1993 245 vista and it is decent except for planing with a group

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1993 Four Winns Vista
5.8L cobra
Surrey BC Canada
Boat is on Shuswap Lake BC