www.iFourWinns.com

We ran around today, boat ran awesome, this was only trip #2 in the boat, after many, many hours of work. I had a belt problem first time out, smoked the alternator belt down to a shoe-string..........The pulleys felt like 60-grit. Got that fixed last week, pulled all the pulleys, cleaned and painted, no belt issues today at all................Stopped today to let the boys swim, thought "I'll look in the bilge"..........It was covered in red-fluid........pulled the P/S dip-stick-nothing-empty!!!!!!

There is a cooler on the back of the motor where the low-pressure-lines circulate the fluid. It has some cheap what I call Pinch clamps, plastic, on the lines.........one was pouring..........3.00's worth of real screw-clamps later, fixed!!!!!!!! Whew.............

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Jimbo
Na. Ga.

2000 170 Horizon LS
4.3GL

Glad you got it fixed!

Sorry you had to deal with that mess.

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1992 Baja 38 Special Twin 502 Mags

03 Stingray 3.0
88 261 Liberator 460 King Cobras
95 Bayliner 1850 3.0
77 Fiber Form 20ft 350/385hp
70 Wescraft 1800 SS 455 Jet

Lead, Follow, or get the Hell out of the Way!

The mess ain't clean yet...... I'm going to go tomorrow and get a gallon of minerial-spirits and a pump-sprayer and Get-Er-Dun...................

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Jimbo
Na. Ga.

2000 170 Horizon LS
4.3GL

The culprit.......... While I was diving and standing on my head with a 5/16 socket ,I checked other screw-clamps.........Do yourself a favor. Go around in the compartment and check all your clamps. Most I checked needed at least three-turns, some up to five....Don't over-tighten, just snug-em-up.

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Jimbo
Na. Ga.

2000 170 Horizon LS
4.3GL

I saw something on another site about the difference in screw clamps, some had the slits through the band and some have the indentations in the band, the one with the indentations last longer....and check to see what they're made of, I have to use good quality stainless or else they just don't last here in salt water. BTW, I have found the clamps and fittings on my old OMC pretty high quality, I have not had to replace any clamps or even hoses, although I bought a spare set of cooling hoses since these items eventually get discontinued.....

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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

Good info Lou. Everything on mine are slit-bands. These plastic-clamps are on all low-pressure or vacuum-lines, on mine anyways. I'm now on a "Anti-Plastic-Clamp" campaign.....

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Jimbo
Na. Ga.

2000 170 Horizon LS
4.3GL

Since you "stole" the boat, a little clean up and a couple of clamps is a small price to pay.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

How did you clean your pulley's? I was looking at mine and noticed a little corrosion from sitting since last Dec.

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2010 Sea Hunt Triton 220 "Big Whiskey"
2003 FW Freedom 180 Volvo Penta 4.3GL/SX-M "It'll Do Four Now" (Sold)
2012 Avalanche LTZ 4X4

PD,
I pulled the W/P and the crank-pulleys. I did not, for obvious reasons, pull the alt or P/S pulleys. I used a angle die grinder with small 2-inch "Roloc" sanding pads. I used mostly 80 grit and then finished with a 2-inch Roloc Scotch-brite pads. Bought the kit at Harbor-Freight. Painted them with some Rustoleum black, let them dry overnight.

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Jimbo
Na. Ga.

2000 170 Horizon LS
4.3GL

Sounds easy enough. Wish I read this post last night when I had the belts off replacing the raw water pump. I put it all back together as we are planning on taking it out.

Next time in, I will clean mine up.

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2010 Sea Hunt Triton 220 "Big Whiskey"
2003 FW Freedom 180 Volvo Penta 4.3GL/SX-M "It'll Do Four Now" (Sold)
2012 Avalanche LTZ 4X4