www.iFourWinns.com

Mike,

It's a peculiarity thrown up by their quality system. They will have a quality manual with all their processes defined, including definition of shelf life. Some of their products are reactive, so have a finite shelf life; others are non-reactive, totally stable like these colloidal nickel type anti-seize products. They all have to comply with the "system" though which says a shelf life has to be defined/ can be a maximum of xxx months etc!!! To question the system is frowned upon ( believe me, I work for a very large Company and come across this often, not just with quality systems; it's very wasteful). Blind adherence to the "rules",

Graham

Thanks for all the advice tomorrow at noon I will be dropping her off at my uncles house and we are going to try to tackle this problem head on as for now I am charging the batteries making sure they are not weak tomorrow oh the silent joys of boating charging batteries at 1 in the morning.

Corroded solenoid and starter it was remarkably easy to take out for a person that isn't 5'10 both screws came out with a breaker bar and some smooth pressure after soaking overnight overall I have gained some great experience. The starter is getting rebuilt and will be ready tomorrow at 12 pm. Thanks to my uncle for fitting inside the engine compartment.
Tried to post pics but they are too big and I have no idea how to resize.

Now when you replace it, take some time to:
Put a bit of marine grease on the threads of mounting bolts
If there is a front mount, make sure to use it, or else the starter can shift and break the bolts in the engine
Look at the drain for the ex manifold, it can be right above the solenoid, make sure it does not leak
When you install the wiring, after its all hooked up smear marine grease all over the terminals

And make sure the batt switch is OFF before installing, in case the big hot cable from the switch hits an engine ground!

_________________
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

She's alive she's alive! Got everything installed used lots of marine grease everywhere! She started fine but the alternator seems to have been splashed with some seawater off the belt so it froze I sprayed it, tapped on it and it loosened up. I let it stay on until the engine warmed a bit. Took the alternator off and the belt and dropped off at the parts store they have an excellent track record with their rebuilds. Going to pickup on Monday morning. Thanks for all the help everyone.

Although its kind of a bummer to have to go through this, it's a great way to learn a lot about your boat!

_________________
2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

I agree totally it really stressed me out while the boat was down for repairs but when she fired up I was so happy! Now on to the alternator but that is pretty much a quick fix since it is so easy to remove and service. The belt is really easy to replace also.