www.iFourWinns.com

Ok guys...I'm getting very close to bailing on this boat (pun intended). It's going BACK to the mechanic tomorrow for the 3rd time this season - same issue. I have lost all confidence in it - we were in the keys last week and had to rent a boat because there was no way my wife would agree to go out in ours despite assurences from the mech that it was now perfect. Turns out she was right - went out on the lake last night and after 3 good starts it began to act up. Nearly got stranded on the lake at 9 pm.

So I'm taking all advice.... Quick summary: After about 5 trips to dealer for various issues in spring of 2011, finally in April ('11) - Blown head gasket. Had reputable shop rebuild head, valve springs, etc. Put on lake, boat ran for about an hour and started sputtering. Took back to mech, couldn't find issue, replaced fuel filter...seemed fine. Ran very little rest of summer due to work, but the few times we did it was ok. April 2012 - Put in water, boat ran ok for about an hour (deja vu) then stalled under hard throttle up. Took to shop for this + yearly service. Diagnosed as clogged injectors in TB..had TB rebuilt. Took out on lake and boat 1) wouldn't come off high idle and 2) after a few starts became very hard to start. Back to shop - Needed to adjust IAC and throttle cable (no charge). Back on lake yesterday and as I said after 3 perfect starts and about an hour of good running (deja vu all over again) it began with the hard to start again. (It'll crank, catch then immediately stall.) It now also has a very slight surging at low trottle (no wake speed) - almost too slight to even register on the RPM gauge, but very noticable if you listen and feel for it.

One more thing - I've been running only ethanol-free fuel for about a year (probably 70 gallons or so now).

Anyone have any thoughts or similar issues????

Thanks in advance!

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

I would start by running a compression check, and check/torque your intake bolts. That covers a lot of ground, and you can go from there. I'm thinking an intake leak could be a possibility, and easy to check off the list with the above.

You may also be money ahead on this issue by getting a code reader. They are pricy (about $400 thru Rinda), but mine paid for itself last summer after spending the whole year and many trips to the shop chasing down what turned out to be a bad spark plug wire.

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Walt B
"Debt-Charged"
Black '07 H210SS
6.2L Bravo One turning a 21P HIFive
Wakeboard Tower with Perfect Pass Stargazer version
Missouri River; Kansas City, Mo.

Walt,
Thanks for the reply. A compression test was done as part of annual service last month:
1,2,3,4 - 210
5 - 200
6 - 205
7,8 - 210

I'm thinking this is an issue with the IAC - which I would assume was replaced/serviced as part of rebuilding the TB. Whatever adjustment they made last time worked - for a while....I'm wondering if something could be bad/worn that would cause it to not hold the setting. (I'm not a mechanic so maybe that made no sense.) In the past we've had problems with the idle (high) and have had it adjusted multple times so I'm also wondering if this could be a throttle cable issue - but I wouldn't think that would cause starting issues?

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

Sounds to me like a wiring problem between the Tb and the Ecu or the injectors. Somethings losing it's signal.

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'96 200 Horizon 5.8l VP/SX

Has anybody verified the (correct) performance of the low/high pressure fuel pumps?

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1997 Four Winns Vista 278
T - 4.3l EFI
Kohler 4esz Genset
379 hours as of 8/8/21

This is what I am thinking as well. My starboard engine's fuel pump took a year to go out after being poisoned by ethanol for a short period of time.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

The mechanic told me that they checked both pumps while diagnosing the stalling on hard throttle and both tested fine. I'm thinking this is worth another look though...something is just not right.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

What about the one way valve in the fuel system? I can't think of the correct name....could it be stuck/sticking and causing fuel starvation?

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Check valve (aka anti-siphon valve). This might make more sense than a bad fuel pump because he hasn't mentioned the infamous whine that a failed fuel pump is notorious for.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

had the same problem this month. turned out to be the ignition coil.

Thanks for the ideas. Boat is in shop now - waiting to hear. Symptoms + history really seems to point to either IAC or ECU. IAC should have been R&R'd as part of rebuilding TB so that one's been paid for. Hoping it's not the ECU....

Will update when I hear something.

Thanks.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

One thing jumps out at me, those compression test readings are very high, is this boat running very rich (carbon build up), just another thing to check. Rich running can lead to fouled spark plugs and high compression test readings.

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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

Interesting you should ask - When I initially took the boat in the this spring it was for the annual service and to check an issue with a major hesitation on hard throttle that had suddenly appeared after running for a couple hours on the previous outing. When they pulled the plugs they said they were all fouled from running too rich. The plugs were new last spring when they rebuilt the head so they probably only had 10-hours on them (15 tops). They said that the fuel injectors were clogged and dripping fuel on idle which was causing the fuel to get dumped in on hard throttle up and choking the engine...thus the rebuild of the throttle body. I don't know if the compression test was done before or after the rebuild. I would guess before.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

UPDATE:
If anyone's interested...got boat back yesterday. Shop had throttle body rebuilt (again) and replaced IAC. Took out on lake today and results were mixed. Initially there was some weird idling - after about a 20 min run we anchored and had lunch. Boat started right up then had weird surge in idle for maybe 5 mins (RPMS would go from 700 to 1300 or so and just cycle back and forth. Things finally settled down and other than that boat ran great. No other strange idling, etc...started on every try. Don't know what to think. Going to keep an eye on things and hope for the best for now.

Not convinced we've really got it solved, but much better than last 2 tries.

PS: Mechanic has really been great through all this. I think they are as baffled as I am. They've done a lot of work on their own dime which is rare nowdays.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

Hope you got her figured out, if you get to the bottom of it let us know what that crazy gremlin was so we can keep an eye out