www.iFourWinns.com

Could you tell me more about this code reader and where to buy one,how do I get hold of the codes.

Cheers

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1997 Fourwinns 205 Sundowner
Volvo Penta 5.7 GLI

UPDATE #2: Well, gremlins are back just in time for the holiday weekend. We've got maybe 8-10 hours out of the boat this summer. Just too unreliable to be enjoyable. Have no idea what to do next - clearly no one has any idea what is causing all this.

For a summary read the first post - still has surging on startup (jumps up to high idle, then drops way down and sometimes stalls...does this a few times then settles down), weird idling - seems to get progressively worse as the day goes on - surges (varying degrees) and idles rough, seems like motor is running rich still - you can smell fuel when starting. Now another new issue - can't seem to hold speed...almost like throttle cable is slipping. Give it throttle and motor spins right up and then kinda slips back for a few seconds then powers back up. Not really a hesitation or sputter - just like I've backed off the throttle. Does this at ALL throttle settings.

Got the name of another mechanic - this guy will supposedly meet me at the lake and we can try to work through this. Oh well - we'll see.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

Glad to hear you got another mechanic. I had the same symptoms with my generator and had to rebuild the carb. Your boat engine is EFI, right (I apologize for not reading the entire thread)?

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

It's TBI. VP 5.7Gsi. I had the throttle body + injectors "rebuilt" - I'm starting to wonder what the really meant. Wasn't cheap. The shop that did it was very reputable - at least as far as my research shows. The actual rebuild was outsourced and THAT shop was reputable as well - again as far as I've been able to tell. The shop working on this most recently only charged me once and I had it back 2 more times so I know they were working to solve the problem since every time I came back it was on their dime. When the head gasket blew last spring I considered just biting the bullet and replacing the motor completely...we knew we weren't in a position to replace the boat so we really thought about getting a new motor. Was assured that doing the head gasket was low risk so went that route. Now 15 mos and $4K (yes $4K!!!!) later still no reliable motor. REALLY wish I'd just replaced the engine completely...man do I wish that!!

I'm going to give this new mechanic a shot and see what he's got to say. It's worth a couple hours of labor just to get an opinion. Can't afford new motor now - nor major work - so if that's the diagosis may cut my losses and get out of boats for a while. Getting zero enjoyment out of it right now.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

This screams air leak. I would check to see if the intake isn't leaking. I had a 2001 Silverado that did the exact same thing and once warmed up, it ran fine. The intake gaskets were bad and as the engine heated up, things expanded and it would seal.

I would also check the fuel tank for debris, proper venting, hoses that might be collapsing, etc.

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1992 Horizon 220 7.4 OMC

Thought I'd resurect this thread rather than re-type the issue history. Problem is still persistent - boat is with a mechanic friend who's trying to help because I've given up on the conventional route. He's baffled too. Everything checks out fine, but this issue just comes and goes. We're going to try an IAC swap just as a shot in the dark...but I'm not holding my breath. Any other ideas????

I'm down to 3 choices:
1) Keep sinking more $$$$ into this bottemless pit of an issue.
2) Replace the whole blanking motor and hope THAT fixes it.
3) Sell the boat and move on....if I could get anyone to buy with it running like this.

I could probably continue with (1) indefinitely a little at a time. I might be able to scrape up enough $$ for (2). Doing (3) would mean we'd need a new boat which is not really viable right now.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

Here's a little food for thought. Have your tech check to see that the ECU is getting constant power (even with the key off) so the ECU retains it's memory. All of the symptoms you've described sounds like the ECU is in re-learn mode.

As for the compression being on the high side, probably a result of the head job; resurfacing will raise compression.

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07 Azure AZ200,
Previous boat,
95 278 Vista,
And a lot of others.

Ontario, Canada

Wow you have gone through a lot of nonsense with this problem...
A few questions:
Have the mechanics verified a few key points:
Compression is even but high, are there carbon deposits on the backside of the valves (was that seen when the HG was done?) Were the carbon deposits removed from the valves and combustion chamber?

When running, was it ever checked for a vaccum leak, vacuum at idle should be high and steady (18-22 or so inches of mercury). If not start looking for leaky intake manifold gaskets, leaky gasket under TB, loose bolts holding down TB, cracked or disconnected vaccum lines.

Was fuel pressure ever verified as OK?

Was fuel filter dumped out into a glass jar and fuel checked for water?

Have the grounds for the ECU and battery ever checked to make sure they are all clean, tight and free of corrosion?

Has anyone looked at the anti siphon valve on the gas tank, these have a check ball valve that is there to keep gas from siphoning into the bilge if the fuel line leaks. If they stick partially closed the engine will starve for gas.
Same goes for the vent on the gas tank.

Lastly you can try wiggling the connectors on the ECU and injectors to see if that makes the idle worse, sometimes a loose pin in the connector or one thats corroded can cause these problems.

I had a similar problem with my 98 Jeep last year. Random low speed stalling, it would just shut off. The ECUs on them are known to have problems at about 15 years of use or so, bad solder joints. I went through everything (cleaned/replaced IAC, cleaned all grounds, tune up, CPS, TPS, etc). Turned out to be the ECU. Had that replaced no more stalls runs perfect again as it had for 14 years and 140,000 miles before it started stalling.

In a boat, give me points n condenser, mechanical fuel pump and a nice clean Quadrajet 4bbl thank you very much.

good luck, I bet its one of the things mentioned above.....

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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

Current status is that he just doesn't know. Same as the previous guys. Says that everything points to bad injectors but that doesn't make sense because they've been serviced twice as part of this and it's hard to believe that I got bad service twice unless the folks doing the rebuild are just clueless. Going to go ahead and have them cleaned anyway and also going to try to find a working ECM see if that solves it. If all that fails I don't know where we go from there...

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

One of the hard things with bad ECU's is that often they don't throw codes. So they get replaced as the last step after everything else has been eliminated. Do check the battery ground for the engine (usually the neg cable is grounded on the bell housing. See if you can get a copy of the wiring diagram to see how the ECU gets its ground.

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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

Ok...for anyone interested here's the latest. My friend had the boat for the better part of a month, went down the same path as the other mechanic - thinking it was IAC or injector related. Nothing panned out or added up though. Finally, after talking to VP engineer he did a leak down test and found 2 cylinders with excessive leakage (25 and 30% - one on each side). He thinks it's leaking around the intake valves and VP claims that this can cause the issue I'm seeing.

So now I'm at a point where I'm really not sure what the next move is...It couldn't be more than 30 hours since the head/valve job was done and I haven't run the boat hard at all - mainly because of all these issues. I'm definitely not inclined to just throw more $$ at ANOTHER valve job.

My immediate next step is to take the boat back to the shop that did the head/valve/throttle body work and see if they concur with this diagnosis and see if they would offer up any kind of solution since it sure seems this wasn't done right. I'm not holding my breath. Barring some miracle I'm guessing this will put an end to our boating for the forseeable future (I have a daughter starting college next year...). Family is bummed but this has been a real PITA.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

I wonder if the hydraulic valve lifters were not adjusted right (too tight) and they are holding those two valves open. If the valves never close all the way you will have a loss of compression on those cylinders. The small block Chevy has an adjustable valve train (ball and stud adjustment on the rocker arm) and there is a specific procedure that needs to be followed when you R+R the heads.
The mechanic will have to remove the exhaust manifolds (should not be a big deal because there were just off for the head work) and remove the valve covers (easy). Then they need to follow the procedure for adjusting the valves. If that was it, what an easy fix that would be.

EDIT, just saw this on another thread, might want to call Volvo and see if it applies.


Guys, food for thought.

Upon diagnosis of issues with my boat, I came upon a recall from Volvo about
an ECU mount that transmits too much vibration to the ECU and makes it
go bad/intermittent.

I do not have the exact recall number, but basically, they will provide
another mount with rubber isolating grommets that should make "similar" issues go away...

This might apply to you.

Hope this helps!

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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

Thanks Lou. I'll mention those to the shop when I take it in. I'd be thrilled if they could find a simple answer.

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX

That makes all of us also! Good lord what a PITA little gremlin you have in that engine

UPDATE: Ok...hopefully this is the last one on this topic (knock on wood and everything else!!):

Returned boat to shop that sent Throttle Body out for rebuild last year and they had it for nearly a month. Other than it ran like crap they could not find any issues. Finally replaced throttle body with one from in-stock motor that they knew worked well - PROBLEM SOLVED. Boat runs great. Apparently got 2 bad TB rebuilds. I have never had any luck using rebuilt parts (starters, trim pumps, etc) - and I'll be using new parts from now on.

Took it out on the lake for a quick test last night and boat ran perfect! I hope this ends this saga.

I'll also say the shop that worked on the boat was great through all of this. They stood behind their work 100% and I'll be taking it there for service from now on - I hope just a lot less frequently!!

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'99 234 Candia Funship, 5.7Gsi SX