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  1. loco

    Engine running horribly - considering scuttling the boat!

    Hi all, I've been having a real nightmare with the boat recently, it's now running horribly lumpy, and making some horrible sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3n8IazfGr4 A quick overview of how we got to this position: - Engine's a 4.3L V6. Coming up to four years old. - Power steering...
  2. loco

    Anyone use Motul oil?

    What's your opinion? What other brands are good? I've been discussing the merits with friends of either buying the most expensive oil I can afford, vs using cheaper oil, but changing it maybe twice a season.
  3. loco

    Catch can instead of venting back into engine?

    Hi all, Having run my engine flat out with the engine cover open, I've seen how much in the way of blow-back oil fumes are vented back into the engine. I have a 4.3 V6, with one vent going into the carb vacuum connector, and the second one going into the flame arrestor. It occurs to me that a)...
  4. loco

    Sonar Server - anyone tried it?

    Looks like an interesting piece of kit - I've got a Garmin GPSmap 520 and firsfinder 400c. It seems the Sonar Server will take the nmea feeds from them and transmit them over a local wifi network, so an iPad with Navionics on it will pick up the sonar data and GPS from the garmin. You can then...
  5. loco

    4.3L V6 owners - what sort of gas usage do you get?

    I'm curious to see where my set up stands in comparison to others. I have a carb V6 in a 23ft falcon cabin cruiser (roughly 2,300Kg/5,292lbs displacement, deep v planing hull). 290DP leg running I think B7 props. She lives in salt water, with a cool thermostat to suit. Fuel is 86RON octane...
  6. loco

    Carb/power valve settings for a 4.3L V6!

    Hi all! So my accellerator pump was shot, so I spoke to real steel in the UK, who found a compatible rebuild kit for my carb (Holley 75007-2). The carb's obviously a marine model, and the rebuild kit was for a car. Everything went in OK, but the power valve that came out of the carb was...
  7. loco

    Carb settings going from aq205 to 4.3 vortex

    Hi all, Just got the boat up and running after having busted a pulley. The engine idled absolutely fine, and at full power was OK, but if you 'floored' the throttle it would bog horribly, to the point of almost stalling. Reading around, it's clear I need a carb rebuild, which is absolutely fine...
  8. loco

    Finding pulley for saginaw steering pump

    Hi all, I had a pulley come loose and get badly damaged. Seems I have a saginaw pump with a four-bolt hub on it, with a pulley that bolts to it, which has a 2-inch offset, that brings the pulley valley very close to the pump itself. So, pulley depth is 2", and the diameter is 6 1/8". It takes a...
  9. loco

    Replacing v-belt power steering pump from AQ205A

    Hi all, As a background, I replaced my volvo AQ205A with a Repower Marine vortex lump, but brought the ancillaries over. Yesterday, the steering suddenly became heavy. We stopped the boat, and the V belt had come off, with the pully loose, with loose bolts, and the pully having been pulled over...
  10. loco

    DP290 trim sensor sender

    Hi all, My trim gauge has suddenly stopped working - I suspect the trim sender, though I'll check all the wiring first. The boat's moored in a permanently wet marina, so drying it out takes a bit of a commitment and needs booking in advance - it it likely that the sender's just failed, and I...
  11. loco

    Raw water cooling - why run the engines so cold? Also, closed cooling conversion?

    I can't get my head around the necessity of running a raw-cooled engine so cold. It's something like 65C, which seems crazy low. It would reduce the efficiency of the engine, and of course reduce the amount of water suspended in the oil that gets evaporated. Why can't we put in a ~75C (167F)...
  12. loco

    Milky oil in rocker covers - breather filter?

    Hi all, So I've been getting milky oil in the rocker covers. The oil in the sump is fine, and the engine is only 2-3 years old, so I'm pretty sure it's nothing serious. The engine uses raw water cooling, and sea temp here is between 8-15C (46-59F) so runs a bit cooler than closed cooling, so...
  13. loco

    Dp290 heavy clunk when going into gear

    Hi all, my dp290 drive has always banged when going into gear. Last year an engineer talked me into getting. 'Cone' changed to alleviate this. He said to run the drive a bit when I got it back, then he'd come down and adjust it to make it smoothly go into gear. He's not come down despite...
  14. loco

    Water from bellows?

    Hi all, Had the boat out the water today on the drying blocks. We fired up the engine just as the tide was coming in, and it looks like there's water coming from the exhaust baffle. They're only one year old. Does this look like a problem? Cheers
  15. loco

    Why is volvo oil so expensive, and is it worth it?!

    Hi all, I installed a new repower 4.3L V6 in my boat. It's come to the 10 hours of running in and it's time for that first oil change. I went to my local Volvo dealership to pick up a new filter and 5 litres (5.2 US quarts) of 15W50 Synthetic oil, only to be told that it costs ?120 ($186)...
  16. loco

    Alternator pin 61 - engine carries on running after it's connected.

    Hi all, Pin 61 on the alternator wasn't connected after a new engine was installed, so initial excitement wasn't happening and the alternator wasn't charging. My ignition switch is a simple 0-1-crank system, and I'd installed a new line recently from the 1 position to the fuel pump (old engine...
  17. loco

    New engine: running cold and misfiring.

    Hi all, I've had a new Repower Marine (GM vortec 4.3L V6) installed and got it running today. The engineer set the initial timing to 2 degrees at idle using the tool you plug into the distributor as per the manual. They were unable to take the boat out for a test run as conditions were terrible...
  18. loco

    Using 4 barrel carb from AQ205a on a vortec engine?

    Hi all, We had our boat out the water a few weeks ago and found a multitude of issues with the engine. Nothing too serious, but it needs a new sump, timing cover, exhaust headers, alternator, circulating pump and pulleys. With parts and labour, it's going to cost a lot, and we'll still have a...
  19. loco

    AQ205A - swap to new EFI engine?

    Hi all, I've got an AQ205A - it all works OK, but it's quite old and I'd like the extra power and efficiency of an EFI model. I quite like the look and price of this model here: Brand New 4.3L V6 MPI - Repower Marine Ltd. so, my engine is the 4.3L GM engine before the balancer shaft. The one...
  20. loco

    DP290 milky oil. How tricky is a seal change?

    Was going through the process of changing the oil and bellows today, but looking at the dipstick the oil was milky white. Very annoying. Saw a seal set for ?65 which isn't bad, but how difficult is a change of seals, realistically speaking? Think these are the seals: Dipstick, filler, drain...
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