1996 Four Winns Horizon 200

[kodyman84]

Hi fellas,

New to the forum here and also fairly new to boating. Avid diyer, mechanic/Carpenter/electrician/plumber...jack of all trades master of none.

Recently purchasd the H200. Boat has low hours 170.

Have spent the last two weeks getting ready to get her out for the first time. Well most of the time has been spent on the trailer and tow vehicle. Re-wiring all of the lights and pigtail, new surge actuator and disc brake kit. Tranny fluid and filter change, both diffs drained and filled, transfer case drain and fill, coolant drain and fill. Added trans cooler all on my Yukon.

Still trying to figure out what I should worry about on the boat itself. And hopefully that’s were you guys come in.

boat has the 5.8 Ford motor and cobra sx out drive. Unsure of the maintenance history on it. What are the recommendations for service before going out? Change gear oil in the outdrive? Oil change for the 5.8?

 

[Horigan]

Check out the Adults only sticky thread and read the winterizing and summerizing links. They will include oil changes, U-joint and bearing lubrication, as well as checking the bellows and water pump impeller. If you don't know the age of the latter two, you should change those.

 

[kodyman84]

Awesome!! Thanks for the speedy reply. Definitely a good place for me to start. Do you happen to know of a good place to source these parts? May be a silly question but how do I know if I’m getting the right replacement parts? Obviously with cars it’s a make model and year thing, but with boats there seems to be a greater variation. I know I have the 5.8 and cobra sx but is it that simple?

 

[Horigan]

First you need to find the part number of your engine. It will start with 58 and have letters and numbers, similar to my signature.

This link below is a good source for part numbers. Start in the pull down menu and click on Stern Drive and drill down from there with your engine part number.

iBoats is a good first stop for parts, then it's searching the internet for your needed part number.

 

[kodyman84]

Okay cool. I was able to locate both of these. I’m assuming these are what I will need. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[kodyman84]

Okay well. I’ve ordered a new impeller kit.and turns out I will be needing it.

Tried to take the wife out on the boat today. Blew a trailer tire on the way there, $350. Got to the lake and dropped it in smooth as could be. Fired right up for me. BUTTT no forward or reverse!!! And as I was sitting there trying to fiddle with the throttle it started over heating. Pulled her out of the water and came home. Pulled the impeller housing open and it was shredded.

Problem #1 solved

Problem #2 looking for suggestions?

what would make me not have forward or reverse?

 

[89retta]

Pull the cover off the drive and check to see if the cable is hooked up.

 

[kodyman84]

Pulled the cover. Everything is connected as it should be.
Had the wife come out and watch while I tried to moved the throttle both into forward and reverse while she watched....nothing at all not even a tiny bit of movement. Which tells me something is not connected somewhere or the cable itself is broke.

I can see the cable move at the throttle so I know it’s connected there. Time to do some tracing down I suppose.

 

[kodyman84]

From the throttle I see two cables. I’m guessing one is to the engine for rpm and the other to the drive to engage gears. The one to the engine works fine, I can rev the engine no problems. But the one to the drive seems muffed up. I traced it back and see where it goes into the rubber hose that runs through the transom. When I grab a hold of the cable there and pull on it I can here it clicking on the drive.

 

[kodyman84]

Upon further investigation it looks like it is either broken or very poorly adjusted. With the cover off the drive I’m able to put it into forward and reverse manually. Albeit it took me considerable force to do so...as in the but end of a rubber mallet handle. Seems way too stiff? So I may have two issues going at the same time? Poor adjustment and maybe something bound up beyond the linkage that the cable connects to. Is there something that I can grease inside that cover?

On another note, I know that my impeller is shot as I mentioned. And I’m certain that some of those pieces are inside of the engine or exhaust somewhere....how do I go about getting them out? What’s the process to flush?

This boat sat sat for quite some time before I purchased it. Only has 169 hours on it for being 22 years old.

 

[89retta]

I would replace the cable rather then try and repair it. As for flushing the pieces out I'm sure someone will chime in

 

[kodyman84]

Good call on replacing the cable. Tried one more thing before I called it a night in the driveway. Disconnected the cable from the linkage and shifted it by hand into forward and reverse and back again. Silky smooth. Looked at where the cable comes into the drive through an opening and noticed a bunch of rust. Grabbed a needle nose and pulled at the cable jacket a little and it’s all corroded up on the inside!!

Now on to search for a replacement cable ASAP!! Supposed to take the whole family out next weekend

 

[89retta]

They sell them here on Iboats.

 

[kodyman84]

I’ve got the cable on order, thanks for the advice. pretty sure that once installed it will solve the no forward or reverse issue.

my new impeller should be tomorrow or Tuesday. I’ve been thinking though. The previous owner told me that he had his mechanic service the boat prior to sale. Which makes me wonder why the impeller was completely chewed up.

I’ve done some reading and now I’m wondering if the exhaust system isn’t blocked somewhere. Preventing the impeller from being able to draw in or expel water as it should be. Possibly being the reason why the new impeller is shredded.

im wanting to look into the exhaust flappers on both the starboard and port side to see if they are still there. I know that I’ve also read there was a service bulletin stating that it’s okay to remove them. So if I do find them I’ll do that. If I don’t find them that means either someone else already removed them or they are burnt up and blocking the exhaust exiting the drive.

Looking for some tips here guys? What other means do I have to investigate my cooling/exhaust system?

Thanks in advance

 

[Lou C]

A blocked exhaust system will cause overheating but will not shred an impeller. What shreds impellers is a lack of water flow in, not out. So what would be involved there would be any blockages between the water intakes on the drive, all the way up to the impeller housing. You might just disconnect the hose that goes from the transom mount to the impeller housing and hook up your water muffs to the drive. Then tilt the bow of the boat down, or at least level and turn on the water. Have someone hold the muffs tight to the lower unit and you should see water coming out of the hose that goes from the transom mount to the impeller housing. If not then you have to find out where the blockage is. Sometimes the water tube grommets in the lower unit rot out and then there is a lack of water flow up and through the transom mount. There can be a blockage in the power steering cooler on the back of the engine as well. The SX drive has a clean out that is under that plastic cover where the shift linkage resides. You might remove that and back flush the system from the transom mount hose to the drive. If all else fails you might have to split the upper and lower gear housings and replace those water tube grommets.

Clogged exhaust on an I/O is more commonly seen on salt water boats, it is not that common on a freshwater boat but it can happen depending on the mineral content of the water....

 

[kodyman84]

Thanks! Sounds like good info to me. I’ll give that a try this evening and report back my findings.

 

[Lou C]

Sounds good, keep in mind that I/O engines with open cooling systems depend on a high volume of cool water IN and OUT of the engine and exhaust system, anything that restricts the IN and OUT will cause overheating. These systems are not pressurized like closed cooling systems that use antifreeze and a pressure cap that raises the boiling point of the coolant. The open system has to run cooler due to the lack of pressurization to avoid boiling in the hotter parts of the engine.

 

[kodyman84]

This was my concern with there being some blockage someplace in the exhaust system preventing the water from getting out...which would then prevent water from getting in....which would in turn explain why a supposedly new impeller got shredded

 

[kodyman84]

Finished up the testing for tonight and here are my results.

#1 couldn’t get the hose off that runs from the drive inlets to the transom...but I do have the hoses off that go to water impeller housing which also works out

#2 held the muffs good and tight on the drive inlets and had my assistant watch and water does indeed come out of the inlet hose to impeller.

#3 hooked up garden hose to inlet hose to impeller and backflushed towards drive, I had the clean out cover off inside the plastic housing where gear shift is ( will need a new gasket now) water came out of the clean out and out of the drive inlet holes just fine

#4 pulled hose off of back of power steering oil cooler and felt around with screwdriver, wasn’t plugged but there was a little crud there....reconnected

#5 pulled the hose that runs from oil cooler to the t-stat housing and put that in bucket, then hooked up garden hose to the hose that goes from water impeller housing to oil cooler and flushed. Got very minimal sediment out of there.

And that that was about all I could do with the rest of my daylight.

Whats next? Should I be replacing my t-stat? Just to be sure it isn’t that? What about checking out the exhaust side of things?

I do have the new impeller and shift control cable will be here tomorrow...do I put those things back together and run it to see what happens?

 

[Lou C]

Also keep in mine as far as getting parts your OMC engine is the same as a Volvo Penta engine of the same model year. So if the part you need is not available from OMC/BRP it may be available from Volvo Penta.
I doubt that you have a complete blockage in the exhaust system, one way to tell is to start the engine on the water hose and check right away to see if water is being exhausted under the exhaust bellows. You should see water about 15 sec after starting the engine. More often impellers shred because of a lack of water flow to the impeller housing. So if yours was shredded then you should be removing the thermostat housing and cleaning out any impeller bits that made it in there. Also to completely check the exhaust you will have to remove the exhaust elbows so you can check for corroded and clogged cooling passages. Just to start then you need to have on hand a pair of exhaust elbow gaskets and a thermostat housing gasket + gasket sealer (Permatex Aviation will work and is easy to find). Might want to put in a new stat at the same time....its held in the housing by a rubber ring...Those 'stats are supposed to open up at about 160*.


PS if you want to check the exhaust flow without running the engine, you can disconnect the hose that goes from your impeller housing to the thermostat housing at the impeller housing. Then stick a garden hose in the end of that hose and feed water right to the thermostat housing. Normally water by-passes the engine when its cold and the 'stat is closed and goes right out the exhaust. So you can see right away if you have good flow out of the exhaust bellows by using this method without running the engine.