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  1. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    sorry to see that did he not winterize it? did he give you a bill of sale? what did he write on it? old boats are headaches, anyone here can tell you that if I ever buy another boat, it will be no more than 5 years old and OUTBOARD powered. old sterndrive boats are a headache that I have...
  2. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    there's no short answer to this if you want it right it involves pulling the drive and disconnecting the shift cable at both ends, to check drag (no more than 2.5 lbs) also you measure the height of the shift rod on the lower unit, that is an important basic adjustment but when it's right it...
  3. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    Hope you don't have to replace the steering actuator. I did and it was a 2 day long F-bomb fest, due to access and 2 dang cotter pins that didn't want to move, OH I got it, done but not fun. Had to remove the rear seats and the whole exhaust system. I now have a rebuild kit for the the older...
  4. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    What you have is OMC's ESA system (electronic shift assist). What it does is drop your engine idle speed when shifting from in-gear to neutral from about 600 to 450 rpm, that allows the drive to drop out of gear and shift to neutral. If that interrupt switch sticks, it COULD cause symptoms like...
  5. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    Yep good old Dog Clutch, at least you can get most of the parts for them, unlike the OMC Cone Clutch! Sorry, the EFI parts electronic ignition parts for that Ford EFI engine, are nearly all NLA. I don't know if any were Ford automotive OEM parts, but if you look in the link to the catalog I...
  6. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    Yes it could be that, but could also be a slipping prop hub, try marking the hub of the prop and see if it's slipping under power. You cannot see the coupler from the engine compartment, the bellhousing covers it totally but one thing you can do, is pull the outdrive and inspect the splines in...
  7. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    Yes if it has a crank sensor for EFI, a failing crank sensor could do something similar, on my old '98 Jeep 4.0 when the crank sensor was starting to fail, one sign was the tach and idle would drop and recover, eventually that turned into a higher speed miss, followed by a reluctance to start...
  8. Lou C

    Help! Bought a 1993 Four Winns W/ 5.0 OMC Cobra Motor and Drive - Losing power after crusing

    I’m wondering if the tach is defective and shorting out the ignition. I’d try disconnecting the wire from the ignition to the tach at the tach and see if that’s it. Ford 5.0 EFI? Post up pix of the engine & drive so we can see what you have. There were many variations in these and you have to...
  9. Lou C

    Weird overheating issues

    Often when one of these engines overheats, not only do the blow head gaskets but they will crack the heads. On some engines (I had this happen) they can overheat and then seem fine for a few seasons, but sooner or later the head gasket fails. I had that happen (water in a cylinder) 3 seasons...
  10. Lou C

    Weird overheating issues

    Did you have the head on the opposite side checked for cracks?
  11. Lou C

    [SPLASHED] I/O (Sterndrive) Conversion to Outboards

    Wow great progress, can't wait to see the nice new Hondas gleaming on the transom!
  12. Lou C

    Washing out drive bellows and gimble bearing question...

    my 3rd Quadrajet cleaning and rebuild, after that many times, it's simple lol. In the old days when I was in high school and most GM cars with a 4bbl had these, the old timers used to say that we kids were too dumb to rebuild a Q-Jet. Not so! Now the challenge is E10 fuels, there are better...
  13. Lou C

    Washing out drive bellows and gimble bearing question...

    If an I/O has decent access and no cat converter exhaust, then it can be a reasonable boat to maintain, provided you can get at the oil filter, and block drains. Some jobs will challenge you, like if you ever have to replace a steering actuator (these often leak on older boats). If however, the...
  14. Lou C

    Washing out drive bellows and gimble bearing question...

    I/Os are high maintenance machines in that if you want them to last, they need regular maintenance and if you do it, you will avoid many failures that are seen on used boats that aren't maintained. I've been pulling the drive on mine for 15+ years (first few years I had the shop to it, but then...
  15. Lou C

    Always check the last thing you touched…..

    Ok last year had a bad season due to bad gas and found this out by running it on an outboard tank. Ok everything’s fine boat runs perfect on the outboard tank; this spring I get the old gas pumped out & full with 94 octane Sunoco E0 fuel…..So this spring before I launch it I change the plugs...
  16. Lou C

    Mercruiser exhaust system gaskets.

    First thing I did with my Barr conversion. After I took the paint off they were just about perfect…
  17. Lou C

    1991 OMC Cobra 2.3L - can't reach max rpm

    Here are the specs for the 2.3 Ford: compression: 165 psi plugs: Motorcraft AWSF-32 or Champion RS12YC gap: 0.035" point gap: 0.018" dwell angle: 36* + or - 2* timing: 10*BTDC total timing advance @ 3400 rpm = 34* (10* base + 24* centrifugal advance) to make it easier to check: @ 2000 rpm you...
  18. Lou C

    1991 OMC Cobra 2.3L - can't reach max rpm

    Check the ignition system first then move on to the fuel system, if you run it on a separate outboard tank it can help sort causes out.
  19. Lou C

    1991 OMC Cobra 2.3L - can't reach max rpm

    That’s a centrifugal advance distributor and you should check it with an advance timing light to make sure you’re getting full spark advance at the specified rpm. If you don’t have a manual I can look it up in my OMC shop manual.
  20. Lou C

    Oil capacity and accuracy of dipstick questions, 2017 VP V6-200-J

    I have seen similar things with my ancient 1988 OMC 4.3. These had the dipstick tube that goes to the bottom of the oil pan. I found that if you check it after the engine had Sat a while it may read high unless you leave the stick out to let the level in the tube equalize with the level in the...
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