Logo
FULL SITE MENU

1990 four winns 245 vista

T

timinmtta

New member
"I have just purchased this bo

"I have just purchased this boat it has a few problems,one thing is that it shifts hard from neutral to either gear and back to neutral, but throttling in either gear is easy. the other is sometimes i have no power to anything other than my auto bilge, then it just comes back on, the drive is a cobra, engine 5.7L, if anyone can help i would really appreciate it. thanks"
 
"the shifting could be a bad c

"the shifting could be a bad cable, need to disconnect the one from the shifter at the engine and see if it moves any easier. if it does then its probably the lower shift cable. If the problem happens both from and to neutral. To neutral only is a ESA Module electronic spark assist problem or the switches that activate it.

As for the loss of power, You'll need to check for fuses and/or circuit breakers and check the battery connections to the dash and on the engine for corrosion.

Also there could be a "curcuit breaker" causing the on/off if there's too much power draw on it.

#71 on the right is the ESA Module

http://dougrussell.com/partscatalog/volvo_omc/index.cfm?fuseaction=comp&group=820&GroupList=802,803,804,805,806,807,808,809,810,811,812,813,814,815,816,817,818,819,820

283067.jpg
ESA
 
"When you say you have no powe

"When you say you have no power to anything except the bilge pump, what about the blower, lights or horn? First thing I would do is take the cables off the battery and clean/tighten them. Need to narrow down if it's an electrical problem with the boat in general or just with the engine."
 
"Main ground? How about discon

"Main ground? How about disconnecting the battery follow the neg cable to the motor ground take off and clean shiny clean the connection and the stud on the motor shiny clean and reinstall everything and try it now. While the battery is disconnected, how about cleaning all the connections the cables at the battery and the starter connections, coil, every single one. Make sure the main plug is clean should have a spring clip on it. And the main fuses 2 of them take apart make sure it's not all green and a bad connection in there. They have spring clips also."
 
Check your ground with an ohm

Check your ground with an ohm meter. I had a similar problem with my boat. It was a loose rusted main wiring harness ground that bolts to the back of the 5.7 engine on the other side of the starboard riser. I just cleaned it up and replaced the rusted nut with a new one and now there's no problem.
 
"Found the power problem, it w

"Found the power problem, it was the pos. cable connecting to the starter(loose).tighten up ok now.As for the shift I guess it is alittle harder going into neutral than going into gear.not much though.Is there anyway to test the shift assist? Thanks for the Replies"
 
"to test the shift assist, run

"to test the shift assist, run the engine in or out of the water(with water muffs) and you should see a small switches where the upper and lower cables connect on the shift cable bracket( i forget which one does it you can try either one ), that switch is for the shift assist/ignition interupt circuit, with the engine running depress the switch, if it does nothing, it's not working, you'll need to check the connections to and from there and make sure they are clean, it basically grounds the ignition system. ( hold the switch momentarily, say 2-5 seconds)"
 
"This pic should help you find

"This pic should help you find the switches. The one that has the roller arm that sits in the middle of the V is the interrupt switch. As Brian said, lift that one for a few seconds, you should feel/hear a drop in RMS as the engine will tend to surge. If it doesn't there are many things to check, let us know.


283129.jpg
"
 
"Idle is under 1000, if I lift

"Idle is under 1000, if I lift the arm with the roller it immediately sounds like it is going to stall, it doesn't grind going in & out of gear, the initial movement is very difficult to move the shifter,ounce you get it past the click it moves very easy for throttle."
 
"Idle should not be over 700 r

"Idle should not be over 700 rpm,could be your problem idle is to high, and no matter if the shift interrupt were working perfectly it would still be hard to come out of gear.

And actually i think the idle is called for in the book if i remember right between 500-600.I might be wrong, but i would bet 650 would be on the high side."
 
"Yep...idle should be around 5

"Yep...idle should be around 550-600 (in gear), there's a good chance that someone is trying to cover some other problem up by increasing the idle so high. Need to crank it down and see what happens. On a well tuned engine testing the ESA should NOT cause the engine to stall, even though it may sound like it will."
 
"yeah, it sounded like it was

"yeah, it sounded like it was going to so i let off the switch, i tried it tonight it doesn't actually stall, but about the rpm's i tried to take it down to 5 to 600 but i didn't see you meant in gear,,but i couldn't get it that low without it running rough, so i raised it up abit and it did shift better,not right. what should the timing be? it seems to run well, but after i lowered the r's it wouldn't start easy, like it does when cold, this only has 330 hours on it so it has been sitting awhile,i put new points & condenser in it and it fired right up."
 
"I would clean and check the g

"I would clean and check the gap on the plugs or replace, since you've done the points you really need to check the timing. You need to get the idle down as close to the recommended specs to help with the shifting, if it's still hard to shift out of gear and you've proven the ESA is functional, it's possible you could have a sticky lower shift cable

Tune up specs

plug gap = .035
point gap = .018 or 27-31 deg dwell
idle rpm (in gear) 550-600
top end rpm 4200-4600
timing 8 deg BTDC"
 
"Tim, sounds like you may need

"Tim, sounds like you may need to adjust the carb idle mixture, the best way to do it, is with the engine warmed up in the water, either tied to a dock or on a trailer still, put the drive in forward then set the idle as low as you can say 650, then adjust the mixture jets, then lower the timing a little more to 600, then with it still in gear check the timing. if you change the timing and and the idle rpm changes, readjust the idle mixture."
 
Back
Top