1st Boat Some questions

"Hello,
We finally broke do

"Hello,
We finally broke down and bought a boat. it's a 1988 FourWinns 160 Freedom with a OMC 3.0 L. This is my first boat, ever, and I've not really been around boating much, so I'm pretty clueless.

It runs pretty good, but the Maintence hasn't been kept up on the motor to good by the orginal owner. it cuts out a bit when cruising between 3000 and 4000 rpm.

I'm thinking it probably just needs to be gone thru and completely maintenanced by changing the oil, the fuel filters, outdrive lube, and spark plugs.

I've been reading the owners manual for the motor and stern drive and have some questions for you all.
1. In the manual is says to only use API Grade SF oil? What is that? I was looking at autozone for oil as it's about a 1/2 quart low, and all I saw was SM oil.
2. For the outdrive lubrication. The manual says to use OMC brand gear lube. I can't seem to find any OMC lube, what's an alternative to that, or what type of lube should I use?
3. For fuel filters on this boat, can I just use Automotive fuel filters, or do I have to use Marine specific?

Anything else I should look at changing or checking?

Also, how much should I reasonably expect to pay to have someone do all this? How about how much for a complete Tune-up?

Thanks in advance for all your help,
Mark"

"The drive takes gear lube. Yo

"The drive takes gear lube. You pretty much can use auto gear lube. Wal-Mart has their own Marine gear lube which is made by another company (probably Pensoil). I use that and have no problems with it. I believe its around $2.50 a quart. Forget OMC brand, it don't exist. Plus they aways recommend their own products anyway. That doesn't mean you have to use them.

Does your boat have the oil filter relocated to anothor easy access spot? You can use automotive filters. I've been using them for years. just match up to where the filter attaches to the relocation kit. Most take a PH16 Fram filter. Does not have to be a Fram. Just cross reference.

You probably have to use a marine fuel filter. Typically they are not hard to find. Sierra makes a lot of OMC parts including filters. They had both my filters at iboats.com. One is a canister filter by the fuel pump, the other one is a small screen filter in the carb where the fuel line attaches. I think I paid like a buck for the screen filter and nine for the canister filter. They also will have the tune-up kit for your boat (points, condensor and cap and rotor). I would change all of that. Get new ignition wires (you can use auto) and I would get new plugs. Go with OEM plugs. Don't waste your money on specialty plugs. The originals work best. To change your engine oil, change the drive oil, change all filters, change distributor cap, points, rotor and condensor, get new plugs and wires I could do all this for under $100. I am a miser, I could probably find everything you need for around fifty bucks or less. I give you some margin for error if you have trouble finding the ignition wires. I did and paid $50 for the set. I have a V8. Plugs you can get at O'Reilly Auto Parts (ACMR43T). I paid $1.89 a piece. Or you can buy online but will typically pay 2.50-3.00 a piece for these. Clean the flame arrestor (air cleaner) with carb cleaner."

Thanks a million for your hel

Thanks a million for your help!

"API-SF crankcase oil has long

"API-SF crankcase oil has long since been superceded many times now up to API-SM and that's a good thing.
Change the distributor cap and rotor every year.
I agree that good spark plug wires are a good upgrade. I would go one futher and recommend high performance street legal ( Accel, MSD, ect. ).
There are no "super spark plugs". Marine plugs use corrosion resistant steel in their metal bases and you pay considerably more for that. Many use eqivalent automotive plugs and pocket the change. In any case use anti-sieze on the plug threads to reduce corrosion problems."