New Boat, Any advice is appreciated, 1987 Four Winns 19' Horizon

Brock.Ward

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
148
Just picked up this 1987 Four Winns Horizon with 165 Mercruiser in it. Alpha one lower unit. Bought as is, guy hasnt ran the engine for 3-4 years, says when he bought it his plan was to redo interior then work on engine, doesnt know anything about engine, looks clean. I am very experienced with boats but always like to get feedback on anything new before i start messing around with anything. First I hooked up some cables to it to see if trim and whatnot work, just straight to cables no battery, blower worked, pump lights etc. Trim wouldnt go up and down, I am assuming I didnt have enough power or not a good enough connection thru cables, wanted to see if there is a special switch on the quicksilver controls or something special about starting that engine. Second, any information about those engines, issues, what you recommend other than smokign the engine before I crank it since its been sitting so long...let me know. Thanks so much!
 

stonyloam

Vice Admiral
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
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5,827
Same boat as mine. First off drain out all of the old gas. Get yourself a good marine STARTING battery, highest CCA that you can find. Hook it up and see if it will turn over. Just one revolution is enough to make sure it is free (you don't want to start it without water). Change the oil and filter. Check the antifreeze to make sure it is about 50/50 and see if it looks OK, I would not change it just yet, because you may have some issues with the head gasket or cam seals where you will need to drain the system anyway. For the ignition, you want to put in new points and a condenser and check the rotor and cap to see how they look, if badly burnt, replace those too. Pull the plugs and take a look, they should be tan in color, a clean white insulator may indicate a coolant leak. You will need a dwell meter and timing light. Put in some clean gas, get yourself a set of muffs, hook up to a garden hose with Good pressure and give it a try. If it starts, do not run it above about 1200 RPM, let it warm up and take a look at the lower starboard side of the engine water pump to see if you have coolant leaking from the weep hole in the pump housing. Next thing is a compression check, should be in the 130-150 range. If OK then you should be good to go on the engine, for now. Once you have the engine running, pull the outdrive and install a new impeller AND HOUSING. I would go with OEM. check and lube your u-joints and gimbal bearing, if OK, you should be good to go. Somewhere down the line you will probably want to rebuild the carb, and replace bellows and lower shift cable. I am sure you know most of this stuff anyway, just look for the coolant leak and do the compression check. Nothing special with starting the 470. Good luck. Welcome to the 470 Club.
 
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stonyloam

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Joined
Mar 13, 2009
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Mercruiser manual #4 covers your engine. One other thing, on your engine there are two drain plugs on the underside of the heat exchanger. The forward one drains antifreeze, and the aft plug drains the raw water, make sure the aft plug is in before you hook up the water and start the engine.
 

Brock.Ward

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
148
Got the boat out again last weekend, ran great even on lake michigan! However on my way in I started hearing a ticking noise, like low oil pressure ticking...brought it right in to the dock, I am assuming I need to change oil one more time due to the water being in the oil pan originally. Anyone hear of header ticking on these things from the valve cover having low oil pressure?
 

stonyloam

Vice Admiral
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
5,827
If the oil is not milky it should be OK. Ticking? Does it sound like an exhaust leak coming from the back of the engine? Could be a rusted out thermactor plug. Hold your hand back there to see if you can feel exhaust coming out. Just a guess, they can sound like a loud tick.
 
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