Need help with 1990 Four winns 180 Horizon 4.3 OMC

Bearsboat

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Just purchased this 1990 Four Winns 180 Horizon with the 4.3 V6 OMC..boat is in excellent condition for its age. Put the boat on the water for the first time last weekend and drove it the length of our local lake "16 miles"..ran fine with no issues. On the trip back the boat just all of a sudden stalled under power.. restarted the engine and took off as normal. Once we got it back up on plane and cruising it ran for approximately a minute and stalled again..repeated this process of starting and stalling until we finally got back to the launch site..this is my first boat and I have no clue what could cause the boat to do this. Took it to a marine mechanic and he has been trouble shooting it yet can't seem to get it to stall. He noticed that the boat is not getting up to proper engine temp and says it needs a new thermostat..could this be the cause of the stalling? I'm not sold that it is the problem..any ideas??!!
 

Scott Danforth

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welcome aboard.

any new to you boat needs to have all the maintenance done prior to you ever dipping it in the water.

this includes bellows, gimbal bearing, raw water pump, thermostat, fluids, filters, wires, plugs, cap, rotor


however what you are describing could be electrical or could be fuel system related.

when you change the fuel filter, empty the contents into a clear plastic bag. you could have more than fuel in your tank.

another thing, if you have the batwing manifolds, you may want to look into changing them.
 

Bearsboat

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Thanks for the welcome aboard! Previous owner was meticulous with maintenance..boat has been thoroughly gone though and maintained every year since new. Once the problem started happening..I was able to quickly throttle back and save it from completely stalling..and could then take off again without problems for a minute or so..then tried to stall again. Was a painful process of getting up to speed and shutting down until I could get it back to the dock
 

Bondo

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I was able to quickly throttle back and save it from completely stalling..and could then take off again without problems for a minute or so..then tried to stall again.

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,.... Sounds like a fuel delivery issue,....

Could be the tank's vent,...
Could be crud in the tank,...
Could be crud in the anti-siphon valve at the tank outlet,....
Could be a fuel line issue,...
Could be the filter is fulla crap,....
Could be a fuel pump issue,...
'n could be a carb problem, but I kinda doubt it's the carb,....
 

Bearsboat

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Thanks Bondo! Will have mechanic check those items since he is currently looking at the boat. Said he has been running it on muffs and wasn't able to make it stall. I do know that both the fuel filter and the water separator have been changed very recently. Fuel pump and lines or tank vent I don't know about but would think if it were those that the boat would have stalled while on muffs...?
 

Bondo

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I don't know about but would think if it were those that the boat would have stalled while on muffs...?

Ayuh,.... On the muffs, there's no load on the motor, it'll run for days on a gallon of gas,...

I believe it's runnin' outa gas in High Load situations,...
Throttle down, in the water, pushin' the boat,...
 

Scott Danforth

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Fire your mechanic and find a new one
 

Bearsboat

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I don't trust any mechanics! Think most all of them are out to take your money..as bad as used car salesmen! Think I need to start learning how to work on this boat myself!
 
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