OMC I/O towed in...

Last night on our way back to the ramp, we saw a fellow boater in need, so we towed him to the ramp (unfortunately his trailer was at a ramp further down the river that I would NEVER take ours as it is full of crap and depths are inconsistent). I didn't pay attention to the make of the boat (it was in rough shape), but the motor was an OMC V8 I/O. He needed a tow because he said he thought he ran out of gas and couldn't get it started.

While waiting for his wife to bring the trailer from the other ramp, we started chatting. He said the fuel gauge showed the tank full, but he was wondering if 270º was hot? I almost fell in the water when he said he was running 270º. His gauge shows 240, so Im guessing that is what he meant. Since we had time, i took off the flame arrestor and had him give it a little throttle and gas was definitely squirting into the carb. But the interesting thing, the Holley carb only had a primary bowl. Would that have been like a 2300? The carb was in rough shape and you could see dirt on the butterflys. He did say that he had just had new heads put on and there was a new dizzy with wires and plugs, new exhaust manifolds and risers. New temp sensor was pretty obvious as well.

After looking at it for a while, I had him turn the key to "on" and the temp sensor was still registering over 200º. I don't have an IR sensor, so I couldn't check the actual block. I told him to take it back to the guy that serviced it so check to make sure the cooling system is working. I also told him to break out his VOM and test the fuel sender and gauge since he felt it wasn't reading correctly.

So not that I will ever see this guy again, my curiosity lies simply in that since it is an I/O, there was no RWP like in our Nautiques, is the impeller in the lower unit? Is testing similar to an outboard? Also curious, would it have been a 350 chevy? I found a pic on google that looks like his motor.

Lower right hand corner....a power steering pump?? Is that used in an I/O??

interesting and good to know. looking at all the pulleys on the front of the motor, this guy definitely did not have a RWP like a ski boat. There was a hose that ran back what would look like a transmission. I was guessing that then ran into the lower unit. The other hoses were pretty obvious to where they when, one down to the circulating pump and two to the ex. manifolds. so the 4th hose was the one that went to the back.

Anyway, thanks for your replies!   

what year would they have started using power steering in boats? I know nothing about it, but that seems like more modern technology compared to a guesstimate on the age of the boat (late 70's early 80's).

spiralhelix wrote: what year would they have started using power steering in boats?

All the way back to the steamship era.