89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

[Rangerboatman363]

Well here it goes, 3 summers ago got the boat out and it wouldn't start, carried it to the shop and had to replace stator, rectifier. Got it back and it ran great.
After the first day on the lake noticed I was losing power and speed, got it home and found that the wires to the stator was not tied down and the flywheel had rubbed them and cut one into. Taped them up and sortered the broken one back together, cranked it up on water hose ran fine, took to the lake and it wouldn't plane, Highest rpm was 26-2800.

Load it up came back in, checked plugs, found bad coil, replace once again back to lake same thing. Ran out of money.

Last summer got it back out hoping to fix it and installed a CDI box and changed plugs (Champion gapped at .30) back to lake same thing. Time and money problems again.

This year started again hoping to solve the problem, several said it was in the plugs or the carbs, clean the carbs and found the 1st cylinder not getting gas, cleaned again, cylinder seems to be firing, ran and idled on water hose, we had found a port that was stopped up.
Back to the lake after several checks and though we had it fixed, put it in the water again, ran a bid then started cutting off again, wouldn't idle, tried to get it to run and if I hurried I might get it in gear and get it moving so I tried to go on plane, NOPE, 26-2800 rpms again.
Buddy of mine tried riding in the front of the boat and bouncing on it to get it on plane, if I had the room it might have got there but only got to 3200 rpm in a area the size of 2 football fields.

Old gas was drain from tanks, new installed, marvel mystery oil used and but no change.

Our next step is try a compression test on thursday night but though I would run it by everyone here to see if anyone has any ideas.

The motor never even had but 1 plug change untill 3 years ago, ever since has been trouble.

Running low again on money and about to give up....any Help? Thanks in advance.

 

[jonesg]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Thats quite the saga,

do I see anything about compression numbers or using a spark GAP tester or a timing light. ?

These tools will give you facts, thats a bit better than opinions.
Compression guage, gap tester and timing light will set you back $70.
You can make your own gap tester with 2 nails on a peice of wood, set the gap almost 1/2 inch.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

"the wires to the stator was not tied down and the flywheel had rubbed them and cut one into. Taped them up and sortered the broken one back together:

99% this is part of your problem. if mine it would have gone right back to the shop then for them to correct the problem.

suggest you read ethanol, and carb cleaning, >>>http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=299680

also suggest you get the Johnson OEM service manual for your exact motor, outboardbooks.com.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Before you go any further, check the compression. Best to know the powerhead is good before you spend any more time/money on it. The engine may have a cylinder misfiring. Check each of the 6 plug wires for proper spark with an inductive timing light. Check for misfires or nofires. It's best to check this when the engine is in the water under load after the engine warms up. If you have any spark issues-fix them first. If it still won't idle, then you probably have a carb issues. If any of the carb idle passages have dried up fuel clogging these passages, the engine will not idle properly. You'll probably need to have the carbs cleaned.

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

We checked all the plugs for spark and had it in all cylinders, the plugs were gaped at .30
The top left cylinder wasn't getting gas to the cylinder , it was the only dry plug out of the six

cleaned carbs and found one passage on one side of the carb that feeds that cylinder clogged. cleaned them

Hope to do a compression test tonight

As soon as I get these numbers I will post them.

The best we can see at this time is all cylinders are working and firing but the 1 cylinder.

I agree I should have went back to the shop with it, but by the time I found the wires the way I was working time had ran out for the warrenty on the repair. my luck

Thanks for all the help so far, hope to get to work on it tonight and post more of what we find.

 

[jonesg]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

The spark can jump 0.30 easily in the air but under compression it might not be producing enough spark to fire the gas.
Thats why the gap needs to be set at 7/16th inch on the tester.
It doesn't look like you did that.
So you might be getting a false result to your spark test.

Your on the right track anyway.

Some other free things you can check, draw some fuel into a glass and let it settle, look for water.

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Ok didn't know that, we will check that tonight also.

Owned boats all my life but never did the mechanic end of it before, having to learn the hard way...lol

Thanks for the help

 

[nymack66]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Two very important things here please read carefully..
1 List color of wires that was peeled or severed, for example brown wire peeled, red wire completely severed etc
2 Trace the affected wires and let me know if its connected to the stator or trigger if not sure post the number of pins in the connector.

Where am I going with this you asked? You may have fried your PACK, STATOR or TRIGGER the above information will help me point you in the correct direction.

Sorry for all your troubles I suffered the same faith at the hands of a Marine Shop here in Orlando three years ago, I forgive them as a mistake and did use em again for additional work, because the service manager is humble person I did not even mentioned it to him until a few weeks later. He of course apologised etc, few years later I was stuck at the lake because a jerk swiped my trailer whilst I was Boating, guess who help me out ? See it pays off someday ..Just can't predict but it will for you..

 

[jonesg]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

You might wanna try learning the easy way, its all in the factory manual.

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

ok we working on it
compression test is as follows:
1 cold 88 hot 90
2 cold 91 hot 94
3 cold 95 hot 94
4 cold 97 hot 95
5 cold 97 hot 95
6 cold 97 hot 95

we are still having problems with the top left cylinder from the rear getting no gas
sprk test passed with flying colors on all cylinders @ 7/16" nail deal
Have cleaned the carbs but we dont see a needle valve to adjust or clean

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Ok update
We just took the carbs off again and switched them around.....
Cranked it
TOP LEFT CYLINDER is still nOT getting gas (looking from rear of engine)
Any ideas?

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Standing in back of engine, facing the spark plugs, the cylinders are numbered as follows:

Port...Starboard
2...........1

4...........3

6...........5

No fuel to #2 cylinder = Fouled carburetor. In cleaning it, did you manually clean the high speed jets located in the bottom center portion of the float chamber. If not, do so. Fuel must flow thru those jets before flowing to any other passageway. There are no jets to adjust but the jets must be absolutely clean.

The frayed leads of that stator...... be it me, I wouldn't have touched it as that would possibly void warranty, BUT the mechanic that installed it would have been tactfully notified that I'd want it replaced, not repaired.

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

All of the carbs have been cleaned throughly, switched the bottom carb with the top carb and still have the same exact cylinder that isn't getting fuel. We can crank and run the engine for a bit, and pull the sparke plugs and the top one is dry??!??!?!?!!??!!! Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Number two cylinder/carburetor....... Removing the brass screw from the front of the float chamber after pumping the fuel primer bulb up hard..... is fuel actually flowing to that float chamber? (checking for fuel line restriction).

With the compression you state (91/94) on # 2 cylinder, there should also be by the same token a proper amount of crankcase vacuum. That would have me suspecting a reed plate problem such as a screw or some foreign object holding a leaf valve open, a cracked or missing leaf valve, something of that nature. This, assuming that no fuel line restriction exists.

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Checked fuel flow and its good to all carbs by pumping the bubble
checking reeds now

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Oooook we have got the reeds out and can't find anything wrong.

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Well we are calling it a night.

We checked the reeds and we didnt find any broken missing or cracked that we can see with the eye.

There is one think im not sure of and that is when I held the reed up to the light on the mount it is on I could see light coming thru the (fingers?) but when I held one up from a cylinder that is doing ok I didnt see any light. Even then the one that I did see light thru was very small.

We flip the reed over and checked it and it was worse. More Light I mean.
So we flipped it back.

We are waiting to hear from yall now to see where we might go from here.

Again thanks to all that have helped us, I really appreciate it. God bless you!

I wish I had the money for a factory manual but can do it right now.
and I agree I should have taken it back to the mechanic that fixed it but as I said before by the time I found the wiring problem the warranty had already ran out. :redface:

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Is the intake bypass cover sealed correctly on # 2? Does the bypass cover have any hoses going to it from the recirc system-is in leaking any air? You might want to remove it and have a look, then reseal it with a new gasket. A sliver of light under the reeds is not unusual. The crankcase compression will normally cause it to seal properly when running.

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Ok I will check that out this weekend.
We are stumped, dont know where to go with this now

 

[Rangerboatman363]

Re: 89 Johnson GT150 will not plane boat

Hi all
I did a visual inspection of the bypass cover and there isnt any gas,grease,or oil around them.

I have a question thou, What are the two holes I see on the motor diagram that are behind the bypass covers? And what do they do? if I understand right the reeds act as the valves?

Next question I have is how do I go about checking the stator?
Thinking the top end of stator my be bad, but doesn't explain why the number 2 cylinder is not getting gas.

Again thanks for all the help yall have offered