'92 Johnson 150 Alarm and Stalling Issue

[DIAT]

Start off by saying I am a novice so I apologize if needed information is missing.

I have a 1992 Johnson 150hp outboard. When out on the water it didn't want to start like the battery was dead but read 11 volts. I hooked a charger to it and only pulled 3 amps but started after only a couple minutes. When i took the choke all the way down the engine would die. Could this just be a battery issue or is there something else that could be going on?

Another issue, not sure if it could be related or not, is an alarm that sounds (out of control box and is a constant alarm). I was told this is the temp sensor but we replaced the impeller (which looked fine) and water is steadily shooting out the top hole which I was told by a marine shop that the engine will never overheat as long as a steady stream is shooting out. The only time this alarm will sound is when i trim up (lower unit still in plenty of water) when coming in to dock and after i kill the engine it takes about 10 minutes for it to stop and let me restart. I should mention the only time I have trimmed up is going to dock, again novice and still learning.

Help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: '92 Johnson 150 Alarm and Stalling Issue

The choke has nothing to do with ther starter. Unless your meter is bad, I think your battery is suspect. It should read 13+VDC, at rest.

If it dies when the choke is off, either the motor is not warm, the carbs are dirty or they are misadjusted.

You need to test the temp sensor on each head, ans the associated wiring. Disconnect the sensor. If the alarm stops, the sensor is bad or the motor is overheating. If the alarm continues the wiring is bad.

 

[jonesg]

Re: '92 Johnson 150 Alarm and Stalling Issue

Its your first post, welcome aboard.
Is the engine new to you, has it ever run good for you?
UNless you plan on getting rid of it, order the service book, the factory book , not seloc or clymer.
www.outboardbooks.com
You need to write your model number down so you can get the exact manual for your engine.

I believe hooking the battery to a charger without disconnecting it first can damage the power pack. As can hooking it up backwards, so many pitfalls for the outboard newcomer, thats why the manual is important.

Run the engine on a hose and put a voltmeter across the battery terminals, compare the reading between running and not running to see if its charging.
Inspect all the battery connections for corrosion, clean as needed, inspect cables at the starter end too ( disconnect battery first)
Clean everything nice and shiny with sandpaper or a small file.
No wingnuts allowed on battery posts. Tighten and protect with dialectric grease. A star washer helps keep it from loosening, a loose connection can blow all sorts of components.

If you trim up too far its "possible" the water inlets are sucking air.
It can overheat , even if water has a good strong stream, water passages can get clogged on one side or water diverters in the cyl head can lose their proper position. Or a thermo' can get stuck.

Does it give a single warning beep when the ignition is turned on?

Are you running it on the VRO system or do you mix oil with the fuel?

Have you inspected the gear oil yet?
What about a compression test?

Ain't boats great!

 

[DIAT]

Re: '92 Johnson 150 Alarm and Stalling Issue

The motor is new to me and the alarm issue happened the first time i took it out and each time since then if i trim up when going to dock (never even close to far enough to suck air). I'm thinking either a line is getting kinked or maybe a bad lead wire from one of the heads...

All connections look good and clean, i did pick up a new battery and put that in today. Why do you say now wing nuts?

I'm also going to do a reverse flush on it and i did notice that the screen on one of the water inlets on the lower unit is damaged so maybe debris is in there? is there an easy fix for that screen? I'm also doing a compression test tomorrow so fingers crossed.

I do get a single beep when turning the key on and i am using the vro and not premixing and have changed the oil in the lower unit. And yes i'm finding that its true that owning a boat is like having a hole in the water that you throw money into.

Thanks again for the helpful advise it's greatly appreciated i'm hoping to get all the kinks worked out to keep the wife off my back about the new purchase.

 

[dna3269]

Re: '92 Johnson 150 Alarm and Stalling Issue

So what fixed the problem or is it still doing the samething?

 

[DIAT]

Re: '92 Johnson 150 Alarm and Stalling Issue

dna3269 - the starting issue was just the battery, although even this new battery doesn't read over 11 volts most times. As for the alarm issue...it's still there. I usually never need to trim up when docking on our lakes so it's not an issue but still not right. It's only acted up one other time when we where idling along and was still trimmed up a bit but that took about 5 minutes to sound that time. My next step is to unbundle all the wires coming off the engine and check them because it's clear that some have hit the engine and melted and are now taped up by the last owner, the little i have dug into it there's no apparent issue but still good to look at.