‘99 Johnson 115 running on 2 cylinders?

[flyingscott]

Look at the wires going from the cdi to the coils make sure they are correct.

 

[QuickPuppy]

 

[QuickPuppy]

Sorry, not sure why all the pics formatted sideways.

The only thing that looks weird to me is the first picture where the connector halves look mismatched (black on grey and grey on black). The wire colors on either side of those connectors seem to match though.

 

[racerone]

You are posting about the wrong wires.-----Post a close-up picture of the wire from the powerpack to the coils with identification.------#1 cylinder is orange / blue or something else ?

 

[QuickPuppy]

Are you talking about these wires?


Port side top is orange with thin double blue
Port side Bottom is orange w/ thin double green


Starboard side top is orange with thick blue
Starboard side Bottom is orange w/ thick green

It does not appear that it would be easy to switch days around to an incorrect spot.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Why are these pics all turning sideways when they post?!

 

[QuickPuppy]

Any other ideas?

 

[QuickPuppy]

I guess that’s a no?

 

[oldboat1]

blue -- top, green -- bottom.

 

[QuickPuppy]

That appears to be where they are.

 

[oldboat1]

Try a timing light on each of the plug wires to see if one or more is dropping out (no flash). Insure the fuel primer/solenoid is in the run position, not causing rich running.

 

[QuickPuppy]

How do you confirm that the solinoid is in the run position?

i changed the plugs and that definitely helped. Also tried to manually advance the timing while it was idle if and that seemed to really clean up the idle and the hesitation on the holeshot. May need to research how to check the timing.

 

[oldboat1]

Run position has the lever running parallel with the solenoid.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Resurrecting my post... Had to step away from my project for a bit but I'm back to it now.

For the life of me I can't figure out a consistent way to post photos. I tried to get these to show up in the post, or above it. oh well. See below for what they are.

Post cleaning...








I fixed a tilt/trim issue this week that had sidelined me from working on the motor issues. (See my Tilt/Trim thread in this section)

Thanks Oldboat, I will try taking a look at the primer solenoid.

When I last looked at the engine, some of the plugs looked like there was maybe some water intruding into the cylinders. I pulled the heads and it looked to me that maybe there was some evidence of water making past the head o-rings. I replaced those, cleaned the carbon off of the piston heads, and resealed the water passages. I had spoken to a local mechanic about the issue and told him that I was going to use RTV to seal around the passages (per the service manual). He told me not to use RTV and to use anaerobic gasket maker instead. He said that it was difficult to get 1/16" bead the manual says to use and that the RTV squishes into the water passages, and sets up there, plugging them up. (This appears to be true as the pictures above show... notice the black RTV in most of the water passages.) He said the anaerobic gasket maker could be put on a bit thicker and would set where air couldn't get to it, and any extra that squished into the water jacket would not set, due to air being in them. That extra would be flushed out when the motor was run. In theory that made sense to me, and since I had some in the shop, I used it. I let it sit for 30+ hours so hopefully, it set up properly.


I dropped the boat in the pond and tried to start it for the first time in 6 months. (The fuel I put in it back in December was ethanol free and treated with Seafood or Stabil. (I forget which I had used.) It immediately fired up and then stalled. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to get it to stay running without stalling. I had to keep pushing the primer to keep it going, which it eventually did, albeit very roughly.

A new issue cropped up during this... when revving while not in gear, the transmission would suddenly grind and jump into gear. It did this in both forward and reverse. Is this an issue with my throttle/gear lever?! Scary as all get out when the boat slams into gear like that!

It still seemed to be running on two cylinders, though strangely, unless I typed it wrong when I began this thread, the working side of the engine seems to have switched from port to starboard. :ambivalence:

While it was running, I pulled individual plug wires. On the starboard side, on both cylinders, it tried to stop running immediately. On the port side, pulling the top plug made a little difference in how it was running, and the lower plug made almost no difference at all. All four plugs were sparking as the spark was jumping from the boot to the plug from a good 1/4" to 1/2" away.

I also tried covering up individual carburetor bores while it was running and got similar results to pulling the the plugs; Starboard side both began to stall immediately and them would stumble and smoke until the excess fuel cleared out. The port side top also seemed to stumble, smoke, and recover. The port side bottom took a bit but eventually flooded out. Not like the others though.

I checked the compression while the engine was still warm and got:
Port side top-127
Port side bottom-123
SB side top-133
SB side bottom-135

I forgot to look closely but I didn't see any obvious water leaks from the heads.

Could the issues be cause by the low speed needles not being set correctly? In my opening post, I said that the low speed needles were set to 11-12 turns out before I rebuilt the carbs. I had reset them to the manuals recommended 4.5 out.

I will check that solenoid ASAP...

I'm trying to get this thing running before my vacation at the end of the month!

Thanks all!

 

[Faztbullet]

spoken to a local mechanic about the issue and told him that I was going to use RTV to seal around the passages (per the service manual). He told me not to use RTV and to use anaerobic gasket maker instead. He said that it was difficult to get 1/16" bead the manual says to use and that the RTV squishes into the water passages, and sets up there, plugging them up

You need to stop consulting with this fellow as his info is all wrong..
When you repaired carbs did you install the lil plastic washers under inlet needle? If so remove them and reset float height. Did you also use the correct mounting o-ring that was in kit?

 

[QuickPuppy]

So regarding the gasket sealer... if it isn’t leaking and compression is good, is there any reason to redo it with RTV?

I don’t recall the plastic washers. What would removing them do?

I imagine I used whatever o-rings that came with the kit. They were OEM.

 

[Faztbullet]

So regarding the gasket sealer... if it isn’t leaking and compression is good, is there any reason to redo it with RTV?

Heads warp..fact and anaerobic sealer has to have 100% metal to metal contact to harden. The o-rings seal the cylinders. The reason RTV is used to to take into consideration the possible contact issues. Also it wont stop up any passages as there are only 2 on the head, The washer come with kit but are not used on carbs with plastic bowls as,this changes float setting. Also the kit comes with different mounting o-rings for carbs with and without adjustable needles

 

[QuickPuppy]

Thanks Fazt... Good info... I'll pull the heads and redo them. It will be interesting to see if the stuff set properly. OK to use the Blue RTV?

Does the low speed needle setting seem odd to you that it was turned out so far? (11-12 turns)

I'll also pull the carbs again and check to see what I used. As I recall, only one of the mounting o-rings will work, the other isn't shaped right. Not sure if I used the plastic washers or not. Did they have three tabs in the inner portion of them? I can't quite picture them now. I put on whatever parts were on there when I took them apart.

Is this the plastic washer you are talking about? Found this very blurry pic on YouTube...

 

[QuickPuppy]

Nope... that is not the plastic washer you were talking about. That picture is of the nozzle well gasket which is in the manual.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Primer solenoid confirmed in run position.