‘99 Johnson 115 running on 2 cylinders?

[QuickPuppy]

I decided not to redo the heads as they are not leaking and compression is good.

I still want to pull at least one carb to check for the plastic washer that fastbullet mentioned, although I’m still not quite sure where that is located.

But before I do that...

Put it the pond again today. It started up first try, ran for 10 seconds and stalled. Started it again and it stayed running. Idled in neutral for three minutes then ran it in gear at idle on the trailer for another three minutes. It didn’t sound like it was running too badly.

I tried adjusting the low speed jets on the carbs with varying degrees of success. I started with all the needles set to service manual spec at 4 1/2 turns out and went from there. It didn’t make as much difference as I had hoped. I ended up at:
4 3/4 on the SB top
4 1/2 on the SB bottom
3 3/8 on the port top
3 3/4 on the port bottom

The difference in engine speed was very subtle on all adjustments. it only made a huge difference if I turned the needles way in and then it would stall out.

I pulled the plug boots while it was running again and this time it was obvious that all four cylinders were working. It made very similar differences with how the engine ran on each cylinder whenever the boot was pulled from the plug. (It slowed similarly with each dead cylinder and recovered quickly as soon as the boot arced to the plug. I did notice that the engine was not smoking near as much after I adjusted the low speed needles.

After the adjustments, I took it off the trailer and tried running it on the pond. About 10% of the time it would get up on plane easily like the engine was running properly. The other 90% of the time it sounded and felt boggy, like it was running on half an engine.

Yet another issue I’m having... I noticed whenever I’m making a turn and especially when turning back over the wake, the prop slips and the engine revs without the boat moving. I don’t know if my prop is bad or if something else is happening. It is trimmed all the way in.

I strapped it back to the trailer and tried running it wide open. It died as soon as I opened the throttle. It did this about 6 times before it stayed running. Again it sounded and felt boggy. I could only get it to about 2800 rpms at full throttle. Part of that is probably because it was strapped to the trailer, not moving, but I would think I would be able to run faster than that.

I hopefully have an appointment on Wednesday to take it to an actual mechanic to help me diagnose the issues. Anyone else have any ideas?

I took videos of it running earlier. I may try to put something up on YouTube later.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Pulling plug boots while running.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG__Fx-y8Bo

Engine dies when giving it the beans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zICkzgqrC9w

Engine dies when giving it the beans. You can hear the gear box trying to grind into gear in neutral.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXZXWc6nZrE

Full throttle on trailer only hitting 2800 rpm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQuUALUjaJo

 

[QuickPuppy]

Pulled the port side carbs tonight. Pristine inside, float level on the bottom carb was maybe off a tad bit so fixed that. I didn’t see and plastic washers anywhere.

I did notice something that I had forgotten about. The carb bores appear to have very thin cracks in them. If they are actually cracks, I would guess that is the problem. Hard to tell if they are scratches, cracks, or casting marks.

 

[QuickPuppy]

 

[QuickPuppy]

Anyone else seen any evidence of cracking on the main carb bodies? I know there are issues with cracking bowls... already replaced those with new ones.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Took it to the shop today. One of the mechanics said the lines in the carbs were likely casting marks. Curious to see if the main guy says the same.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Found an interesting tidbit that may be contributing to the problem... When I replaced the spark plugs when I first started working on the engine, I just replaced them with the same type the previous owner had in the it. I noticed yesterday that the manual calls for suppression plugs-Champion QL78YC (I believe the Q stands for a resistor plug) and what was in the engine were L78YC (Non-suppression plugs). I don't know if it will make a difference or not, but for $10 it's worth a shot to put the correct plugs back in. The boat's at the shop but they haven't looked at it yet, so at least that will eliminate one potential issue.

 

[oldboat1]

Don't run at high revs while on trailer or tied to dock. When tuning carbs air mix, adjust leaner (clockwise) until motor lean sneezes or stalls, then open about 1/4 turn -- should be close to final setting. Can do this in the water on a trailer, tied to dock, or running in a barrel -- just can't successfully do on muffs. Operate at idle or fast idle. Test of setting is to make sure the motor goes into gear without stalling.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Curious... other than the possibility of your tiedowns potentially failing, what's the harm in running in gear while tied off. I can see that the motor would potentially be seeing more strain because of the lack of forward motion. Just wondering.

Yes, that is pretty much how I tried to adjust the carbs, however, I think there are other issues that are preventing a proper tune. I dropped off the proper spark plugs yesterday. The shop was hoping to get to it today. The owner has been working on outboards for 62 years! Started as head of the motor pool in Vietnam. I asked him if he ever sees an issue anymore that he can't fix. He paused and said, "I might have to sleep on it, but I can pretty much always figure it out."

 

[QuickPuppy]

Boat is still in the shop...

Appears the engine issues were; two carb floats were slightly off (1/32"), high speed timing off, low speed adjustments off a bit.

It appears that the lack of power was mostly due to the lower unit binding up. Sometime since I bought the boat, the oil leaked out of the lower unit and was replaced by water. It was full of oil when I got it... they showed me what they took out of it and it looked like my ponds water. I suppose it is possible the previous owner knew about the issue and changed the oil just prior to me getting it. I had noticed that that was always some oil spotting on the floor but I always assumed it was 2-stroke from the exhaust.

The grinding I was experiencing was the forward gear. It was damaged pretty badly.

Options were:

A. New lower unit $1500-1600
B. Fix current one-$1200-$1400
C. Replace with a used one- $800

Went with option C... used lower from freshwater Minnesota that has supposedly been inspected/resealed, and has a 6 month warranty. Ordered it and hopefully it came in this week. Praying that there aren't any more issues.

 

[Chris1956]

SEI should have a new gearcase for about half of what they quoted. Not sure about shipping costs to you. You will need your existing upper driveshaft.

 

[cdembek]

I think we own the same boat! I have a 99 Johnson 90 and just about the rough idle sneezing issue. Starboard lower cylinder has spark/compression/fuel, just does not respond when pulling the spark plug wire.

In your last post with the photos, the 3rd photo shows the plastic washer. Do you know if the shop removed the washers?

I just rebuilt my carbs and installed the washer not knowing that you don't need to install. Tomorrow that washer is coming out! My compression is ~ 90 psi on all cylinders.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Looks like the SEI lower is about $895. Shipping would only be $29. Three year, no fault warranty. Dang, I wish I had known about them a couple of weeks ago.

cdembec---not sure which pic you are referring to.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Whew... shop said it wasn't too late to switch. Anyone know a coupon code for SEI?

 

[havoc_squad]

Whew... shop said it wasn't too late to switch. Anyone know a coupon code for SEI?

Coupon code for quality affordable boat parts? Funny guy eh.. The coupon code is that you don't get price gouged in this very tight supply and demand market.

 

[QuickPuppy]

Well... they do have a coupon code box on their website.

Good news is that I was able to cancel the other order and put in a new one with SEI.

Bad news is that they are backordered until the end of next month.

Oh well, what's another 5 weeks of waiting when I haven't been able to use the thing in two years.:lol:

 

[QuickPuppy]

Finally got the new lower unit and it’s back from the shop. They were not able to find anything wrong with the motor. They only ran it in a test tank. It does shift easily now. I put it in the pond and began the lower unit break-in process. Ran well up to about 2800 rpm then started stumbling. Basically the same issue as before.

 

[Chris1956]

Finally got the new lower unit and it’s back from the shop. They were not able to find anything wrong with the motor. They only ran it in a test tank. It does shift easily now. I put it in the pond and began the lower unit break-in process. Ran well up to about 2800 rpm then started stumbling. Basically the same issue as before.

Take it from the top. Time for a new thread, I would think.....