1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

[gfinch1050]

I have a 1957 Johnson 18hp, FD-11. It was not running with I got it. ! I guy I got it from said one of the coils overheated. I removed the flywheel and the coils look good but needed to be lined up, did that, set points. New carb kit got it running. Put a new LU seal kit in, fix that. I run it a few time and it did good, but would not go all the way to WOT. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being WOT it would go to 9. No biggie adjust linkage on restore. Cleaned sand blasted painted put back together. Test run well but at WOT after a few minutes it would cut out, pump the primer in the fuel line and it would take off. Come home and checked my conversion to a single fuel line system. Cleaned the carb again. OK went out today and it started right up idle good, started to increase the gas a little and it started to cut out like it was only hitting on one cyl. Then it would take off. I going to replace the coils in the morning and see what happen.
Any idles any one. HELP!!!
THANKS

 

[SumDumGuy]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

I would only guess <----- a leak.

But, I posted to say that is a nice looking motor. I really like those "old" motors.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

HI gfinch. If the original coils have never been replaced you should go ahead and do it. The factory coils have a 100% failure rate over time. Thankfully the new ones are only about $20 and will last forever. I suspect that you are only running on one cylinder which these old girls can do surprisingly well. Electronic components tend to fail as they get hotter too. You can test it by using a pair of rubber handled pliers to remove the boots from the spark plugs one at a time. If you can pull one of the leads and it doe not change the idle of the motor, then you know that cylinder is bad. You'll also want to be sure that you use Champion J6C plugs with 24:1 mix. Here are some great all around links that should help.

Maintaining Johnson E & FD Serie

1957 Johnson FDE-11 18 hp Outboard Motor Parts

3 HP Evinrude Lightwin Ignition System Tune-Up 1952-1967

 

[gfinch1050]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

after going through everything and taking off the single line fuel system.it looks like my problem was the points gap. I usually set them with the flywheel off I've done it many times no trouble.today today I tried setting them through the holes in the top of the flywheel. and it worked. It ran good in my barrel with no misses. I'll know for sure when I get on the lake. I knew it was something stupid.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Schweeet!!!!! It's always the little things. Be sure to get some pics of that little beast out on the open water!

 

[gfinch1050]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Well I gave it a test run on the lake today. Ran good, but at WOT after a few minutes it
would cut out like it had no gas. Id pump the bulb and it would recover. Other than that it ran great.
It has a new Mikuni fuel pump Mod-DF-44-211, all new hoses I really don’t think I have an air leak.
Any idles!!!
Here’s a YouTube of today run.

Ricks. 18hp pt2 - YouTube

Here's on of a few weeks ago

1957 Johnson 18 hp part 1 - YouTube

 

[geoffwga1]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Hi GF.
First of I have to say that she's running great,nothing wrong there at all.Until she falters of course.OK,I did the same conversion using a Mikuni pump like yours and at first I mounted the pump at the rear of the motor on one of the upper cylinder head bolts.This seemed to work fine while I had it in a barrel but when I took it out it acted exactly the same as yours.I cured it by moving the pump and shortening the pulse line. I mounted the pump on the front left leg of the recoil starter,actually it was the only other place I could mount it and still get the clamshell closed.Any way,it cured the problem.I think what happens is if the pulse line is too long the volume inside it is too large for a good vacuum to be maintained to work the pump.Now I could be wrong but it certainly worked for me and is worth a try.
Geoff69a1

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

+1 sounds like a fuel pump issue to me too.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Just as a note, was it pumping water sufficiently? The brief angle towards the leg was hard to tell.

As stated, keep the pulse as short as possible. Did you modify the intake manifold at all or tap a bypass cover for your conversion?

Tank venting properly? Try running with the cap off to test.

Fuel filter not clogged? Remove it to test.

The DF44211 puts out 14 liters/hour, or 3.7 gph,more than enough to handle an FDs requirement, which is about 1.8 gph at WOT.

 

[gfinch1050]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Thanks Geoffwga1 and everyone for the help. I moved the pump to the front of the motor and she GREAT!!!!
I hate sale her but I need the $ for a 1953 15hp evinrude.

I have a 1953 evinrude 15hp
1964 mercury 9.8
1973 mercury 20hp
1958 evinrude 10hp
and a 1963 evinrude 5.5 in bad shape
Can't keep them all.
Wife says something has to go
Here's the video of todays final run.
Thanks again.


Here's a YouTube of today run.
http://youtu.be/BKnrFozYyc8

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Perfecto gfinch! That's what more like it. Whoever gets that motor is gonna get a little gem. Good luck on the '53 15, but beware new and replacement parts tend to be much harder to find, and therefore more expensive for pre-'55 OMC motors.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Perfecto gfinch! That's what more like it. Whoever gets that motor is gonna get a little gem. Good luck on the '53 15, but beware new and replacement parts tend to be much harder to find, and therefore more expensive for pre-'55 OMC motors.

No the '53 Fastwin does not fall into that category. No hard to find, expensive parts there. It is a good motor, and pretty similar to your 18hp.

That being said, I would personally keep the '57 18hp over the Super Fastwin, but that is just personal preference. The Super Fastwin is a quick little motor.

 

[GCarlover]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

If you search my posts, there's another member asking about point gap on a Fastwin. Told him .020 on the point gap. Correct?
18 hp should be single line with it's own fuel pump. Determine if it's fuel or spark first. Had a 76 15hp. Ran good until warm. Then one cyl. Pull the plug wire and jump the spark, it would fire. Sounded like a bad coil. Sold it.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: 1957 johnson 18hp PROBLEMS

Yes, that is the correct gap. However, fuel pumps weren't introduced until '59. He will want to use Champion J4C or J6C spark plugs with 24:1 mix.