1961 40hp johnson won't start!

[Ribane]

Hi, I have just taken a 1961 40hp electric seahorse motor out of storage. it has been there for 20 yrs, . Anyway bought new battery and gas tank and checked fuel bulb. the engine turns over good but won't start. I pulled plugs cleaned and tested outside of cylinder they both spark well. Does anyone pls have a suggestion of what could be the problem. It just wont start .<br />The glass fuel bulb is full of gas and im using a 50:1 ratio of 90 octane Gas. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, also if someone could E-mail me a schematic for the engine to ribane@yahoo.com I would be very pleased.

 

[alcan]

Re: 1961 40hp johnson won't start!

Hi Ribane<br />Your engine needs three things to run. Compression, spark at the right time and fuel. Your engine is lacking one or more of these items. Since you stated you have spark we can eliminate that for now. You need to take a compression test, there is not much sence in monkeying around with a motor that has no chance of running. Often when motors set up for long periods the rings get stuck in the lands of the piston. They don't expand an seal the cylender, hense no compression,hense no fuel,no work. There are products that can help cure is problem. I suspect your problem is the carb it is probably gummed up. You will need to remove it and clean it. My best advice is to obtain a manual an servive your entire unit. Take a week-end and go through all recomended procedures. This will allow you to have a dependable motor you can have some fun with. Other wise it's just going to be one pain after another. To email an entire parts break-down of that motor would require about 15-20 pages of info that wouldn't do you any good right now. Get a manual first, then if you need more I'll see what I can do.