1968 Johnson 55hp revs way too high at startup?

[BonairII]

I'm trying to help my neighbor out. He has a '68(or 69) Johnson 55hp. Model #TRL-10R. It's electric shift, not sure if hydraulic or electric.

He pulls the little red lever-on the control back(toward the stern) into the "position". Turn the key and when it starts, the throttle races very high. He has to get the red lever forward quickly to calm the motor down to what is still too high an idle....and then has get it into gear quickly. The motor settles down then.

I witnessed it myself today. It def races out of control at startup. I would think there is some safety feature that should not be allowing the over revving while in neutral.

Any ideas what may be causing this?

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: 1968 Johnson 55hp revs way too high at startup?

It is a '68....great motors, fussy ignition...had mine for ~ 40+ years.
Is this a new thing and/or is the motor new to him?

That red lever is just a fast idle override and can/should be adjusted. It does not have to be pulled all the way back...either.
Procedure is in owner's manual....or service manual.

Been too long since I did it for me to give decent instructions.

 

[F_R]

Re: 1968 Johnson 55hp revs way too high at startup?

Look at the top of the control, beside the red lever. You will see a notch. Look down into that notch and operate the red lever. See the screw come up? That is the fast idle adjusting screw. What it does is limit how far you can move the red lever. Thurn the screw one way or the other to adjust.

But before you do any of that, first adjust the motor and throttle cable. Unhook the cable and adjust the idle speed. Then re attach the cable and adjust the black plastic nut so that it pulls the throttle lever all the way back to the idle position that you just adjusted. Always adjust the control to match the motor, never adjust the motor to match the control.

NOW, you can go up front and do the red lever adjustment.

 

[BonairII]

Re: 1968 Johnson 55hp revs way too high at startup?

Is this a new thing and/or is the motor new to him?

No, he's had the motor for a few years....but seems to know very little about how it works. I MADE him drop the LU yesterday to check the impeller. Of course, it was in horrible shape and 3 vanes were split and ready to snap off.

Fuel lines to the carbs were leaking also, so I helped him fix that.