1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

[BoostinGST]

just bought an 83 cobia 16ft v-hull center console with a 83 johnson 90. I bought the boat with the motor having a miss at idle. the motor sat up for a year while the previous owner was deployed. The boat does not have a tach but with 2 people and minimal equipment on board it was only going 28mph on gps which I thought was a little low seeing a few 17ft bowriders going 35-40mph with the same motor. one day we went out and one of the coil packs had a wire fall off, ever since then it does not run right at all. I did a compression check and read 117-120psi on all 4. just changed 2 coil packs, have spark on all 4, cleaned the carbs out, fresh fuel with 50:1, no leaks... the boat is hard to start and runs really rough. all the sudden since the carb cleaning the choke solenoid seems to either work or not work... if you have the lever turned towards the solenoid it dumps tons of fuel and revs really high, if you have the lever turned away from it the solenoid does nothing. any help would be appreciated! dont know where to go from here :redface:

 

[Monte1961]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

that red lever your talking allows extra fuel to motor just in case choke doesn't work. When you push in key, does it energize solenoid? Check to see if it's getting 12 vdc. to it. post back and let us know.

 

[BoostinGST]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

yes it does, I can hear it click... I haven't checked the volts. I also forgot to mention I tried new plugs.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

The normal "run" position for the red lever is parallel to the length of the solenoid. You may have some dried fuel in the carb from sitting for a year. Possible a carb teardown and complete cleaning may cure some of your running issues. They can get dried fuel lodged in the carb passages which can cause poor idle, top end. An inductive timing light will show you the quality of spark on all 4 plugwires when you crank or run the engine. Compression is good.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

The normal "run" position for the red lever is parallel to the length of the solenoid. Check the fuel primer solenoid to make sure it is working properly. Pull one of the small fuel primer solenoid hoses off the top of the carb and push in on the key when stating. There should be fuel pulsing out of (both) those hoses. You may have some dried fuel in the carb from sitting for a year. Possible a carb teardown and complete cleaning may cure some of your running issues. They can get dried fuel lodged in the carb passages which can cause poor idle, top end. An inductive timing light will show you the quality of spark on all 4 plugwires when you crank or run the engine. Compression is good.

 

[BoostinGST]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

took the carbs off after I changed the first coil, cleaned them but did not adjust any settings... I know the primer is dumping fuel, is it pretty much on/off? before I thought when I adjusted the primer it would go from dumping a little to dumping a lot... When I have the primer turned slightly in towards the solenoid it will start but it starts revving like crazy, I always cut the motor off because it gets way too high for my liking...

 

[BoostinGST]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

Checked the spark again today, spread over a 1/2" gap with a nice spark... regapped the plugs to 40, still running the same... when I cleaned the carbs and put them back on I didn't do a sync & link, do you have to do that every time you take the carbs off? I'm at a loss and don't know what to do.

 

[BoostinGST]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

This is what 3 of the plugs look like, the other one looks like new and just has some fuel on it... only have about 10min of runtime on these plugs.

 

[BoostinGST]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

adjusted the idle to back to the correct mark it wouldnt idle right because it was dumping fuel at idle, adjusted the throttle cable to the new mark and she runs great all the way from idle to wot... before I changed everything the boat was topping out at 27mph and just felt sluggish with acceleration... tonight had it up to 36mph and it responded great... such a difference.

 

[Monte1961]

Re: 1983 Johnson v4 90 not running right

Glad to here all is good. Now go and enjoy it! Good luck.