1986 85hp Johnson dies under load - sort of

[Gideon_70]

Hi folks, my first post as a thread and glad to meet you all.

I bought an 1986 85HP Johnson that had been well taken care of. It had sat for about four years, and the motor needed lots of TLC, but it had been winterized before he parked it. New plugs, carb kits, everything.

The coils are firing well, I'm getting between 98 and 105PSI on each cylinder, and the fuel is all new as are the fuel lines (all of them)/hoses/bulb/pump and tank. Good fuel delivery.

I got it out and took everything down. The carbs are in great shape, clean as they can be, and after freeing up the timing advance lever it starts, runs great. Until you put it in gear.

I can start in on a set of muffs, and it runs fine, and I can run it in my driveway on the muffs and it will run solid, accelerate and idle.

Then I put it in the water.

It runs great when I start it. I put it in gear and it still does fine. I give it a little gas to fast idle and it still does fine. Then I push it a little more forward and it doesn't even try to go faster, it just dies - almost as if a switch were flicked to turn the motor off.

Any ideas?

Thanks everyone!

 

[the machinist]

Re: 1986 85hp Johnson dies under load - sort of

Welcome to iboats forum

Sounds like you may have a lot of friction in the lower unit, like no oil & possible rusty bearings, OR I have seen a whole lot of fishing monofilament line wrapped around the propshaft under the prop, which excerts just enough pressure in addition to the water's resistance to not allow the motor to overcome & be able to run when you put it in gear.