1989 johnson GT 150 - idle problems and choke questions - THANKS!

flb561

Seaman
Joined
Jul 9, 2013
Messages
56
Hi All,

Ive been rebuilding a 89 johnson for some time now. the motor initially did not run, i replace the power pack, new plugs, and stripped the motor to the crank shaft to clean, etc. after reassembling the motor turned over and sounds great. fine tuning needed but i am running into two problems now. reading up on them but nothing ive tried has made a great enough difference.

Problem One - Idling
What rpms for idling should i shoot for?
Best way to adjust the idle?
Idles great at 1000 but ik that extremely high
any advice or tricks would be extremely helpful! i adjuct the cables on the arm that adjusts/ pushes the arm on the carbs. i get the engine idling at 600-800, then test my adjusting by throttling up, down, etc. put the remote back to neutral and the motor idles lower and lower until it cuts out, or, "runs away" almost like im at the controls gassing it up, to about 2500- 3000 rpms

Problem two - the choke mechanism / solenoid on the right hand side of engine.... the cylinder with small red lever.
as for my knowledge the red lever should be parallel to the solenoid for normal operation and full forwards for full choke
Problem is the engine runs great with the lever full forward but almost immediate dies when i return it to parallel. am i wrong? unit bad? backwards wiring? im lost. Whats the correct term for this unit

Thanks in advance
- Kyle
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
39,503
The red lever is only used for manual operation of the primer valve.---The red lever does not move when this unit is operated electrically.--Having to use the red lever to keep the engine running means that you need to revisit the carburetor cleaning.-Simple , you need to clean carburetors again.---Manual operation of the valve injects fuel into the engine and this fuel bypasses the carburetors.
 

flb561

Seaman
Joined
Jul 9, 2013
Messages
56
The red lever is only used for manual operation of the primer valve.---The red lever does not move when this unit is operated electrically.--Having to use the red lever to keep the engine running means that you need to revisit the carburetor cleaning.-Simple , you need to clean carburetors again.---Manual operation of the valve injects fuel into the engine and this fuel bypasses the carburetors.

Awesome! thank you. i already have them off, the lowest carb had a slight leak in it
 
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