1998 Johnson Oceanrunner 200HP Que

mikey456

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
49
First off, being as detailed as possible. Motor ran fine since Fishing Season in April 2012. Around Mid May the Tach stopped working.
But the motor continued to run fine with no issues. I even kept track of the Charging System and all was normal.
Yesterday, we put the boat in and noticed it was hard cold starting. Motor started and idled fine. parked at the dock and motor shut off.
When I parked the truck, I tried to start the motor again and it was very hard to start but eventually did. We rolled out and the motor ran fine
all the way out offshore. When we slowed to get ready for anchor, the motor sounded like it suddenly ran on 4 cylinders and then shut off.
I checked for spark and there was none.
I opened the power pack to inspect the harnesses. I unplugged and replugged everything. Still no spark. I unplugged the 2 wire harness
that had black with yellow stripe/black with orange stripe and motor started right up. Tach was now working. When I tried to shut motor off with
the key, motor wouldnt shut off. had to starve it out to shut it off. We ran the motor like this all day.
When it was time to head in, I ran the motor about 1500 rpms. The motor would sound like it ran on 4 cylinders then 6. This cycle was constant
and the tach still worked including the charge to the battery. When I got close enough to shore, I nailed it wide open and the motor holeshotted
to wide open throttle. Motor ran fine all the way back to the dock but when slowing to idle speed, motor kept shutting off. I need input and my
fellow boaters opinions on what I need to be looking for to fix this! Tks
 

walleye seeker

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Messages
81
Re: 1998 Johnson Oceanrunner 200HP Que

sounds like maybe there is a problem in your main harness to engine . first tach wont work then it wont shut off with key im guessing its shortening out somewhere causing it to run funny. check the plug harness in the back
 

mikey456

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
49
Re: 1998 Johnson Oceanrunner 200HP Que

sounds like maybe there is a problem in your main harness to engine . first tach wont work then it wont shut off with key im guessing its shortening out somewhere causing it to run funny. check the plug harness in the back

Are you referring to the main harness from the Key/shifter box? Is it possible the 2wire black with color stripes I mentioned above controls the kill switch? Maybe when I disconnected it, we overrode the kill? This might be a controls problem. Any other thoughts welcome.:redface:
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
28,537
Re: 1998 Johnson Oceanrunner 200HP Que

Black/yellow is ign killer wire. When it is grounded, there will be no spark. I am not sure what Black/orange wire does off hand. It could be shift assist switch which kills spark to 1,3,5 cylinders whne shifting. Recommend you check the ign switch to see that it grounds and ungrounds black/yellow wire when ign is off and on. Inspect all wires for shorts, usually in the form of melted wires. Look under dash as well. Do compression test to make sure compression is good. Do spark test to make sure all are sparking. Post results.
 
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