2000 Johnson 150 VRO Carb Cleaning

[jakedaawg]

The manual lays out the initial presets for the idle adjustment. I just hate to start turning anything without knowledgeable advice. Ya know?

don't.

 

[jakedaawg]

While cleaning the carbs and throttle bodies is not difficult, it does require a little experience. There are welch pplugs that need to be removed and replaced. There are also "jets" or orifices that need to be removed and cleaned. Not difficult and the manual explains how to do it, don;t be scared.

metering screws do need to be removed. The best way to do this is to count how many turns it takes to lightly seat each screw. Do this, righty-tighty, write it down noting which screw and which carb. That way you can put them back in and get their approximate pre-cleaning setting.

As far as the ignition analyzer or whatever they call the doo-hickey, I have one so I do not know if there is a work around. I follow the link and synch steps.

However, if you don't mess with the timing you should not need to synch it. Not promising though as I always do it as part of a carb and throttle body service.

 

[Theoutdoorsman]

My initial thoughts were that the carbs aren't that dirty, if at all. There is no symptoms indicating plugged low speed orifices/jets. No sneezing or coughing at all. So with that in mind, I figured it couldn't hurt to follow the manuals instructions pertaining to idle jet "initial settings" and adjustment procedures. Glad I did too! The outboard now idles at 1000 rpm, and 800 rpm in gear, on the water. It isn't the "smoothest" idling outboard I've heard run, but it no longer stalls out. She'll idle around now for extended periods without so much as a hint of stalling. Needless to say, I'm stoked! The local dealer wanted $800 to pull the carbs for cleaning. Makes me wonder how many times they've charged a customer that same figure for nothing more than setting the idle jets on similar models! Have a great day day, and a million thanks for the advice/input. I'm goin boating! ... :-D

 

[Theoutdoorsman]

"count how many turns it takes to lightly seat each screw. Do this, righty-tighty, write it down noting which screw and which carb. That way you can put them back in and get their approximate pre-cleaning setting.

I did write them down as per your recommendation, in the event I needed to revert back to the original settings. Isn't there a tool made to check the metering on each individual carb? Seems like I've seen mention of one somewhere in the past.

 

[cfauvel]

My initial thoughts were that the carbs aren't that dirty, if at all. There is no symptoms indicating plugged low speed orifices/jets. No sneezing or coughing at all. So with that in mind, I figured it couldn't hurt to follow the manuals instructions pertaining to idle jet "initial settings" and adjustment procedures. Glad I did too! The outboard now idles at 1000 rpm, and 800 rpm in gear, on the water. It isn't the "smoothest" idling outboard I've heard run, but it no longer stalls out. She'll idle around now for extended periods without so much as a hint of stalling. Needless to say, I'm stoked! The local dealer wanted $800 to pull the carbs for cleaning. Makes me wonder how many times they've charged a customer that same figure for nothing more than setting the idle jets on similar models! Have a great day day, and a million thanks for the advice/input. I'm goin boating! ... :-D

So you followed the manual's initial idle mixture settings? How far out were your carbs?

 

[Theoutdoorsman]

They weren't "terribly" bad, to be honest. Although the outboard never showed signs of a lean condition, I supposed it was still simply unable to keep up with the demand for fuel, and ceased to run. The initial setting on the idle jets was 5 turns out, from lightly seated. This is where I started. Immediately, it showed signs of running lean once started (coughed/sneezed/died). I began backing all the idle jets out a quarter turn, and retried. After 4 attempts doing this, she started to perk up. Another half turn, and she stayed running like it should. All jets were backed out simultaneously, and in the same increments. They were all over the place when I lightly seated them. One was 5.5 turns out, while another was 9 turns out. Currently, they are all 6 3/4 turns out, no coughing/sneezing, and will idle all day long at 1000 rpm (in the drink) and out of gear. In gear, she idles around 800 rpm. It's not a perfectly smooth idle, but it's not struggling to stay running either. Much much better now! I may back them out another 1/8 turn just to err on the side of caution, and for my piece of mind ... ;-)

 

[cfauvel]

Awesome...thanks for the response....

 

[jakedaawg]

Isn't there a tool made to check the metering on each individual carb? Seems like I've seen mention of one somewhere in the past.

I bet you are refering to a vacuum guage used on some four stroke carbureted models.

As far as all the carbs being set the same, that is unusual in my experience. Many times an extra half or full turn on select carbs gets the desired result. Glad it worked for you.

 

[cfauvel]

In my classic car experience there is a gauge that goes in to the carbs' throat and measures the vacuum there....with dual SU or Webber carbs you'll use that to get the mixture to be near the same....rougher to do with 6 carbs.

 

[ondarvr]

Like already mentioned, the carbs typically aren't all the exact same number of turns out, don't be afraid to turn each one. Turn one an 1/8th to a 1/4 turn then wait for 30 seconds or so for the idle to change and see if it's better or worse, if it's worse turn it the other way, just keep doing this and you can dial it in much better.

​If you mess it up and can't get it back to running OK, just reset them all back to the known setting and start over.

 

[cfauvel]

hey Ondarvr and JaheDawg, is it true that on a two stroke each cylinder is segregated even in the crankcase? Would that be one of the reasons why you guy see that some carbs' idle mixture are set a little different from each other? Where as a 4 stroke the crankcase is open to all cylinders so getting the carbs balanced is more important?

I've never taken an outboard motor apart...after seeing the roller bearings in the wrist pin in some videos I'm like "oh hell no I'll screw that up" LOL

 

[jakedaawg]

hey Ondarvr and JaheDawg, is it true that on a two stroke each cylinder is segregated even in the crankcase? Would that be one of the reasons why you guy see that some carbs' idle mixture are set a little different from each other? Where as a 4 stroke the crankcase is open to all cylinders so getting the carbs balanced is more important?

I've never taken an outboard motor apart...after seeing the roller bearings in the wrist pin in some videos I'm like "oh hell no I'll screw that up" LOL

Yes, true with regard to 2 stroke.

4 stroke crankcase is separate from intake.