2001 Johnson 70hp starting/running issues - HELP!

[alfa]

I took the boat (17' CC) out 10 days ago for a couple hours and it ran fine as usual. Went back today to go out fishing and ended up frustrated and bummed, seating on my cooler and bait.


Outboard is an 2001 Johnson 70hp, tired motor but it works fine. I keep it up, with the prop out of the water since the dock is in murky water. Today I put 5gl of just purchased gas in the tank (total gas ~20gl) and topped off the oil reservoir. Dropped the motor in the water, flipped the choke (manual red twisty thing) and gave it a whirl. Nothing happened but I figured the water and air are a bit colder now, so it's just being a bit prissy.


Long story short, I fought that motor all morning and was only able to turn it on and run it if I have the throttle wide open (not in gear ofcourse). It would run like that all day, though not sounding like is wide open - more like as if I had the throttle at about 50%. Any reduction in throttle resulted in immediate stall, and the only way to start was pumping and opening up fully once again.

I took the cover and drained the carburetor bowls - didn't help.

I emptied the fuel/water separator twice (didn't see water) - no improvement

I noticed when I tilt the motor up (where gravity would drain gas from the carbs out) it ran slightly better where I could reduce throttle to 70% or so without stalling. Tilting back in the water all the way resulted in immediate stall.


I only had the boat for 1 year but never had problems like this!! What could it be? What should I check or change? I can't even get the boat out on trailer like this - I'd have to be towed to the nearest ramp.


Any thoughts and leads would be greatly appreciated. My travel mechanic wants $300 (that I'm not ready to spend) just to come to the dock.


Best regards

Dante

 

[jakedaawg]

You need an open air gap spark tester available at any parts store. Set to 7/16" and test for spark on all three leads. Report back.

while you are at parts store rent or borrow their compression guage. Test compression on all three cylinders and report back.

when you go to the boat take a Mason jar. Use a little screw driver or whatever and take a fuel sample out of the hose. Report what you see. We are looking for layers or cloudiness etc...

Have you always used the red lever for enrichment and why? The same should be able to be accomplished by pushing in on the key while starting. I assume you also know of throttle advance feature. Pushing in on the button, or pulling the handle out, or lifting the lever. Or, is this by chance a tiller steer model?

 

[alfa]

Quick update - hope it helps someone else.

I went to the boat last week-end and for whatever reason decided to give the ol' bulb a squeeze... didn't even have the motor in the water (so it was tilted up)... well, bulb went flat and gas flowed out of the carbs. Another squeeze and the same result. I dropped the motor down and tried again and the bulb would not get hard, gas would flow freely so looked like the floats were stuck.

Took carbs out and cleaned them, put them back and the motor came to life in the first turn. Didn't even need a choke or advancing the throttle. Made sense to me for the poor thing to need all the throttle to run previously due to running so rich, and choking as soon as less air went in.

Anyhow - is all good now. No idea how all 3 floats were stuck but they were... wife thinks I wasn't supposed to go fishing that day and that's why it happened.