'73 Johnson 85 stalls at idle/low speed, hard to restart

ezmobee

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
23,767
Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to post in this forum for a while :( but I had some problems last night I need to address. As stated in the title I have a '73 Johnson 85. It was "awakened" 4 years ago after being laid up for many years. At that time we had all new coils, plugs, power pack, stator, fuel pump, and carb kits put on it by an outboard mechanic. Haven't done anything to it since then other than a preventative water pump replacement.

It starts fine when cold though it takes a bit of cranking. Runs excellently at pretty much all speeds above very slow/idle. It does not idle too well, there is an occasional "sneeze" and it often conks out. It always requires the warm up lever to be lifted to restart.

Last night we wanted to move from one fishing spot to another and we attempted to troll over there. It did ok for about 2-3 minutes then conked out. It was very difficult to restart. Raised the warm up lever completely and cranked and cranked to no avail. Used the electric choke and that didn't help. Finally used the manual choke and it fired right up. We had this same thing happen a couple times throughout the evening. It was particularly distressing each time because I was afraid it would run my battery down before I got it started.

I think I need a new electric choke solenoid because it doesn't seem to be engaging the choke the whole way. However, this is not the main problem....why should I be needing the choke at all? It seems to really hate low speed/idle and it's like it runs itself out of fuel and then doesn't want to restart? I'm thinking this is a carb issue.
 

R.Johnson

Rear Admiral
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Messages
4,446
Re: '73 Johnson 85 stalls at idle/low speed, hard to restart

When you say it will sneeze, or spit back, I would suspect a dirty carb also. You can adjust that choke to make full engagement. Do you have a manual, that will explain how? Also check the carb linkage that it is in sync.
 

ezmobee

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
23,767
Re: '73 Johnson 85 stalls at idle/low speed, hard to restart

I do have an OEM service manual. I am, however, concerned about my ability to take apart a carb and put it back together and not have parts leftover......
 

R.Johnson

Rear Admiral
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Messages
4,446
Re: '73 Johnson 85 stalls at idle/low speed, hard to restart

An OMC carb is about as basic, or simple as you can get. Read through the chapters on carbs a couple times, and study the photo's. We can help if you hit a snag.
 
Top