Re: 85 johnson sea horse 140hp advice
1985 is the first year the 140 was a "looper" (loop-charged, rather than being a "cross-flow" with a deflector dome piston). <br /><br />OB's right - any of the 140s are pretty highly-tuned. Make sure you don't run gummy (old) gas, and make sure dirt/grit doesn't get into the gas. There are 4 main jets on that motor, one per cylinder, two per carb. If one of those jets gets clogged, the cylinder can run lean, and 2strokes can get real hot when they are run lean. You may not notice it, because the other three are running normally, but it can wear the cylinder walls, melt off the piston top, or sieze up the motor. So - be sure the carbs are clean in the first place, and if you let the motor sit for a while, run the gas out of it and/or mix the last tank with some gas stabilizer. Those V4s have carb bowl drains that are real easy to get to - if you're going to let it sit for a while, pull those off & drain it. <br /><br />If that motor still has the VRO on it, I'd pull it and run premixed fresh gas, with no MORE than 50:1 oil. To be fair, there are mixed opinions on leaving/pulling the VRO.<br /><br />Those motors have a rubber-vaned water pump, that's down in the lower unit (gearbox). The vanes will wear out eventually, so if you don't know for sure that a new impeller's been put in, do that - or at least watch your tell-tale closely.
