86 Johnson carb. question

kgilly22

Cadet
Joined
Apr 27, 2008
Messages
7
I have an 86 Johnson v4 120hp and am not the most mechanical person in the world. I am still awaiting the arrival of my manual and would appreciate any help on this question. I will try to explain this question the best I can. I was looking over my motor and had the cover off and removed the plate that covers up the carbs. Looking into the carbs, in front of the gold plates that open up when throttled I noticed a black circular plastic piece that sticks up about 1/4" in each carb. The plastic piece is right in the middle with respect to left and right. I noticed that on the top right carb this piece was corroded away and almost flush with the plastic base of the carb. My question is what purpose do these pieces serve and how would the corroded piece be fixed. Thanks in advance.
 

Joe Reeves

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
13,262
Re: 86 Johnson carb. question

That plastic upright piece is the high speed nozzle, that is fuel sprays out of that pipe as the throttle is opened.

The flaking away that you see indicates that the nozzle is failing and will affect the operation of the engine. In the past, that pipe/nozzle could be purchased and replaced. However, I have no idea if that is still true or not.

As a last resort, you would need to replace the upper portion of the carburetor(s). If none is available at this site, let me know via a private message and supply me with all the numbers that you can find on the carburetor body.
 

Brew2

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
427
Re: 86 Johnson carb. question

I've got essentially the same motor ('86 140) and had a similar problem. Getting those tubes can be a real bear. None of the dealerships I dealt with would/could get them for you. They wanted to sell you the entire carb body for something around $100.

I eventually tracked a couple tubes down with Dhadley's help, but it took a while. If $$ aren't a big issue, you can just get new carb bodies from a dealership. Alternatively, keep an eye on ebay as carbs for that motor appear fairly regularly. Unfortunately with the ebay route, you may be buying something that isn't much better than what you already have.

Although I'm no engineer and wouldn't recommend it for fear of it causing problems....I did create a couple tubes myself when I was desparate. Took the carb body to a "hose wholesaler" and they fixed me up with some tubing of the same inner/outer diameter. I drilled a few holes in it to match the original and it seemed to work fine.

Good luck!
 

Skip SORENSEN

Recruit
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
1
Re: 86 Johnson carb. question

Brew ll; I believe you posted a fix finding some same size tubing for the
gas pickup in the carb body to replace the flaking one. Any additional info
on this fix would be helpful. Can't find any replacement bodies for a 1986
V140
 

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: 86 Johnson carb. question

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