94 Johnson 9.9 longshaft lost power but stayed running

[fusc1]

Hi all,
First, I have limited experience (I can clean it) with outboards, but I do know some auto mechanics.

I have had this motor for going on two years now and never had a problem until last weekend. Before I bought it the impeller was changed and it was taken care of.

We were out playing around in the bay and the engine became very sluggish to the point at WOT we were barely moving and the motor seemed like it was going to shut off any time. When it became sluggish I checked the stream and it was steady and strong like always, the water was warm like always. I checked the fuel tank and line, the ball was solid. I ran the engine like that at WOT for about 10 minutes to get out of the bay and back into a channel, once we were in the channel the engine stopped all together. 3 pulls later it fired up like nothing was wrong and went back to running like it always did.

When we got back to the boat ramp I checked the inlets, no problems. I pulled the engine cover off, thinking that it got water inside since we were playing in the waves the engine was dry.

Any ideas what I should check and in what order? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[the machinist]

Re: 94 Johnson 9.9 longshaft lost power but stayed running

Have you looked at the spark plugs? Sounds kind of like one cylinder is getting lazy, like a plug being fouled & running on one cylinder.

 

[nphilbro]

Re: 94 Johnson 9.9 longshaft lost power but stayed running

Did the motor have time to cool before you restarted it? Coils and Powerpacks can act up depending on heat. I'm not familiar with the '94 so I'm not sure this applies.

If you can tank it at home do the hair dryer test and see if you can repeat the problem. Do a spark gap check before and after.

 

[fusc1]

Re: 94 Johnson 9.9 longshaft lost power but stayed running

I will check the plugs tomorrow, since I'm going to pull them out anyway, what is the gap supposed to be? I don't have a manual and haven't had any luck finding one.

No the motor shut off and in less than a minute it was running again and as I said it was running like there wasn't a thing wrong. I will try and do the hair dryer test tomorrow also.

Thanks