96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

[fishe]

Today I got my boat back from the shop. It had some carb issues that were repaired. I got it in the water, started great, idled great, ran great. I had it at about 4K RPM's for awhile before I opened it up. Once I opened it up to full throttle I started to tap the trim up to hit top speed. Once I did this an alarm started to go off underneath the dash board and the motor immediatley backed itself off and seemed like it was studdering until I got it back down to a very slow speed. The alarm went off and the motor was still running. After a couple minutes I tried to give it more throttle and it did the same thing. I brought it down to idle and shut the motor off. I let it sit there for no more than 5 seconds, started it up, and got it back up to 4K RPM's normally, no issues. I ran it at that speed for another 3-4 minutes and tried to get back on the throttle, it did the same thing after at full throttle for a couple seconds - alarm on, studdering and shaking until I brought it down to a very slow speed. Is this the overheat alarm or an oil injection alarm? There is plenty of oil in the housing (it's oil injected). HELP!!!!!

 

[boobie]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Sounds like you have an overheat situation and the mtr is going into SLOW. To get it out of SLOW you have to stop flywheel rotation which you did. This has nothing to do with the oil injection system.

 

[fishe]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Thank you. Does this mean I need need to replace empeller or is it not as simple as that? What would cause it to overheat? I appreciate your response boobie!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Overheat can be due to lots of things. 1) something the "mechanics" did when they worked on the engine. 2) bad water pump 3) plastic bag or other debris covering the water pickups on the lower unit, 4) engine running lean from bad carburetor work, 5) sand or other debris clogging the cooling system 6) bypass stuck closed (just to name a few). Is there a good stream from the tell tale?

 

[fishe]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

no plastic bag or debris covering the water pickups, I'm sure of that. As far as the stream, it is supposed to have one of those gray quick disconnect things on it that allows the hose to quickly connect to the motor. I didn't have this on it. The water coming out of the motor kind of sputters out, there isn't a steady stream of water coming out but there is water coming out.

 

[boobie]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Is the orginal pee hole fitting on the back of the mtr on it, or is there a hole there about the size of a quarter? If the pee hole fitting is gone this could cause an over heat.

 

[fishe]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

The grey pee hole fitting is not on there, the whole is the size of a quarter and has threads in it so you could screw a hose straight to it. I took the grey pee hole fitting off because it looked like it wasn't allowing water to pee out of it.

 

[boobie]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Go to your dlr and get the orginial fitting and oring that came with the mtr and install that. Then take it for a ride and see what happens.

 

[cr2k]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Then replace your impeller if it has bee 2 years or more since last done.

 

[fishe]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

If replacing the impeller and putting on the factory fitting will fix this, that would be great. It has been way over two years. I also read a thread to where you shouldn't have the motor running while flushing the motor through this fitting because you are running with the impeller dry. I have been doing this just like I did on prior boats with the rabbit ear system. Sounds like I shouldn't have... I hope it wasn't the "mechanic" that made it run too lean that's causing this. Keep em coming guys, I really appreciate it from everyone, this is a great forum.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

so you were running with rabbit ears and a hose in the flush system????

I think we can all agree that your motor missing the fitting on the back and not allow pressure to build might be the source of your over heat issue...

get that first...and run the boat....if your motor is cooling fine and you ahve a strong stream...you might be fine...

do you have a water pressure guage or a temperature guage??

PS : BOOBIE is only partially correct about getting the motor out of slow.. the book says you have to turn off the key, AND have the temperature fall below 207 degree.....

maybe turning off the key implies the crankshaft has stopped...but the temperature has to fall below 207 in any case as well

bob

 

[boobie]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Sorry, I forgot about the temp. I "sit" corrected.

 

[fishe]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

definitely not using both rabbit ears and hose flush system at the same time, i was starting the motor with the hose flush system just as i used to with the rabbit ears. got a set of rabbit ears this morning to check pressure of water coming out. I have a pressure gauge but the hose was cut during a trolling motor installation on the transom. I'll update after using the advice given. thanks guys!

 

[fishe]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Ok, bought a set of rabbit ears and put on the flush sytem piece to see what the water pressure was as well as if the motor would overheat. It definitley overheated just idling in the driveway. Alarm went off about 8-10 minutes into idling and I could feel the water getting hotter as time went along. water was coming out of the flush nozzel, but not in a a very good stream, that is to say, stream wasn't straight, but arched. Is this the impellar? I have an impellar kit on the way as it's been a long time since it's been changed.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

FISHE,

If your motor is really a 1996 or newer, you should have the 4 warning lights either on the Tachometer or on a separate 2" gauge. That is called SystemCheck. Was it the HOT light that came on?

The others are correct, you need the "pee-hole" fitting in the back of the motor where you flush it with a hose otherwise the motor may overheat.

 

[fishe]

Re: 96 Johnson 115 Alarm Under Dash going off at high RPM's, Motor Studdering

Removed lower unit. A lot of fun that was. The impeller was definitely shot. It was in pieces. It had gotten so hot the the housing on the outside of the metal cup melted. More parts on the way. Moral of the story, know your boat. I can't believe I wasn't supposed to have the motor running when I was flushing it. You think you are doing something good for your motor...not the case here. By the way, I should change the lower unit oil while I'm in to this correct? How many quarts does it take? I bought one.

The motor is definitely a 1996. (J115SLEDR) It has a tach for sure. I didn't notice any warning lights, I just heard the alarm.