New to the forum... I have had in my possession now for a couple years a 1977 70HP Johnson SeaHorse. I just recently started a good tuneup on it to get it ready to sell. The only problem is that I'm not very experienced on outboards. I have experience in small engines and can find my way around a wrench. So on to my question... I just rebuilt the lower with new pump, gaskets, grommets, ect and reinstalled the lower on the outboard. I then continued to get the throttle controls hooked up. Since I have never had this engine running I wanted to test the compression and fire on the cylinders, so with no fuel hooked up I turned the motor over just to check fire and all coils are firing. I then checked the compression one cylinder at a time by removing one spark plug and installing the compression gauge. All three cylinders read 50psi exactly. I did notice that when turning the engine over it was very sluggish. Is this normal for the compression to be that low? I know you typically want them to be within 15psi of each other. Keep in mind I have no water muffs running and no fuel hooked up. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
