Johnson 115 cough at idle

[searay24]

So I just got my boat back from the local marine service place. I have a 1973 johnson 115. It ran great just started hard so I just wanted someone with experience to go over the whole motor and figure out what was going on. Come to find out the battery was bad so he went ahead and put a new battery in and did some fine adjustments....what he called a "lync and sync". I just got back from taking her out and it deffinetly starts alot stronger but at idle speed it coughs every now and then and when i'm at really low idle it'll run rough and just stall out sometimes. When i open her up she seems to run fine just coughing at idle......but my thing is...is that it NEVER did this until after I got it back but I don't belive there is any mixture screws to mess around with or anything like that and he said he didn't touch the carbs. Anyone have any clue as to why it is now giving me this problem?
thanks!!
james

 

[tschamp20]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

what all work did you have done? what do you mean by hard start? alot of cranking? if so most likeky choke,the sputtering may also be carbs.is the manual choke lever in the right position,dont know why i ask just something i might check.maybe time for the carbs to be rebuilt,how long has it been?there are no adjustable jets. btw,rebuilding the carbs is extremally easy $40 bucks in parts.gratifying doing it yourself.i have the factory manual let me know if you need any scanner pics from the manual.

 

[tschamp20]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

what if any did the mechanic adjust during the link n sync. ive completally rebuilt my motor and put a new stator in and my motor never needed any adjustment during sync.maybe ive been lucky!

 

[Solittle]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

Were it mine I would take it back to the guy I paid to fix it and leave the tools in the toolbox.

 

[tschamp20]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

yeah, what he said too!!!!

 

[searay24]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

I haven't really done anything to the motor besides change the plugs and I replaced the seals and water pump. I just bought the boat last year toward the end of the season so I don't know anything about the mechanical history on it. I'm not sure what all got ajusted...whatever a link & sync involves i would guess. He did says that he barely adjusted anything as it was all pretty close. He said it might sound like it is ideling a bit higher which it does. Just weird that before this I did not have this problem. By hard starting I do mean alot of cranking. I did think it was something to do with the carbs and/or the choke...that is why I wanted a mechanic to take a look at it because I did not want to get into that because this is the first boat I've owned and wanted someone just to give it a good look at everything. He put a volt meter on it and volts dropped to 8 new battery solved that. I hooked it up the the muffs and let it idle and it does have the same cough every now and then. I mean...I would rather have had the hard starting problem then this. I called him while I was out on the boat and explained to him what was going on and he replied that it sounded as it was running lean and the carbs should get re-built. cowinsidence or what?? Also the throttle/shift lever seems to have more play in it...Seemed as I had more low speed control before.

 

[searay24]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

I'm not even sure what a link and sink really is...My thoughts were that the adjustment screws on the throttle cables were getting adjusted during a link and sync. they are attatched to a black cylinder looking thing. I had messed around with these alot thinking that I needed to set the idle higher this having to do with my starting issue. Do these even get adjusted during a link and sync? If not that may be the reason that I'm seeing so much play in the lever. What does a mechanic do when he preforms a link and sync??
You can probably really tell now that i'm going into this without any knowlege on this stuff.

 

[TD_Maker]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

I had a Johnnyrude that used to do the same thing. It sure sounds like the stator has a crack in it.

 

[tschamp20]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

it involves syncing up carbs w/ timing.the adjustments you made on the cables may explain the play in controls.not the cough probably im no expert.but i still would guess you need to adjust your chokes.ill look for a recent post.ill be back

 

[dsinger]

Re: Johnson 115 cough at idle

coughing is a line condition. start with carbs with complete kit then go from there