Johnson 200hp problems ?

[ec2578]

I have a problem with my Johnson engine.<br />It is a 1989 200hp vro. When you lightly throttle into forward the engine wants to stall and when you throttle into reverse it does stall. If you throttle hard in either forward or reverse it will go in but when you go back to neutral it stalls. At this point it is very hard to start but when it starts it will idle at 900rpms. I have changed the spark plugs, wires, flywheel, vro pump, gas filters and all new fuel lines. The compression is fine. I have heard that it might be the shift interrupt switch.<br /> Thanks for any help.

 

[ob]

Re: Johnson 200hp problems ?

Symptoms sound to me like your idle or low speed fixed orifices in carbs are restricted.Common problem.If you feel it may be the shift interupter switch ,you could try and bypass it and see if your problem goes away.This switch momentarily kills 1,3,& 5 when shifting.

 

[ec2578]

Re: Johnson 200hp problems ?

I have pulled off the carbs and they had looked fine. I may have a problem associated with my fuel. I am the new owner of a boat that has been sitting for at least two years and it seems to have the same gas in it. I tried to siphon some of it out and refresh with new but it is hard when you have 240 gallons of gas. Could the old gas still be causing it to hard start? If it runs at idle for 10 minutes and shuts off you have to really try hard to get it started again.<br />Also I had no spark on 3 wires but the flywheel was bad I have changed that.

 

[ob]

Re: Johnson 200hp problems ?

Do you now have spark on all cylinders?Yes ,bad gas could still most definately be a problem associated with poor performance.How exactly did you determine that the fixed orifices in all of the carbs were clear and clean?Did you remove them and inspect?<br /><br />First things first.You definately need to completely evacuate the fuel tank of all of its old fuel and flush the lines from tank to engine with clean fuel.You'll also need to plan on removing the carbs,one at a time if necessary, and dismantle them and clean the orifices and porting thoroughly.There simply are no shortcuts when dealing with bad fuel and or contaminated carburetors.I highly recommend obtaining a manual specific to your engine if you plan on undertaking this task.Keep the board apprised of your findings.<br />If you prefer to remedy the engine problem first ,it will need to be test run using a known clean portable fuel tank until the on board larger one is clean of all contaminants.