Johnson 60 Help!

[BigNiner19]

Got a late 1980's early 1990's Johnson 60 HP VRO. 3 Cylinder. Motor has been running great for the past 7 months or so. When I bought the boat/motor around a year ago it looked like the motor had not had the best of maintenence. But I cleaned up everything and replaced all the essentials and got the motor running great. Never heard any clunks or had any problems the last time the motor was out (last week). Went to fire up the motor on the hose today just to keep things lubricated and functioning with all this cold weather, and it fired up and ran for about a minute and then cut off. Couldnt get it to fire back up. Checked the battery, all the connections....no corrosion battery is good (tested multiple ways and even hooked up a brand new 12V battery to it). Starter solenoid and everything is working.

Knowing all that...here is what I have come across....When I manually turn the flywheel up on top of the motor...it will turn 180* right or left...but then gets caught up and WILL NOT turn anymore (in either direction). I took out all three spark plugs and shined a light in and saw all the pistons moving pretty good so they seem okay. Anyone have a clue what might be wrong here....obviously something internal. Any advice or someone that could chime in with a possibility of what may have broke?

Here is a picture of the motor for those who can help identify with it...

Cory

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Did it make any scary noises (as in stuff breaking) when it shut down or did it just quietly die? Also, as you ran it, did you observe the regular outlet for the cooling system, as well as the telltale, to make sure it was ciculating water?

If it is the latter, use a socket and breaker bar (1/2 drive, which will be longer) to turn it at the fly wheel. Don't try to force it if it is obviously binding on something but make sure that you are not just having trouble turning it because of normal compression as a piston approaches TDC.

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Did it make any scary noises (as in stuff breaking) when it shut down or did it just quietly die? Also, as you ran it, did you observe the regular outlet for the cooling system, as well as the telltale, to make sure it was ciculating water?

If it is the latter, use a socket and breaker bar (1/2 drive, which will be longer) to turn it at the fly wheel. Don't try to force it if it is obviously binding on something but make sure that you are not just having trouble turning it because of normal compression as a piston approaches TDC.

Thanks for the reply! Didn't really have any strange noises at all. Everything seemed very normal. It does generally idle a little fast on the hose...but every motor i've ever known does the same thing. I just wouldnt run it long on the hose with no back pressure. It basically just died out quietly. The tell tale was spitting out water like it normally would. I hope I can figure out whats wrong with it atleast!

Cory

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Lemme get this straight. It spins with the starter but you can only turn it 180 by hand? That seems weird. And you're spinning it with the plugs out? It should turn over easily. BTW, it's best not to turn an engine the wrong way as the water pump impeller reverses although some folks think this is not a bad thing.

If it turns over, do a compression test. If it is physically stuck/stopped from turning over and the starter binds up then you will probably have to take it apart to see why.

You also want to make sure if it is the LU or the powerhead that is binding in that case.

And also, are you using the VRO or has it been disconnected? Maybe it stopped functioning?

 

[mikesea]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Unless you through a rod,which would have made an obvious sound,I'm thinking either something in the lower unit,or under the flywheel.Start by pulling the oil drain plug in lower unit,if you have good clean oil,then remove the flywheel,look under flywheel for any parts that may have come undone,if all looks good,with flywheel off ,put flywheel nut bachk and turn the engine over by hand,if you still have same stop,then remove the lower unit ,then check again at the flywheel nut,if its loose at that point its the lower unit,if still stuck its likely inside the motor,there is possibility of a reed breaking and lodging itself somewhere,if you have water in the lowr at first check,remove the lower at that point,let us know what u find,thats how we all learn

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

with the plugs out it should turn pretty easily. make sure it is out of gear. if the starter turns the motor, do you have a emergency kill lanyard. check could have vibrated off, and engaging the kill circuit.

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Lemme get this straight. It spins with the starter but you can only turn it 180 by hand? That seems weird. And you're spinning it with the plugs out? It should turn over easily. BTW, it's best not to turn an engine the wrong way as the water pump impeller reverses although some folks think this is not a bad thing.

If it turns over, do a compression test. If it is physically stuck/stopped from turning over and the starter binds up then you will probably have to take it apart to see why.

You also want to make sure if it is the LU or the powerhead that is binding in that case.

And also, are you using the VRO or has it been disconnected? Maybe it stopped functioning?

It spins with the starter too...only 180* Yes the VRO has been long gone....I have been premixing 50:1 since I owned the boat.

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

with the plugs out it should turn pretty easily. make sure it is out of gear. if the starter turns the motor, do you have a emergency kill lanyard. check could have vibrated off, and engaging the kill circuit.

I do not have an emergency key lanyard. Motor will only turn by hand 180* even with the plugs out.

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Unless you through a rod,which would have made an obvious sound,I'm thinking either something in the lower unit,or under the flywheel.Start by pulling the oil drain plug in lower unit,if you have good clean oil,then remove the flywheel,look under flywheel for any parts that may have come undone,if all looks good,with flywheel off ,put flywheel nut bachk and turn the engine over by hand,if you still have same stop,then remove the lower unit ,then check again at the flywheel nut,if its loose at that point its the lower unit,if still stuck its likely inside the motor,there is possibility of a reed breaking and lodging itself somewhere,if you have water in the lowr at first check,remove the lower at that point,let us know what u find,thats how we all learn

I just changed the lower unit oil the other day. Havent even had the chance to take it out on the water since I changed the lower unit oil. When I changed out the oil I did see a few really small slivers of metal, but I believe that to be normal....especially since the motor had been working so good. No water was found in the lower unit oil when I drained out the old.

What in the lower unit would keep the flywheel from turning all the way around 360*? I really gotta think this is something inside the crankcase somewhere.

Cory

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Unless you have a brand new gear set, I don't think visible metal in your gear oil is normal. Dropping a lower unit isn't particularly difficult so it might be a good idea to do that to see if the lock on powerhead rotation goes away.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

The LU's can seize. I have an 18hp LU sitting on my bench that is seized and I have to take it part and see why. There are parts down there than can bind and jam. I actually thought the engine was toast until I pulled the powerhead and it worked great. So I just replaced the LU with another. Separating them is the only way to know for sure.

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

The LU's can seize. I have an 18hp LU sitting on my bench that is seized and I have to take it part and see why. There are parts down there than can bind and jam. I actually thought the engine was toast until I pulled the powerhead and it worked great. So I just replaced the LU with another. Separating them is the only way to know for sure.

Okay, thanks for the advice everyone. I can have the lower unit off in 10 minutes, so I'll check it out. I should be able to spin the flywheel 360* if the lower unit is bad....is this the understanding Im getting?

Cory

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Yup.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Just a couple other things from your first post. If you post your model number we will be able to determine the exact year for you, which you will need for ordering parts. Also, you mention the cold weather, yet I see that you are in West Palm Beach? If you could only see my boat buried beneath 900 feet of snow right now lol

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

HT, you only have 900? We're over 1,000 up here!

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Just a couple other things from your first post. If you post your model number we will be able to determine the exact year for you, which you will need for ordering parts. Also, you mention the cold weather, yet I see that you are in West Palm Beach? If you could only see my boat buried beneath 900 feet of snow right now lol

High Trim. Many on this forum, and many located near have already tried to identify a model number on my motor. Noone has been successful. There are a coupkle serial numbers that lead to specific part numbers ranging from 1987-1991, which tells me the motor is in this range. But no exact J?????? number or model number that would identify the motor. Nothing on the freeze plug, nothing down by the transom, nowhere is a model number found for some reason. Quite frustrating for me, but my motor had been running so good for such a long time now, and I havent had to hard of a time finding parts to work with it.

And anything below 70* IS TOO COLD for a floridian!

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help! UPDATE!!!!

Re: Johnson 60 Help! UPDATE!!!!

HERE IS AN UPDATE!

Found out the problem with my motor. Lower unit is actually fine (so to speak), as I removed it and was still unable to move the flywheel. I removed the heads on the back of the crankcase and this is what I found.....

You can see that the top and bottom pistons were working pretty nicely. The middle piston is obviously the blown up here, and from the looks of the debris that came out...I'm guessing was a piston ring that broke or something.

The pictures are actually sideways too, I'm not sure why they didnt show up vertically after I resized them.

I guess I'm now in the market for a new motor, or a rebult/new powerhead atleast. I'm trying to keep my expenses as far down as possible being a college graduate student with minimal expenses at the moment....Im thinking maybe if I can find a used yamaha 4 stroke 50HP (although it may weigh a bit to much than I would like on the back of my boat)...or something else, maybe I can find a nice deal on a solid 60HP 2 stroke Johnson powerhead that I can just bolt right up and get back on the water with.

Cory

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

It does have the identical decals as the 1990. I checked ebay and the Florida Craigslist but did not see any power heads that would work for you. Tashasdaddy is from the FLorida area and may be able to reccomend where to look.

"http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.marktheman.com/jpg%255Cjohnson.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.marktheman.com/BW.HTM&h=360&w=270&sz=63&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=pl3zung2EnQ-pM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=91&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1990%2BJohnson%2B60%2Bhp%2B%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dstrict%26client%3Ddell-row%26channel%3Dca%26sa%3DG%26ad%3Dw5"

 

[BigNiner19]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

It does have the identical decals as the 1990. I checked ebay and the Florida Craigslist but did not see any power heads that would work for you. Tashasdaddy is from the FLorida area and may be able to reccomend where to look.

"http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.marktheman.com/jpg%255Cjohnson.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.marktheman.com/BW.HTM&h=360&w=270&sz=63&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=pl3zung2EnQ-pM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=91&prev=/images%3Fq%3D1990%2BJohnson%2B60%2Bhp%2B%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dstrict%26client%3Ddell-row%26channel%3Dca%26sa%3DG%26ad%3Dw5"

High Trim,

Thanks for looking, hopefully I can find something to get me back on the water. I'd hate to leave everything sitting and rotting away which would cause more problems.

Cory

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Johnson 60 Help!

Drop the lower unit and spin the engine. If still binds it's an internal problem (broken ring, piston skirt, rod, etc). If is free, then there is a lower unit problem.