Johnson randomly quit

[.jj.]

I have an older I think 1970's Johnson that's a 10 horsepower. It started up and ran fine to the fishing spot then sputtered out when I slowed down to anchor, which isn't uncommon exempt it wouldn't start back up. I couldn't even get it to sound like it was trying to start. I tried again the next day and same thing, never even sputtered like it was trying to start. The gas bulbs hard so I think it's getting gas fine. I have little experience with boat motors so any suggestions would be helpful!

 

[F_R]

If it actually is 10hp, you are off by 10 years. The 10hp with squeeze bulb tank was made 1960 through 1963. Nevertheless, have the coils been changed? ALL small OMC motors from that time frame have bad (cracked) coils unless they have already been changed. They cause such grief as you describe.

http://s19.postimg.org/h0vatk5mb/Cracked_coils3.jpg

 

[.jj.]

What's the procedure to checking out the coils if that's the problem? Could I just simply check if the plugs are sparking or not?

 

[Triangleboater]

Yes, that would be the first step. See if it is getting spark and we can go from there. Go get a cheapy spark tester and test the spark. I want to bet you have bad coils.

 

[nwcove]

if the coils are original and cracked, they could very well make spark, it just wont do the job. the first thing i would do is remove the recoil starter ( if it is a 10 hp), then remove the teardrop shaped inspection cover on the top of the flywheel and have a look. there is no mistaking those old coils as seen in the link F_R posted.

 

[.jj.]

I checked out the coils and everything looks fine to me. I'm thinking maybe I have water in the gas? It was out in the heavy rain and has a crack in the cap to the tank. Maybe it just ran the gas out of the line then got into water and won't start now? Could that be it? Pump the gas into bottles to check?