Johnson won't start

[iggyw1]

HELP! I have a 1990 Johnson outboard. There are absolutely no numbers on the motor whatsoever. One mechanic in the past told me it is a 30 H.P motor with a 35 HP cover. Another one told me it is a 35 HP motor. No way to really tell. I never had to buy parts since I owned it, but I need something now.

I went out a few days ago and going about half throttle, it felt like a misfire happened. Just a quick "bump" like I hit something in the water. Being it happened three times that day, I thought it may be just a misfire. I changed the spark plugs and went out again today.

Again, going about half throttle, I felt the same thing again, feeling like a very quick misfire. The second time it did this today, the motor shut of instantly. It would not start again, and the starter would not turn at all. I jumped the started solenoid and then tried the starter again and it turned but very slowly, like I had a dead battery which I did not. i have two batteries and both fully charged. Starter quit turning even slowly again and will not spin at all. I held the key on, and saw a very little sign of smoke coming out of the top of the starter, and I shut the key off . I let things cool off and tried it again, and got nothing to spin. Could it be the starter itself, or the solenoid? Or is it something under the flywheel that could have happened?

IF it is the starter, will it be the same starter for a 30 H.P and a 35 H.P 1990 Johnson? )I have no way to know what the true size is). I have a feeling that thru the years, this motor may have been stolen and ALL numbers and tags removed intentionally. This is just a guess however. Thanks for any help or suggestions on how to check things out.

 

[racerone]

Drain the gear oil and see if there are any metal chunks in there.-----Have you installed a new water pump impeller?

 

[tphoyt]

Can you turn the flywheel by hand. I would be suspicious of an over heat.

 

[iggyw1]

Drain the gear oil and see if there are any metal chunks in there.-----Have you installed a new water pump impeller?

I will drain the gear oil to see if there are shavings in it. I did not change the water impeller since I had the boat two years ago. The previous owner showed me a receipt that he had it done just before I bought it and I have not really put too many hours on the boat since I had it.

 

[iggyw1]

Racer One, I replied over an hour ago that I will drain the oil, but failed to hit send, so I sent it now. I just drained the oil, and I will be very honest here, there was no oil in there! No water and very little old oil, maybe a few ounces at best. So I did drain what was in there, re-filled it and drained it again.

After draining the new oil out and checking for metal pieces, when I refilled it again (by the way, no metal shavings or chunks), I saw a little bit of the new oil coming out from behind the prop. I removed the prop, and there was weeds coiled in around the bottom of the prop shaft and it actually looked like fish line, but it was definitely weeds. I took them off, checked the seal very closely, checked the rubber hub in the prop, and put it back together. No more oil leak that I could see.

My motor started right up with one turn of the key and ran for awhile on muffs. Just wondering now if at the time the motor shut off on it's own when it felt like a miss fire, I put the shifter in neutral to restert it and starter did not spin or click or anything, just wondering if the gears could have been stuck in forward even though I was in neutral being there was no oil in the gear case??? It all seems fine now, but I will take it to the lake tomorrow to check it out I will put an update on this post tomorrow when I get back. Thank you for your advice to drain that oil. Hopefully I caught it early enough to prevent the damage that could have happened if I kept going like it was if the starter did not quit on me. Thank you!

 

[iggyw1]

Can you turn the flywheel by hand. I would be suspicious of an over heat.

Yes, I turned the flywheel by hand, and I had a good pisser going when I left the dock. This motor never ran hot for me as yet. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[racerone]

The " no oil " in the lower unit seems to explain it all.-----Take lower unit apart for repairs as needed.----Might be cheaper to find a used lower unit !!

 

[iggyw1]

The " no oil " in the lower unit seems to explain it all.-----Take lower unit apart for repairs as needed.----Might be cheaper to find a used lower unit !!

Problem I have with this motor is that I cannot identify if it is a 30 or 35 H.P. 1990 Johnson. There are no numbers, tags, serial numbers. nothing to be found to I.D. this motor. I said it kinda makes me think that through the years, it was a stolen motor. I've only had it for a few years myself, and bought if from a stranger. Are the lower units the same? on the 30 & 35 H.P 1990 motors?

I was going to take it to the lake tomorrow, run it around a little bit then bring it home and drain the oil again and see if it is still in there or is it gone again. It seems to not be leaking right now after running it in a drum on muffs, and it was leaking from behind the prop after I filled it with new oil. Since then I removed a bunch of weeds that looked like fish line but they were weeds. No oil leaking currently after running the motor on muffs. Is it possible for there to be no damage from no oil if it was ran with no oil for just a few minutes?

 

[racerone]

For me the " bump " when it was running is a HUGE clue.----Then again " hope " is eternal.-----Go ahead and run it.-----Make sure you have oars and paddles handy.

 

[iggyw1]

For me the " bump " when it was running is a HUGE clue.----Then again " hope " is eternal.-----Go ahead and run it.-----Make sure you have oars and paddles handy.

Thanks again. I do have oars AND I do have on the water towing service available on any lake in Michigan, so I will be ok if anything happens. I also have an electric trolling motor (that's what I used today to get back to the dock). I plan on going out there again tomorrow on lake St Clair and run around "close to the ramp". Gonna put some miles on it. Turn it off and on, slow and fast speeds etc. etc. giving it a good workout, and let's see what happens.

I have no idea whatsoever how long I went with no oil in the gear case. I did put new oil in it in the fall of the year before I parked it in a garage for the Mich. winter, and I used it only three times this season. Could have just ran out today for some reason for all I know, but again, it had a lot of weeds behind the prop until I removed them today. Did not know they were there until I refilled the oil today after you suggested it, and oil leaked out from behind the prop. It is not leaking currently in my driveway after I removed the weeds. They were very thin and I actually thought it was fishline. The seal around the prop shaft looks like new still. Didn't see any damage, but the weeds were definitely pushing in on the seal 'cuz they were packed in there.

Also, you said the "bump" was a huge clue to you, what does the bump usually mean so I can learn more here? Thanks.