Looking for Motor Information

[Tmacular]

Hey Gents,

Just bought a new boat with a new motor for this year. Im used to working with the Chrysler guys who have been fantastic and now its time to move upward .

Just looking for any good information you can provide me with for this motor.

85 H.P. Johnson
Model- 856ESL-73M
Serial- J3857209

With my old motor I got some good leads for sites with specs, and good sites for parts. Just looking for anything and everything you know. Gas mileage, reliability, known issues etc etc.

Thanks a bunch,

Tony

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Looking for Motor Information

You've got a 1973 long shaft engine. Pretty much the standard version. A solid, reliable engine in it's day. Parts can be viewed at the factory website: epc.brp.com. It's handy to make a hard copy of the 20 or so pages from this catalog. Your engine is one of the early ones with all solid-state ignition. If the ignition components are in good shape, you should get reliable ignition service from it. It's the first year to change from the electric shift lower unit. (a good thing!) A couple of things: That 85 model is visually the same as the 115, 135 that year, but it's not. The block is actually only 92.6 cubic inches instead of the 99 cubic inches for the 115 and 135 that year (and all V4 crossflows from 1979 and up.) That engine was never known for it's fuel efficiency, but it makes lots of torque and can be a smooth runner. I'd do a compression check first, to make sure the engine is worth putting some $ and effort into it. New, the compression was probably around 125 lbs. First on your replacement list would probably be the water pump (impeller) and the vernatherm (thermostat.) No reason to go boating and find you have an overheat 2 miles from the boat ramp. Any original rubber fuel components were not made to handle today's ethanol fuels, so you could have problems with rubber hoses, fuel pump bladder- delaminating internally. You may want to change them out. Any new factory hoses purchased under an original 1973 part number will be 2013 EPA fuel compliant. Original factory manuals are still available for this engine: outboardbooks.com. If you plan to do any work on this yourself, don't even consider any manuals other than the factory ones.

 

[Tmacular]

Re: Looking for Motor Information

Thanks very much for the detailed post. Tons of info I was looking for. I bought a 77 Sea Sprite and this came on it. It had no gas running to the motor but I did get it to jump with starting fluid. Everything up top looked clean and he had receipts for the LU being rebuilt by a local shop for 1100 last fall. Signs on the shaft collar and lower proved it to be accurate and fluid looked excellent with a brand new intake screen inside as well. The motor itself I have not tested in water (Michigan) but hope to get it in a bucket and based on what I have seen I have no worries about the motor running fine. I will do a compression check by the weekend and post my results afterwards for safety. As for the block size, is that a search parameter for parts, or just for my own knowledge?

I plan to change lower oil, all fuel hoses, plugs to start and see how she runs. I do plan to do most work myself, I used to have an old Evinrude and heard good things about this motor from a friend. Thanks for all the great info, I will get back with compression in a few days and look into the sites mentioned.

Tony

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Looking for Motor Information

Best not to use starting fluid to get the engine to fire. There is no lube oil in starting fluid and you don't want to damage the internal rotating assembly. Put some premix ( 50 to 1) into a small spray bottle and spray that in the carbs instead.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Looking for Motor Information

Here's your manual 1973 Johnson Outboard Motor Service Manual 85 HP Model 85ESL73 Boat Engine L | eBay I have the same motor and I had one of these manuals. Both are great.

 

[Tmacular]

Re: Looking for Motor Information

EMD,

I am aware of the starting fluid risk..just happen to have some and before I bought it I wanted to make sure it popped. How about muffs? I know my old chrysler was really risky to muff it even for 10 seconds. Can you muff these outboards for short intervals without damage risk?

EZ,

Thats the cheapest I have seen one. Gonna pick that one up. I found some others on ebay for 27.00 but not original. Thanks for the lead!

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Looking for Motor Information

The engines will run just fine for lengthy periods on the garden hose. Each spring, I run my outboards for 15-20 minutes to check the cyl head temps and water flow prior to dunking them in the lake for the year. Personally, I wouldn't leave it unattended while running. Your engine does not have the telltale on it. (came out on the 1978 models.) Start the engine on the garden hose. You will want to hold the palm of your hand behind the two exhaust relief ports at the top of the midsection. After 30-60 seconds of running, the thermostat (vernatherm) will open and water droplets will form on the palm of your hand. That's a normal-and a good sign the impeller/thermostat are working.