Starting a 1988 Johnson that sat for 26 years....where to begin?

[Newbie@boats]

Just bought a fishing boat in excellent shape with a Johnson 110, didn't hear it run when I bought it, but I heard it crank. Got it home tested for spark solid spark throughout all 4 cylinders, prime the ball which does NOT get hard, and still no go. Pulled the plugs out and all 4 were soaked!

Dried them off, cranked the motor with them out, tried again and nothing. Gave it a quick shot of starting fluid and still nothing......hmmmmm has me wondering if there's spark shouldn't the motor pop even if the carbs are no good?

 

[ricohman]

I just finished rebuilding the carbs on my 90hp. And my boat had not been used since the last decade. I would pull the carbs off, dismantle and soak them. Take a fine piece of brass wire and poke through every jet if you can't remove them. And every orifice. Then hose it off and blow it all clean and through with compressed air. The idle jets were plugged in mine and pretty much everything else. And the float needles were shot.
If it did start you are at risk of running lean to a couple of cylinders.
My engine was much like yours to start. After the carb rebuild and a set of plugs it starts with a touch of the key now.

 

[flyingscott]

No will not start if carbs are flooding. Go to the top of the forum in the sticky files and read how to awaken a sleeping outboard. You need to do a compression test then spray fogging oil in the cylinders and if the VRO Is hooked up you want to start it on a 50-1 mix. After 26 years if the vro is still attached I wouldn't use it. You definitely need to put a new waterpump kit in the motor to

 

[GA_Boater]

Here is the waking up link - http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...ning-a-sleeping-outboard-by-boatbuoy?t=158086

 

[Newbie@boats]

Tonight I will pull the carbs rebuild them, replace the spark plugs, and premix the fuel to ensure the oil injection is actually working

 

[Newbie@boats]

Just to give an update:I changed out the spark plugs and it started for a second, pulled the carbs out and they were NASTY! Bad news is there's water inside of them as well, so I will pull the tank, replace the lines, and rebuild the carbs, which I ordered the rebuild kits off iboats!

Me and my buddy also got the trolling motor working, just needs a good cleaning, and we need to figure out the bow lights and anchor light....and with any luck we will be fishing

 

[ricohman]

As suggested above, a new water pump is a must. After you fire it up the impeller could crumble to bits.
No sense in burning up a good motor for the price of a pump kit. I bought one at the dealer because I didn't want to wait but you can find them cheaper on iboats.
Took me a couple hours on the driveway and I had never done one before.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Just to be sure, check the oil tank to see if there is any water at the bottom of that tank also....

 

[Newbie@boats]

Yes, I will absolutely replace the water pump in the lower end in the mean time(letting the carbs soak and waiting for rebuild kits) I will definitely remove & clean out both the gas tank and oil tank.

 

[Newbie@boats]

Just to give an update: removed the gas and oil tank cleaned both over very throughly, rebuild the carbs, added fresh gas, primed the ball and the engine started right up and idled without issue. Replaced the impeller as well, nice steady stream of water.....going to clean it up a bit more and hit the lake this weekend

 

[ricohman]

Nice to see an old motor brought back to life.