What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

[TheOutlaw]

Wanted to know if anybody can help me with the year of my outboard. I looked all over there is no serial number. I do have some pictures but I don't know how to add them, due to the fact I'm new at this. Any help would greatly appreciated

 

[kfa4303]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

HI Outlaw. Welcome to iboats. Check the transom clamp for a small riveted tag. It's usually on the left side. It may have been painted over, but there should be a model and serial number on there. You can also look for a welch plug about the size of a quarter on the engine block itself. The 18-20 hp motors used the FD model prefix followed by a two digit number and a letter. My FD-20C is a '66, and FD-19 is a '65, and FD-18 is a '64 and so on. If it has red/white two-tone paint job with an all-aluminum cowl then it's a 50's era motor (the coolest looking for sure and very desirable), if it's all white (or white and dark green lower unit) with a fiberglass cowl then it's probably a 60's era motor (the 20 hp didn't come out until '66, I believe. Prior to that is was an 18 hp which was virtually identical) If your motor is 20 hp, then it's '66, or newer. The 70's, 80's, 90's motors are pretty easy to spot thanks to all the ugly stickers and paint schemes and increased use of plastics and electronics on the engines. Most folks here tend to shy away from them. Here's a pic of some of my 60's era motors for reference. Let me know if you think yours it looks newer or older than mine based on the previous descriptions.

('66 20 hp) (FD-20C)

('61 10 hp) (QD-22)

 

[TheOutlaw]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

My motor looks newer but I did find some numbers but they don't even look close to being a serial number and I did find a welsh plug but those numbers don't make sense I can get those numbers for you and I do have pictures but I can't figure out how to post them. Thanks for your help.

 

[F_R]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

Act as if you are going to make a reply, and you will see a "Go Advanced" button next to the "Post Reply" button. Click on that and follow the prompts to upload the pictures from your computer. Click "Done" and return the the reply page to post it.

 

[TheOutlaw]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

file:///C:/Documents%20afile:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/Desktop/Boat%20pics/motor%20photo%202.jpfile:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/Desktop/Boat%20pics/boat%20motor%203.jfile:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/Desktop/Boat%20pics/boat%20motor%204.pngpegegnd%20Settings/Owner/Desktop/Boat%20pics/motor%20photo%201.jpeg


Ok theres the pictures I hope that works

 

[TheOutlaw]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard





Try #2

 

[JB]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

What we need, outlaw, is the model number, not the serial number. That looks too new to me to have a FD series model number(they changed the model number coding about 1970). Your model number might be something like J20E73.

Don't worry about numbers you find making any sense to you. If they did you wouldn't be asking for help, but we have to see the numbers to make any sense out of them. Tell us what numbers you find, and where.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

+1. Looks sort of mid 80's era to me, but that's just a guess.

 

[TheOutlaw]

Re: What year is my 20 Johnson outboard

I did find some numbers, I tried to research them and came up with nothing. When I get back home if you need to know the location I can tell you. But here they are...

12J01
188055
326713
335636
R8565488

It was kinda hard to read them so it's possible I could have some of the numbers wrong.
I do remember the 12J01 was on the bracket that mounts to the transom