1987 Johnson not idling

[Chrishaglerr]

Okay so last week on the water, my 87 50hp Johnson started bogging down and eventually died. Fired back up after sitting for like 10 mins and then ran perfect for 3-4 hours. Took it home and threw some muffs on and fired her up and she started smoking like crazy so pulled the cover and saw a bunch of fuel pouring from the carb... 2 rebuild kits later, I successfully rebuilt the carbs and no more leaking. Decided to do some routine maintenance and did the fuel/water separator filter which was completely torn apart on the inside form being so old, and had a bunch of water in it. Replaced that with a new filter.

When I fire it up now, it runs fine at a higher RPM (2000 or so) but idles rough and then dies at idle/low RPMs. Figured maybe it was the fuel pump so rebuilt that today...no luck. Went ahead and hooked it up to an external tank completely bypassing the water/fuel separator and it ran a lot better but still eventually died on idle speeds. When I choke the carbs when it starts dieing, it does revive it for a split second and then runs rough again.

Figured maybe it was bad fuel so went ahead and took a sample from the connection that clips into the motor by compressing the ball and pumping with the bulb and found small amounts of water in the fuel AFTER the water separator..as if its not doing its job. So I completely drained the tank, put another new filter on with fresh ethanol free fuel primed and a fresh tank of ethanol free fuel. Fired it up and still no luck! It still dies on idle. Even took the spark plugs and switched those for new.

Pretty sure its a fuel problem but what could it be? All new lines and bulb. Carb rebuild, fuel pump rebuild, fresh fuel, new fuel/water separator.

Only thing I'm curious about is the Fuel Solenoid on the side of the motor with the red lever on it. Read a post on here where someone said theirs went bad but I'm not even sure what it does or if its pointing in the correct direction (pointing towards front of boat). I read that someones primer melting in there or something and they removed it and it idled perfect and then replaced it but not too sure on how to mess with it. When I started the boat, as soon as I turned the key I did notice some fuel squirt out of that fuel solenoid but only as it cranked up.

Any idea?! I feel like I'm going crazy over here haha.

 

[savetexomabeaches]

low idle jets adjusted properly?

 

[ondarvr]

Sounds like the carb is still dirty.

 

[Chrishaglerr]

low idle jets adjusted properly?

Where can I find the low idle jet on my carb? I sprayed carb cleaner through all orfices and what I believe were the jets but I didn't remove any jets. Just did a cleaning and rebuild on both carbs.

 

[racerone]

The original carburetors did not have adjustable jets !------What other trouble shootying has been done , if any?----The red lever should be in line with the solenoid body for running.----Do a compression test on this motor.

 

[Chrishaglerr]

The original carburetors did not have adjustable jets !------What other trouble shootying has been done , if any?----The red lever should be in line with the solenoid body for running.----Do a compression test on this motor.

Compression was great, no issue there. Checked spark which was good but changed plugs anyways. Red lever is facing towards the front of the boat. Like I said it did squirt fuel out of it when I turned the key over which I don't think is supposed to happen but I'm not very knowledgeable on that lever

 

[racerone]

The red lever is for manual operation of that primer.----------Used when the battery is dead and you need to use a rope to start it.-----Best to make sure you check your manual to see where the lever should be for electric operation.------Sounds like more trouble shooting is required.-------Checked flywheel key ?-------Checked reed valves ?-------------Is a thermostat installed and working properly ?

 

[thatone123]

Maybe you should have carbs cleaned professionally if possible. Spray can carb cleaning sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. Dunking in a gallon bucket of Berrymans or Gunk often does a much better cleaning. Even with that it does not always do the job. It is seldom necessary to remove those small plugs, only as a last resort and if the new plug is not closed or seated for sure, that can evolve into it's own problem. Even after the Berrymans to avoid having to clean carb a second time, I am going to hypersonic carbs after the Berrymans from now on, on some carbs anyway. Soaking in Berrymans for 24 hours can do wonders on some carbs that are not a near total loss. Also contemplating Berrymans or another brand in the Ultrasonic cleaner. I hardly think it would get much better than that for the home user at least.

 

[snookface1]

Carbs are spotless. Rebuilt fuel pump. Pulled the electric primer solenoid and found a crack in the red lever, easy fix but also noticed the back of the solenoid is melted. Put tester on and read 5.2 ohms. Good per specs.

 

[ondarvr]

You said the filter had water in it, plus the filter element was falling apart, did you clean the carbs after that?

​Also, E-10 fuel can help remove water from the tank and/or carb, if that's the problem.

​Still sounds like the low speed circuit in the carb is dirty.

 

[juno pierrat]

the idle circuit includes two small holes under the core plugs, if you take carbs off again i would check there, thatone123 said something about the possibility of the plugs not seating, finger nail polish would seal it nicely
i know the problem about long idling and motor quieting, also disconnect the linkage between carbs and see if that helps.
you say compression is good , what are the numbers?