225 HP Johnson would not crank

Palestro

Recruit
Joined
May 12, 2010
Messages
1
I purchased a Seaboss 235 WA from VeroSports Imports in Florida and had the boat shipped to Oman with WatercrftMix Co. The bot arrived on the 24th March and is sitting on Jacks in a marina. The motor would not crank. I have a mechanic and an electrician trying for weeks to solve the problem but so far no avail. I am desperately looking for a solution. I fell in a trap that I tried very hard to stay from. Buy a boat from the US, ship it to Oman and have it sit on jacks due to the engine not cranking. I downloade the manual, had the electrician and mechanic review it. I got advice from experts on MarinEngine.com, but nothing seems to work. One of the problems is no one in Oman worked or knows about Johnson outboard Motors. Any advice from anyone will be appreciated. Thank you.

Best Regards
 

daselbee

Commander
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
2,765
Re: 225 HP Johnson would not crank

Let's go at this systematically.

I saw your marineengine.com posts.

First...what year is the motor? Model number?

Secondly, EXACTLY what do you mean by "would not crank"?
I want to define the exact problem. Do you mean that the motor will not "turn over" or spin with the starter motor, or do you mean that it spins, but will not "fire" or start and run.

People have different definitions for the word "crank".

Here a few things to try.

Make sure you have muffs on the lower unit with the water on so that if it starts, you will not damage the water pump.

If motor will not spin over with the starter motor:
1. With key off, use heavy jumper cables directly from the battery to the starter motor terminals.
Connect the negative battery cable to a good engine ground (no paint) and the touch the positive cable to the large terminal on the side of the starter. It is the terminal that has a large wire maybe 6" long that goes back to the starter solenoid.
The starter should spin up, engage the flywheel, and turn the motor over.
If no starter motor action, look for bad starter ground, bad starter, bad battery.
2. If engine turns over with the starter motor, turn the small red lever on the primer solenoid to the manual position (Not pointing toward the base of the solenoid) and squeeze the primer bulb 2 to 3 times. Turn the primer solenoid red lever back to run position (pointing toward the base of the solenoid). Turn the key to the on position, and re-try start using the same jumper cable test. It may start, so be ready to turn the key off to shut it down.
3. Still no start, remove the plastic panel on the lower port side that covers the electrical connections box. You will see various Deutsch connectors of differing styles. Locate the ONE Deutsch connector that has 6 multi-colored wires in it. The colors will be purple, black, yellow/red, red/purple, black/yellow....etc. Six of them.
Disconnect that connector, and leave disconnected.
Re-try starting with the jumper cables to the starter method. Again it may start, so be sure you have water running to the lower unit with muffs. The only way to shut it down with that connector loose is to re-connect it, and turn the key off, or choke it out with rags over the carbs....but the air silencer is probably on at this point...sooo.....just don't be surprised if it starts.

Still no start, something is wrong with the ignition system. You must test for spark at the plugs. I don't know what tools you have, but the specification is that the spark must jump 7/16 inch air gap, with the engine turning over at 300 rpms or more using the starter motor, all plugs out so it spins fast. If it IS sparking, BE VERY CAREFULL, because there will be atomized fuel air mix spraying out of the spark plug holes. You can cause a fire at this point. MAke sure the other plug wires are not free to dangle and spark to ground right in front of a plug hole....get it?

If no spark on any wires, you must debug the ignition system.
Go to www.cdielectronics.com and look in their troubleshooting section for a step by step procedure to use when debugging the ignition.

Possible problems are:
1. Bad power pack.
2. Bad stator.
3. Bad timer base.
4. Flywheel not aligned with keyway when installed, or flywheel magnets loose or missing. Pay special attention to the inner magnet ring if you get into the flywheel inspection steps.
5. Corroded or pushed back connector pins in the connectors under the power pack.


That should give you a place to begin looking...
Post back with exact details on what these results are.
 
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