Hi,
I'm new to the forum here and came across it while trying to figure out online what's going on with my 2001 Johnson 70 HP. So far the boat and motor have been at 3 separate marine repair shops over the last 2 seasons, with it currently sitting at the 3rd mechanic of the 3 during the week while I'm not using the boat, and none of them have been able to solve the problem. So, I'm hoping maybe someone on here has some ideas of what the issue might be as I'm really getting desperate for a solution.
I bought the boat used 4 years ago and from the start, it would cut out occasionally when I accelerated from idle. This would never happen on the first run of the day, only after it had been run at least once and some days it wouldn't happen at all. Over time, I realized that if I gave it some choke just as it was about to cut out or even just before hitting the throttle then the engine would pick back up again and I'd be off. I knew the engine had some sort of issue but I had an easy work around so I didn't worry too much about it.
This season however, I started losing a cylinder after running the boat for a bit. Never the first run of the day, and by no means every time out, but it was happening fairly frequently. I took it in, to a couple local mechanics near my home, both of whom did not solve the problem but tried cleaning the carbs among a few other simple fixes, and it now sits at the marina on the lake my cottage is located on where they work on it during the week while I fish out of it on the weekend. It has been there for over 4 weeks now, and still the problem persists.
Here's a list of what I know has been tried so far:
- Carb cleaning
- Plugs replaced
- Compression confirmed good in all cylinders
- All 3 coils replaced
So far, in the last couple hours of running start and stop I haven't had a cylinder drop out on me, so maybe that is fixed, but the cutting on acceleration continues to be an issue and I can't help but think they are somehow related. The consensus among folks I've spoken with is that it is likely some sort of electrical issue. A symptom that may be relevant is that sometimes the kill switch tether does not need to be attached to the key ignition to start and run the motor. I have also had the dash panel drop out on me several times in the past while running, tachometer, voltmeter, lights, everything, however this has not occurred within the past month or two.
If anyone has any ideas I'd be very interested in hearing them. I'm the first to admit that I don't know a whole lot about small engines, but I'm not completely ignorant either and have a neighbour who is pretty handy. I will pass on any advice I get to the marina it is currently at to try to help them out. If the marina does not come up with a fix this week, I will likely just tow it home after next weekend, buy the service manual, and tinker around with it trying to figure out the issue.
Any ideas are very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Dobinsk
I'm new to the forum here and came across it while trying to figure out online what's going on with my 2001 Johnson 70 HP. So far the boat and motor have been at 3 separate marine repair shops over the last 2 seasons, with it currently sitting at the 3rd mechanic of the 3 during the week while I'm not using the boat, and none of them have been able to solve the problem. So, I'm hoping maybe someone on here has some ideas of what the issue might be as I'm really getting desperate for a solution.
I bought the boat used 4 years ago and from the start, it would cut out occasionally when I accelerated from idle. This would never happen on the first run of the day, only after it had been run at least once and some days it wouldn't happen at all. Over time, I realized that if I gave it some choke just as it was about to cut out or even just before hitting the throttle then the engine would pick back up again and I'd be off. I knew the engine had some sort of issue but I had an easy work around so I didn't worry too much about it.
This season however, I started losing a cylinder after running the boat for a bit. Never the first run of the day, and by no means every time out, but it was happening fairly frequently. I took it in, to a couple local mechanics near my home, both of whom did not solve the problem but tried cleaning the carbs among a few other simple fixes, and it now sits at the marina on the lake my cottage is located on where they work on it during the week while I fish out of it on the weekend. It has been there for over 4 weeks now, and still the problem persists.
Here's a list of what I know has been tried so far:
- Carb cleaning
- Plugs replaced
- Compression confirmed good in all cylinders
- All 3 coils replaced
So far, in the last couple hours of running start and stop I haven't had a cylinder drop out on me, so maybe that is fixed, but the cutting on acceleration continues to be an issue and I can't help but think they are somehow related. The consensus among folks I've spoken with is that it is likely some sort of electrical issue. A symptom that may be relevant is that sometimes the kill switch tether does not need to be attached to the key ignition to start and run the motor. I have also had the dash panel drop out on me several times in the past while running, tachometer, voltmeter, lights, everything, however this has not occurred within the past month or two.
If anyone has any ideas I'd be very interested in hearing them. I'm the first to admit that I don't know a whole lot about small engines, but I'm not completely ignorant either and have a neighbour who is pretty handy. I will pass on any advice I get to the marina it is currently at to try to help them out. If the marina does not come up with a fix this week, I will likely just tow it home after next weekend, buy the service manual, and tinker around with it trying to figure out the issue.
Any ideas are very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Dobinsk
