'77 johnson 85 compress/hard to start

[swampking]

What used to take a quick bump of the key now take two new battery's to turn over. Attempting to use the "pull start" with cover off and rope simply is impossible it seems. It's as if there is way to much compression. Could it be that over years of carbon build up or is there a compression release valve that should function at low rpms?

[Daviet]

Remove the spark plugs and try turning it over, if it is still hard to turn over you might want to remove the cylinder heads and check for piston/cylinder damage.