Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

captcrappie

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Looking for help. Bought a 1985 17 foot ranger with an 1985 Johnson V6 VRO outboard that hadn't been used a lot over past 2 years. The guy I bought it from had a blown cylinder replaced from a previous owner. I am anal about maintenance so I am already on my second set of plugs and I have ran the boat about 6-8 times. Anyway this past weekend on the new plugs the boat was running like a dream as I had problems in the past getting it on plane. When the boat was relatively hot I had run on plane for a good 10 minutes, i slowed down for rough water and went to get back on plane and couldn't. It had done this before but once the engine was turned off and back on it was fine. I can run at no wake speed but that is it. Idle is ok but chokes out easy. I doubled checked all lines and cables and nothing appeared out of the normal. I am relatively novice at inboards and autos but much more limited in diagnosing this outboard. I have noticed that there must be some loss of pressure in the fuel line as the bulb pump will need pumped if I sit for a long period of time. Could this be a compression issue? Spark?

Thanks!
 

countvlad

Chief Petty Officer
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Jun 29, 2009
Messages
439
Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

Looking for help. Bought a 1985 17 foot ranger with an 1985 Johnson V6 VRO outboard that hadn't been used a lot over past 2 years. The guy I bought it from had a blown cylinder replaced from a previous owner. I am anal about maintenance so I am already on my second set of plugs and I have ran the boat about 6-8 times. Anyway this past weekend on the new plugs the boat was running like a dream as I had problems in the past getting it on plane. When the boat was relatively hot I had run on plane for a good 10 minutes, i slowed down for rough water and went to get back on plane and couldn't. It had done this before but once the engine was turned off and back on it was fine. I can run at no wake speed but that is it. Idle is ok but chokes out easy. I doubled checked all lines and cables and nothing appeared out of the normal. I am relatively novice at inboards and autos but much more limited in diagnosing this outboard. I have noticed that there must be some loss of pressure in the fuel line as the bulb pump will need pumped if I sit for a long period of time. Could this be a compression issue? Spark?

Thanks!

if you sit for a period of time the bulb does need to be primed... it is normal s long as it doesnt collaps while its running.....


first what are your curren rpms at WOT?

when was the last decarb or carb rebuild done???

have you tried to prime the bulb while you were experienceing loss of power/ no plane?
 

captcrappie

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Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

Hey thanks for responding.

Not sure what WOT is (sorry) but typically the engine runs at very high RPM's when on plane for some reason 6-7000. While idle speeds typically 2500.

I have not tried pumping the bulb when having troubles but I just read that in another post and will be sure to try. If it does affect performance then it is the fuel pump right?

As for decarb or rebuild, I know it hasn't been don in the four months that I have had it. Do you have a link on how to do it for outboards?

Also do you know how much oil these engines mix. I know it is getting oil but it seems to not use much oil if at all. Is that typical?
 

countvlad

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Messages
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Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

Hey thanks for responding.

Not sure what WOT is (sorry) but typically the engine runs at very high RPM's when on plane for some reason 6-7000. While idle speeds typically 2500.

I have not tried pumping the bulb when having troubles but I just read that in another post and will be sure to try. If it does affect performance then it is the fuel pump right?

As for decarb or rebuild, I know it hasn't been don in the four months that I have had it. Do you have a link on how to do it for outboards?

Also do you know how much oil these engines mix. I know it is getting oil but it seems to not use much oil if at all. Is that typical?

WOT Wide Open Throttle.... what number is very high?? im trying to find out if your motor is running correctly.....

read: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158075

you idle at 2500?!?!?! no good.... you need to get a manual and get the idle lower....i gear should be around 650 700 RPMS....

if you pump the primer bulb while running and there're improvements its either the fuel pump or you have a fuel leak somewhere.....

decarb: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158076

oil : last time when i filled the oil tank was at least a month ago, now its half way... and i had the boat out every weekend.. so not much.. obviously depends on how long you use the motor.... at a 50:1 ratio @ 5 galons of fuel you use about 13 ounces

before you do any adjustments make sure you do a decarb... and then let us know how it turned out.. good luck
 

captcrappie

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Jul 20, 2009
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Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

Thanks you guys are great.

I thought the WOT taching at 7000 RPM's was high?

I will clean the carbs first and report back. Thanks!
 

captcrappie

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Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

Ok guys sorry for the long delay, but I have been working on this.
So far I rebulit the carbs, boy they were dirty, likely never cleaned off the engine, replaced fuel lines, cleaned fuel filter. I was able to adjust the idle to right around 1000 RPM's - if I went lower it would die. I ran all day yesterday at the recommended WOT (I was running it to high before).

Took the boat out yesterday ran fine until the end of the day again. Same issue. Started the engine up when I was done and couldn't get the engine to go above 3000 RPM. Acted like it was getting the right mix of air or something. I did notice in previous start ups it kept acting like it had been flooded even though I wasn't choking it. It would start but burn of a good amount of oil hence some blue smoke. Not sure if this had anything to do with it. It there a temp sensor that cuts out? Starting to think this might be electrical since it is heat related. Any thoughts? Thanks!

BTW did test pumping the buld and it didn't impact the performance at all.
 

countvlad

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Jun 29, 2009
Messages
439
Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

Ok guys sorry for the long delay, but I have been working on this.
So far I rebulit the carbs, boy they were dirty, likely never cleaned off the engine, replaced fuel lines, cleaned fuel filter. I was able to adjust the idle to right around 1000 RPM's - if I went lower it would die. I ran all day yesterday at the recommended WOT (I was running it to high before).

Took the boat out yesterday ran fine until the end of the day again. Same issue. Started the engine up when I was done and couldn't get the engine to go above 3000 RPM. Acted like it was getting the right mix of air or something. I did notice in previous start ups it kept acting like it had been flooded even though I wasn't choking it. It would start but burn of a good amount of oil hence some blue smoke. Not sure if this had anything to do with it. It there a temp sensor that cuts out? Starting to think this might be electrical since it is heat related. Any thoughts? Thanks!

BTW did test pumping the buld and it didn't impact the performance at all.

sounds like to me the motor gets hot and limits you at only 3000 rpms... do you have a buzzer/alarm ? have you changet the Thermostats lately? what about the water pump? do you have a water p-ressure gauge or temperature?
 

jonesg

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Feb 22, 2008
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7,174
Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

That it will not idle below 1K rpm indicates a problem, you need to get some basic troubleshooting tools, a timing light helps , you ought to get a compression guage for sure and a spark GAP tester ( adjustable) from any half decent auto store.

Remove all plugs and write each cyl compression.

Set gap tester at 7/16th inch and look for bright blue spark (not running).

... then take the timing light with you and give it a run, if it starts acting up put the timing light on each cyl's sparkplug wire and see if its dropping spark when running.

Get a manual too.
www.outboardbooks.com
 

captcrappie

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Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

That's the weird thing no buzzer or alarm sound. Could be bad or broken though. Just bought the manual on this site so I will test it. Do have a temp guage runs above the midline but it doesn't indicate actual temp. There is no water pressure guage though. Is there a test for the water pump? Or should I stick with troubleshooting the engine? I haven't changed the thermostats and being how everything else has been I doubt they have ever been serviced.

jonesg - I will make a run to the store and try your suggestions. My next goal was to get the compression in each cylinder. My only worry is that woudl the compression change as the engines heats?
 

countvlad

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
439
Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

That's the weird thing no buzzer or alarm sound. Could be bad or broken though. Just bought the manual on this site so I will test it. Do have a temp guage runs above the midline but it doesn't indicate actual temp. There is no water pressure guage though. Is there a test for the water pump? Or should I stick with troubleshooting the engine? I haven't changed the thermostats and being how everything else has been I doubt they have ever been serviced.

jonesg - I will make a run to the store and try your suggestions. My next goal was to get the compression in each cylinder. My only worry is that woudl the compression change as the engines heats?

man, ohh man, ohh man.... if cant remember, dont know or new boat owner then: change the water pump, tstats and lower unit oil...
 

jriegle04

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jun 1, 2009
Messages
179
Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

do you have any fuel mix on the engine block behind the VRO. it will look like it is running down the crankcase. i just found mine to be doing that and it turns out the bypass passage gaskets blew on the port side bottom 2 cylinders and that bottom cylinder #6 is what controls the pulse for the VRO. if it is sucking air through there it will cause you to use more oil and can also cause piston damage. if there are any leaks in the fuel lines at all it will also cause you to use more oil. i have been bringing the same engine back to life for a couple months now. it has been a learning experience.
 

jonesg

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Joined
Feb 22, 2008
Messages
7,174
Re: Help 85 Johnson 150 V6 VRO

vlad is right, you need to baseline the engine , make sure all critical systems are set up properly, you could be slowly frying it without knowing.

And you got the wrong manual.
You need this one.
www.outboardbooks.com

genuine factory service book, not aftermkt seloc/clymer books.
Its a lot cheaper to ask first.:(
 
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