72 Johnson 65hp Hard to start

J

johnnyo34

Seaman
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
71
My 65hp Johnson doesn't want to turn over right away. when I try to start it, the motor kinda makes one revolution then stops, acts like a dead battery, then sometimes it almost sounds like it might be out of time.after several tries it fires right up, runs for awhile then starts to slow down & then quits.. then same procedure.. I thought it might be the battery at first, so I charged it, also there was a bit of smoke at the connection of the positive cable where it hooks on to the battery. I cleaned that..

Any ideas?? cables?? also could the motor be out of time, ran pretty good last year, till I replaced the water manifold gaskets..
John
 
J

johnnyo34

Seaman
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
71
Re: 72 Johnson 65hp Hard to start

Forgot to mention that the positive cable at the battery goes to a lead adaptor with 2 little bolts clamping it to the part that goes on the battery post. There was a bit of smoke coming out at that point & the cable got hot.. so I took the cable out of there & cleaned everything & put it back together. cable doesn't get hot now but still won't kick in & spin properly. yet once in awhile it will kick in, spin, & start. Should I replace all cables???
 
F

F_R

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
Messages
28,195
Re: 72 Johnson 65hp Hard to start

No need to replace anything unless they are obviously in poor condition. But DO clean every cable connection. By clean, I mean shiny bright clean.

That smoking connection was a dead tip-off of a bad connection at that point. There may be more. Or you didn't get that one shiny bright. I can't see it from here.

The next step after getting everything clean is a voltage drop test across all connections.

Um...The first step should have been a load test on the battery. Many battery stores will test if for free. It may have a dead cell or something.
 
J

johnnyo34

Seaman
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
71
Re: 72 Johnson 65hp Hard to start

Would the battery still act that way even if I have acharger on it with boost on???
 
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