Rebuilt carbs and now motor won't stay running

Hi all,

A couple months ago I rebuilt one of my carbs (Johnson 130) and the boat's been running great. So I bought 3 more kits to rebuild the remaining carbs which I did yesterday. All 3 at the same time. Maybe not such a good idea in hindsight because now I can't get the engine to keep running and I have 3 rebuilt carbs to troubleshoot. The engine starts fine and seems to run for about 25 seconds, then it peters out. Very similar to when there's water in the fuel, but I've checked and there's no water. After the first couple of runs like this it's hard to start, like it has to sit for a few minutes before it will start again.

Prior to this test I pumped the bulb to make sure none leaked. Well, 2 of them did; one from the float bowl gasket and one from the overflow hole on the float bowl part. I took them both apart and resolved the leaks. The overflow one has me concerned because it was stuck which is why it leaked. I loosened it so that it would move and not drop below the float bowl gasket level when inverted. But maybe it's getting stuck in the opposite position? I just checked all three float bowls and they had fuel in them.

Any ideas on why the engine won't keep running? Do all 3 rebuilt carbs need to be adjusted? I put them all back on the same places they came off of. I'll take the one that was previously stuck back off and check it out. But if that's not the problem then I need advice on what to look at next. My factory manual isn't' helpful for this issue.

Thanks!

Re: Rebuilt carbs and now motor won't stay running

yr and model number of engine?

Re: Rebuilt carbs and now motor won't stay running

jonesg said:

yr and model number of engine?

Click to expand...

Oops, sorry about that. It's a 1999 Johnson 130 Oceanpro, model J130PXEE.

I just now got it to run for almost 2 mins. But once I throttled down to idle it ran rough and sputtery for less than 10 secs and stalled.

Also, when I did the rebuilds, I cleaned every hole,port, etc. with carb cleaner and used a can of compressed air to blow out all the holes, ports, etc.

FIXED: Rebuilt carbs and now motor won't stay running

FIXED: Rebuilt carbs and now motor won't stay running

Ok, I'll take the dunce cap today. The problem was a missing intermediate air bleed orifice screw on the 3rd carb. I found it on my undisturbed work area in the garage, put it in and the motor runs just fine and dandy! Took it for a spin through the entire power band and she performed wonderfully.

Two lessons:

1) Create a pristine work area with a surface that won't allow things to roll around (a white tshirt in my case). Leave all removed parts there until you're sure your job is completely done and nothing is missing. I didn't even throw out the old gaskets yet. Had I cleaned up after the rebuilds I might have lost that screw forever.

2) Visually verify that everything that came off went back on (Mechanics 101). I did this for every other carb but guess I was feeling antsy and wasn't thorough with this particular one. Thank God for an undisturbed work area.

Lastly, I'm glad I wasn't afraid to do this job myself. It was way easier than I anticipated and all would have been fine had I been a bit more attentive. No real harm done tho. So for anyone else thinking about rebuilding your carbs, go for it!! Get an OEM manual for your motor and use these iboats.com forums when you need help. Folks here are the BEST!

Re: Rebuilt carbs and now motor won't stay running

Glad all is well and you found your issue. amazing how things work out when you put everything back