1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

tothehouse34

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Apr 23, 2010
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I have my 1980 140 on a 1991 stratos. For the past year everything worked perfectly, trim up and trim down. Started to go fishing a month ago and went to make sure it would trim up and down... it would. The motor is running. The cylinders are going in and out. However, seems like it is not holding enough pressure to lift the motor. It was leaking milky fluid out of the manual release valve so I took the entire assembly off and replaced the oring, didnt leak anymore, but still will not go up and down. I can trim the motor all the way down and the cylinders go almost all the way in, then let off of the switch and they slowly creep out... and after putting fluid in it 5 or 6 times and it will not hold anymore. I cant see any fluid leaking anywhere... does anyone have an suggestions for me?

Thanks in advance!
 

emdsapmgr

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Dec 9, 2005
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11,551
Re: 1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

You may have water contamination in the oil. Have you pulled off one of the compression fittings on a line to see if the oil looks milky? If so, leave the line off and drain the system. Activating the trim will help you bleed it. You may also have air in the system. You also need to make sure the unit is full of trim/tilt fluid. The method you have used to add fluid is fine. Once you top off the reservoir, run the unit up and down, repeatedly. This will automatically bleed any air out of the system. Then add more fluid. When the reservoir fluid level stays just below the lip of the fill screw hole, you are set.
 

tothehouse34

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Re: 1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

Ok since it has had to get water in it somehow, would you recommend getting a rebuild kit and doing that as well? Or just try to drain the system and refill it? Once I replaced the oring on the manual release valve and went about trying to refill the system it started to leak again from the release valve and it was a pink milky fluid... Would it be ok to wrap the threads in teflon or silicon on the valve itself because it will come all the way out now?
 

emdsapmgr

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Re: 1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

I'm not so sure you need a rebuild kit-yet. A water and oil combination may or may not indicate a problem with the internal seals. You might want to replace that manual valve stem (387990) [almost $70] itself and the oring for it (202893). The reason that that stem comes out now is that you have probably lost the factory split retaining ring which keeps it from falling out when unscrewed. (that ring is 321362-about $6.00). I'd try to drain as much of the existing fluid out of the system, the try refilling, then bleed air out of the system-then check for leaks. You may need to bleed the entire system a couple of times to make sure you get all of the water-contaminated hydraulic oil out of the system. Bombardier does make a seal kit for that trim unit: 393942, probably around $25.
 

tothehouse34

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Re: 1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

not having the retaining ring on it is not going make any difference right? because it is probably down in the reservoir somewhere, going to tear it apart soon and purchase the rebuild kit. Thanks a bunch for your awesome help.
 

emdsapmgr

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11,551
Re: 1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

You are correct, the retaining ring should have nothing to do with the leak.
 

RRitt

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Mar 30, 2006
Messages
3,319
Re: 1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

post pics or links so that I know which system you have.

Water will do internal damage to your system. If you can not determine how the water got in then you should rebuild your system to prevent water in the future.

Your problem with lifting is probably water related. It could be problem with manual release valve since the is a complete bypass - but doubtful - those don't break until after you start messing with them. From your description you had problems first and then starting messing with manual release. So, back to water damage. A ball bearing has a spot of rust and deos not seat properly? An oring has hardened and cracked? A spring has rusted and collapsed? If it was air then system would still work, just not as well. If it was low on fluid then it would work fine but not raise up all the way.
 

tothehouse34

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Re: 1980 Johnson 140 TnT will not raise

emdsapmgr, thanks for all your help. i ordered the parts u had listed. and changed almost all of the orings out, WORKS LIKE A CHAMP!
 
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