Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ? (Updated)

BonairII

BonairII

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The motor starts easily and runs very well. It idles smoothly and will remain idling well even when RPMs are very low. Points, condenser, plugs, and coil are new.

The problem is that it's hard to restart after I stop the motor to fish etc. Sometimes it starts right up, but dies after about 5 seconds(like it's ran out of gas). Other times, I takes quite a bit of cranking to get it to start. Once I get it started, it runs like nothing is wrong.

Normally, I would think it was a carb problem....but it idles so well and runs with no hesitation, I'm stumped. Maybe an air leak?
 
BonairII

BonairII

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Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Anyone have any ideas?
 
R

retiredfornow

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Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Have you tried a new primer bulb? The gas may be draining back out, leaving you dry.
 
Silvertip

Silvertip

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Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

You don't have to sit very long for an outboard to cool off to the point where it needs a touch of choke to refire. Most folks ignore the fast idle lever on the control box and in fact, have no idea what it really does. Raise it a bit to provide a bit of throttle and spark advance. Then try a bit of choke as well. Hot start problems are often operator error. If you are old enough to have driven carbureted cars, you would know that holdiing the gas pedal down a bit on a warm start was generally necessary for a quick start.
 
BonairII

BonairII

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Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

I believe that the primer bulb is fairly new. Believe it or not, I've never used the choke before, so I guess I can give that a try.
When I first start the motor when it's stone cold(either at home or just after launch) it normally starts fairly easily, so I haven't used the choke.
 
BonairII

BonairII

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Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Re: Why is my Johnson 80hp hard to restart ?

Update:

Took the boat fishing today. Had some more intermittent re-starting trouble. This trip I used the choke to restart the motor after we fished each spot, which helped a bit...but didn't solve the issue

About a 1/2 dozen times it hard started after we fished a spot. Sometimes I would start and run for 5 seconds and then die(starved of gas?).

I guess it has to be a carb problem, but again what baffles me is that the motor runs/idles well once it starts. I can idle it so low, that I swear the motor has stalled.

Anyone got any ideas on what's causing my problem?
 
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