fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

fter you

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Sep 11, 2012
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well here we go. fixed mycarb problem and had the boat out yesterday was running great all of a sudden lost power and it quit. tried to start it back up and it sounded like thebattery was dead. i just charged it the night before. so i switched to my trolling motor battery which was also fully charged but same result cranks motor but very slowly like the battery is dead. anybody had or having this problem? what the hell is going on here...help.
 

colbyt

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Others with better answers may come along. How old is your starting battery? Classic sound of a weak or dying battery. The deep cycle battery for the trolling motor is not designed for cranking and just does not have the cranking power. Of course it could be bad also. Either try it with a new battery or jump the starting battery you have before you panic.

Be super careful if trying to jump it.
 

Georgesalmon

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Check all your battery leads of course. Then check the large wires going to the starter motor and the engine ground on the engine. By check I mean remove, clean and put back on. A very small amount of corrosion or a loose connection can cause problems such as yours. If that doesn't help then you probably need to look at the starter solonoid and/or starter motor.
 

emoney

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Might want to do a compression test just to make sure, as the "dying" on you while running may point to another issue. The starter wouldn't kill the motor while running, and I'm pretty sure you don't need the battery for the motor to run. As a matter of fact, I know you can use a rope to start these engines if the battery fails.
 

Fleetwin

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Check all your battery leads of course. Then check the large wires going to the starter motor and the engine ground on the engine. By check I mean remove, clean and put back on. A very small amount of corrosion or a loose connection can cause problems such as yours. If that doesn't help then you probably need to look at the starter solonoid and/or starter motor.

Yes, do that, especially the negative terminal on the engine block.
 

fter you

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Check all your battery leads of course. Then check the large wires going to the starter motor and the engine ground on the engine. By check I mean remove, clean and put back on. A very small amount of corrosion or a loose connection can cause problems such as yours. If that doesn't help then you probably need to look at the starter solonoid and/or starter motor.

thanks guys i will check the battery and the starter wires for any corrosion or loose conections. did not know the deep cycle would not start the motor but i do now!!
 

durban

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

clean startermtr armature & replace brushes if everything else shows 12v & still no joy
 

Georgesalmon

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Your deep cycle battery WILL start your motor just fine. Been using one for many years for emergency starting in case my engine batt goes dead. Works just fine, though I wouldn't use it for that all the time.
 

ACAMS

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Lord have mercy, it looks like only one of you saw the "was running great all of a sudden lost power and it quit" part!

The motor is probably junk due to over heating, or lack of lubrication.

Do what emoney said and run a compression test.
 

emoney

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

I don't want to be the "negative nancy", but you really need to make sure you don't have bigger issues. Have you checked the voltage on your battery to see if it's even dead? Outboards are not like cars, meaning they don't just "lose power" because a battery went dead. Dead batteries only show their ugly head when it's time to start, not while running. You can run that Johnson without a battery.
 

robert graham

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Remove spark plugs and try it...if it's still tight, you may have a partially seized motor. Of course problems with your lower unit can cause this also, so consider removing and checking lower unit for binding/free operation.
 

fter you

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Remove spark plugs and try it...if it's still tight, you may have a partially seized motor. Of course problems with your lower unit can cause this also, so consider removing and checking lower unit for binding/free operation.

ok so removed plugs and tried it not tight at all turns over normaly. i did notice the starter does not disengage from the fly wheel for some reason when i stopped turning it over. i tapped it a few times and it disengaged....thinking i need a new starter. now if i was at WOT and the starter was engaged on the flywheel im thinking thats not good at all and probably fried. i should probably explain the motor didnt actualy quit on me i heard somethng funny at WOT and emediatly shut it down. bad explanation on my first post sorry.
 

Will Bark

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

When you took the spark plugs out and turned it over did you notice any water coming out of one of the cylinders? My friend has a 1976 70hp Johnson dead in the water with water getting in the lower cylinder. Water does not compress and the starter cannot turn the engine over with plug in the cylinder. Hope that's not it.
 

fter you

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

no water comming out...
 

pdgs

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Now that you've clarified the symptoms I'd tend to agree that the starter is now shot. I'm suprised it even held together:).
 

Yankee817299

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

The starter needs to spin free for that split second when it "throws" the starter gear into the flywheel to get up to speed. If you try and start the engine with the gear already engaged into the flywheel, you will over heat the starter and the breakdown begins. With some of the windings partially burnt, the starter motor will not turn the engine at proper speed. Replace the starter and I believe that you will be good to go.
 

Georgesalmon

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

Reason the starter did not disengage when trying without plugs is that it prob needs to be thrown down by the engine starting and running.
 

fter you

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Re: fully charged battery strugling to turn over. 1977 75hp johnson

well got my new starter and intalled it fired right up...then it threw a rod right throught the engine block i now have a very heavy johnson 75 hp anchor...
 
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