85 Johnson 150... About to drive me Crazy!

Last year I had a problem with the boat starving for fuel.... After about 20-30mph it would sputter then stall out. I put a small electric fuel pump wired to key switch and for one trip the boat ran great. Next trip same ole thing. I have put a new fuel line from tank, replaced primer bulb with 4 psi electric pump wired to key switch, rebuilt fuel side of vro, tank is breathing good, and replaced fuel water separator filter. First trip this year I get the same stalling a horn for low fuel before it dies out! I dunno what to do Please help me! I'm gonna pull the carbs to clean. Can I just pull them n soak overnight in something without removing jets?? Any other ideas what it may be? Thanks guys!

Re: 85 Johnson 150... About to drive me Crazy!

I'm guessing maybe high speed jet? The boat sat for 4 years in a garage before I started tinkering with it last year. Thought the pump was weak but it's newly rebuilt now. Should I remove the 4psi electric pump now that the vro is rebuilt?

Re: 85 Johnson 150... About to drive me Crazy!

The next thing to do is get rid of the electric pump unless you want to blow yourself and your passengers to kingdom come. Unless that pump is wired such that it quits if the engine dies, it could fill the engine with fuel and an attempted restart goes KABOOM. It is not necessary as proven by the point that the problem is still there. The anti-siphon valve on the tank (built-in tank??) may be bad, your fuel pump rebuild may have been done incorrectly, you didn't mention carb rebuilds, and you have not tried pushing in on the key to engage the primer solenoid when the engine begins to die. If it picks up when you do that you have a carb issue. Since the boat sat for four years carb rebuilds should have been the first thing to do. And continuing to run the engine with lean carburetion is a good way to ruin it.

Re: 85 Johnson 150... About to drive me Crazy!

Sounds like I definitely need to lose the electric pump... That will be next followed by rebuilding the carbs... The anti syphon valve is good I checked it... Is there a way to tell if the fuel pump rebuild us right? I did the lil test where you blow in each side. One you can blow through n the other you can't. I've not been running it much for that reason, just putting it on the water after workin on it to see if things have changed. Today I did engage the choke as it was starving out n there is no change. Thanks for helpin me... In kinda green on the boat motors but it was grand father hand me down with a lot of memories so I wanna fix it n hang on to it

Re: 85 Johnson 150... About to drive me Crazy!

yep loss the fuel pump.......does the bulb go flat when the boat starts to stall?. If it does not go flat and you pump it will the motor pick back up. (dont test for to long as a motor starving for gas is real bad for it). Might be a good idea to at least drain the carbs to remove water before your next test and that is done by removing the air inlet cover and undoing the screws at the bottom of the carb bowls (use a cap of a paint can so you dont spill gas everywhere)

Re: 85 Johnson 150... About to drive me Crazy!

Right now the electric pump is in place of the bulb.... When I put the bulb back in u will try to keep pumping to check if the rebuild was a success. Looking for a good site for carb kits