98 Johnson 35HP no idle

Hey there,

I have a 98 Johnson 35HP 3 cyl, Model - J35QLECA outboard that will not idle when cold without choke. It will eventually run perfectly after MULTIPLE restarts and manually revving the motor at the carbs.

So far, I have replaced the tstat, plugs, wires, coils, adjusted the slow speed jet (someone before me had set them to 5 turns out!), changed primer bulb on tank and finally last weekend, taken apart and cleaned all 3 carbs. I did notice that if I release the choke and it starts to die, my brother-in-law turned the red lever on the primer solenoid and it kept running by toggling it on and off which keeps pointing back to fuel starvation but I am at my wits end troubleshooting this problem.

Any ideas?

Re: 98 Johnson 35HP no idle

Off the topic a little, but did you ever get rid of the oil tank on it and are you mixing your fuel 50:1 ??

Re: 98 Johnson 35HP no idle

not yet....I have heard they are notorious for failing but everything is still original / factory set-up. Do you think the mixture may be too rich?

Re: 98 Johnson 35HP no idle

don't think it's too rich. too lean, when you can keep it running by manually turning the red primer handle, means it's lean. A test would be to spray fuel in the carbs to see if that keeps it runnin too.

make sure idle jets all clean. fuel lines tight and no leaky. make sure there's fuel in float bowls. might be weak fuel pump hence dry float bowl, (you can replace vro with regular pump) try pumping primer bulb to ensure there's fuel in the bowls see if that helps. Or didty filter. i'm kinda biased i always suspect vro


also could be a timing thing. make sure it all lines up. good luck.
sea foam

Re: 98 Johnson 35HP no idle

Ditch the oil mixing chamber and oil tank they are very prone to failing on the small triples do you self a favor and get rid of it.

Re: 98 Johnson 35HP no idle

Thanks all for the excellent feedback!

I have tried most of the suggestions (except spraying fuel direct in carbs) and decided yesterday (with the gentle urging of my family to get out of the garage) that i want to spend more time on the lake in my Pontoon so I handed the keys to a professional to remove the oil tank and fine tune the carbs for me.

I will post back with the results!

Re: 98 Johnson 35HP no idle

ok....all fixed (at great expense....sigh).

oil tank removed (there was definitely fuel in the oil), adjusted linkage, cleaned and adjusted carb floats/ jets - $760.00

First fishing trip out caught nothing, hit a rock (minor skeg damage) and trim / tilt stopped working. perfect. time to ditch the lemon and enjoy the perfectly running comfort of my pontoon boat