71' johnson 50 hp

hello I have a question with my johnson 50esl71s, im having problems with my motor. It seems like when im trying to start it or when its running out of nowhere it comes to a completly dead stop. it does not slow down like a normal motor does, its like the HULK grabs the flywheel... im stumped

work done on it: three years ago I changed the main lower bearing, piston rings and head gasket, two years ago changed the impellar and took out the t-stat.

Then the last time I took out the boat two years ago, I was telling my wife to go im clear and I hit the ramp backing up (idiot:facepalm putting a penny sized hole in the boat. patched it up but after that I had my problem, prop looks good, splines are good dont think motor hit at the angle I was at. Last year I was changing the lower gear oil (I bought premium blend) it had alot of water mixed in to it so I need to change the seals but the oil that came out looked like peach sherbert, different then the premium blend I bought, had a shop change it out the last time. The motor sat a while because I diddnt have much money, with going to school full time and a family so boat was on the backburner. Any help is much appreciated
I think the problem is in the lower unit but not sure where to start to look at down there hydro-electric intimidates me, but I like working on outboards learned alot from a local boat shop but guy is no longer in business and every where else is way to far and expensive

Re: 71' johnson 50 hp

Your description is not clear enough! Is your engine stuck now?
If so, did it get stuck the way you described it, with a sudden stop? Depending on the engine RPM before the stop, that could have damaged a number of things!
The electro-hydraulic gear changing system should not intimidate you, just disconnect the shifting wires at the power head before you remove the gear case.
BTW, if you do not have a manual, get one for your engine. Factory manual is probably the best, but your local library also should have something on your engine that should help.
There were links floating around for electronic copies, probably someone can chime in!

EDIT: "The top Secret File" posting at the top of this forum has pointers to service manuals.

Good luck, Peter

Re: 71' johnson 50 hp

When it comes to that dead stop, can you rotate the flywheel by hand ??

Re: 71' johnson 50 hp

boobie said:

When it comes to that dead stop, can you rotate the flywheel by hand ??

Click to expand...

I should have said that, after it happens I can back it out then re crank it. As orignally stated I do have a manual coming but wanted to get a jump on it. I know that it shifts by + to the wire in a certain combo is it grounded by the crank case?, should it clean the bolt holes for possible corrosion?. And what intimidates me is if I take out the shifting unit I might break some thing or it might fall apart a lot of these componets are hard to find and expensive.

Re: 71' johnson 50 hp

Just assuming it is the lower unit may be an expensive mistake. You need a little better info concerning exactly what happens, and what you have to do to get it going again. BTW, continuing to run it like that could be an even bigger mistake. One of these times it is going to stop permanently. At least then you will be able to figure out what happened.

It isn't a shift grounding problem. That thing is designed to default to forward gear when something fails. Of course that isn't necessarily the way it turns out.

EDIT: Heck, my guess is as good as anybody's. I'll take a shot at it. Something came loose under the flywheel. Lemme know if I won anything.