Re: 1990 johnson 140 caught fire
well if petrol vapors sink from your fuel you have a big problem .
gasolene fuel lets off vapours and they rise, then they fall when they get mixed with air.
watch the large upward flame from oil rigs and petrol refinerys, ive never seen a dropping flame from them !!!!!!!
you stand over a can of petrol and strike a match and see if the fumes fall or rise shave first to save the smell of burning hair.
anyway somehwere on the engine is a spark or loose connection that causes a spark.
the flame in the mid section is not from exhaust, the exhaust goes outside not down in the mid section and the pan.
far too many bends and places to act like flame traps on a normal stock outboard engine like this one.(my opinion)
i would say that fuel from the carbs when tilted are in the mid section and thats where the vapor has come from
once the spark catches then wallop, off goes the petrol to cause some flames and start burning.
could even be wd40 if youve used that to spray over the engine to keep it from rusting etc.
from the first post i thought you had a fire from the rectifier !!!!!!!! thats why i said water cooled rectifier.
you need to get the fuel out the engine and check it by spiining it over during the night or under cover where its very very dark.
personaly i would do it outside late at night and watch for any sparks anywhere . keep the fire hose ready as well ha ha
you might have a leaky spark plug lead, they do break down and often give off a spark or two.
now down at the bottom of the engine pan should be some small holes, always make sure these are clean so any
spilt fuel of water can escape or this can happen again, but next time could be worse !!!
I always run my engine out of fuel when finnishing up for the day, but even then i still get the odd bit of fuel from the
carbs when tilted up fully.
i do clean it up and dry it off but its easy to forget.
anyway check it in the dark, and watch everywhere for the od spark,if its a electrical leak then performance is going
to be down a bit as well.
phill