1988 70hp Johnson runs great out of water but stalls in water

I have 1988 Johnson vro. It will run and idle fine all day hooked up to the hose in the driveway. First time I put it in the water it ran real ruff bogged down and would stall. I smelled gas and saw one of the carbs was flooding up so I got carb kits and did the one that was flooding. I put back in the water and it ran great for about a 1/4 mile or so then started to bog down and stalled. After I finally got it started it would only run at a crawl back to the dock. So I did the other two carbs thinking it couldn't hurt and also changed the fuel filter. I put it back in the water for another try and it idled fine in the water but when I would lock the throttle lever down so I could put it in gear it would stall kept trying it kept stalling. I also checked compression in all 3 cylinders they were all around 100 and checked the spark it had good spark. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Re: 1988 70hp Johnson runs great out of water but stalls in water

How did you check your spark ?? If you used the spark plugs that will tell you nothing. You need an open air gap spark tester set at 7/16 " open air gap.

Re: 1988 70hp Johnson runs great out of water but stalls in water

Used a spark tester

Re: 1988 70hp Johnson runs great out of water but stalls in water

sometimes there is a ball of string fishing line seaweed wrapped up in your prop, take a look by pulling the prop off. compression and spark good then timing light to see if it's advancing. sometimes spark mysteriously dissappears too...sometimes pumping primer bulb will help diagnose fuel issue too...good luck.

Re: 1988 70hp Johnson runs great out of water but stalls in water

I checked the prop its okay I'll try the timing.