dirtyhands
Recruit
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 4
Hello, I stumbled across this forum while searching for informatiion about my motor. It's a fantastic site and I really admire the people who take the time to answer questions and give advice to amateurs like myself. I hope i'll get my questions answered too. I bought this Johnson 4hp from mid 70's and used on a square stern canoe to go camping in weekends in far places. it worked perfect for half a dozen trips. One time I pulled another heavy canoe as well for about 5 hours. The motor ran perfect under stress; it did not seem to overheat or anything. However, last time I used it it ran well for 15 minutes after which it stalled. After that it would only run at low rpm; as soon as I'd give it more gas it would get rough and eventually stall. I pumped fuel manually using the hose bulb, thinking it wasn't getting enough gas. Did not help. After a while it stopped working completely. Half a year later I'm trying to fix it. I was planning on cleanning up the carburator, thinking that the high speed jet is clogged. I haven't got so far yet; unscrewing the spark plugs I noticed that one of them is covered in oil. Now I'm thinking that maybe the head gasket might be blown. Before I go buying unnecessary parts and frustrating myself, can anyone offer some clues as to what my problem might be? Thank you very much, advice like this is great value to anyone.