1981 Johnson 7.5 won't stay runningm

[Senior 8-Ball]

To anyone who can help, I took my boat out for the first time earlyer this year and ran it for about 3 or 4 minutes before I noticed the water pump wasn't working. I immeditley shut it down brought it home and after replacing the pump put it in the water.Started it up and it still wasn't working,found out the telltale was plugged.Now when I wen't to start it it ran for about 4 or 5 seconds and stalled .Couldn't get it to fire up again until let it set for a day then the same thing.I checked the fuel pump it was fine the plugs had good spark but they didn't seem to be getting gas to them I then checked the compression in the cylinders and got 75 in both.My question is could there be damage to the engine from running it without the water pump working for a few minutes but still get good compression in the cylinders.I have had the motor for 10 years and have never had a problem running until after the water pump issue.Don't know where to go from here.

 

[gm280]

NO I don't think running it without a tale tell output really was anything but a plugged pee tube like you stated. So I don't think your engine over heated. However, I do think it is time to buy a carb kit and rebuild the carb. Since you stated that the fuel pump was working good, I would focus my attention to the carb at this time... JMHO!

 

[Senior 8-Ball]

then my question is does a compression of 7.5 in both cylinders indicate no problem with the head or pistons or can there still be something wrong with them

 

[Senior 8-Ball]

could any one tell me if a compression of 75 in both cylinders of my 1982 Johnson 7.5 is acceptable and what is the optimum for that motor

 

[boobie]

You can get by with that compression but I would do a good decarb on it.