1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

[S M McInto]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

well here is the latest.

I took the boat out Sunday, dropped it in the water, and after about 10 minutes I got it started. Ran it around for a littke while, was running good at all speeds. Shut off to fish for awhile, tried to stsrt...no go

Ended up choking it with a rag again to get it started then took it back and out of he water.

Dropped it off at the shop yesterday. They called me today and said they need to take the carbs off and adjust them. Also they want to replace the primer solenoid and the fuel lines.

I guess the primer went bad after trying to start the boat sooooo many times now.

Its going to be about $600 for them to do all of that.....ouch

 

[daselbee]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

Cheaper to do a road trip...just sayin.

 

[archcycle]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

The problem with paying other people to troubleshoot your old outboard is that there are many similar causes and many similar effects. Ask 5 marine mechanics (and by that i mean anyone who claims the title) you'll get 5 different answers from 5 guys more than happy to charge you $50-150/hr to have a whack at it. You'll go through "mechanic" after mechanic as they wreak havoc on your setup testing their theories of your problem and you'll have no real documentation of what was Really done. Each one will tell you the last guy who worked on your motor was an idiot who didn't know what he was doing. Nobody here is getting paid for their advice, which in my opinion, makes it way more trustworthy than advice from a shade tree mechanic or a mechanic at a dealership.

These motors are really hard to kill but they take a fair amount of upkeep. $600 will buy you all of the tools you need to work on your motor, a factory manual which walks you through Everything step by step with pictures specific to your motor, and any parts you need for this problem, and enough beer to stay at it. It usually is the simple stuff that's wrong.

 

[daselbee]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

Exactly......what Arch said. And if you bring it up here, all it will cost you is the gas. Maybe $200 max.

Savings right there.

 

[cyclops2]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

I agree with Arch 100 %

I have tried several ideas on MANY boats before finding a problem.

Sometimes I just give up.

Hope you have a great machanic. Primer solenoid ? Could be bad and the guy caught it. I only need my electric primer on the first true cold morning startup. New York. During the day. Never needed it.

But my carb is set VERY SLIGHTLY rich on the idle mixture. That might hide a lot of starting problems.

Remember a over rich adjustment makes black smoke & starts and runs.

A lean mixture will never start or run. hot or cold.

 

[S M McInto]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

Alright its been awhile since I posted an update for the boat.

I spent the money and got the carbs adjusted by the mechanic, he also replaced some old fuel lines, repaired a few old wires, replaced the starter solenoid, primer, and a few other small things.

Got the boat home and took it out, ran great and then wouldn't start again. Took it back to the guy and, of course, it started right up for him. They spent 2 hours going through everything only to realize that the head gaskets were leaking, little bit of rust on the spark plugs which are pretty much brand new. He quoted me $400 to replace the gaskets, I said I would think about it and took the boat home.

Ordered new head gaskets, water deflector hoses, and the other gasket that goes in front of the head gasket(cant remember the name) all for under $50. Put them on a few days ago and the boat runs great. Ran it for about an hour, sat and fished for awhile, and it started right back up and got me back to the dock perfectly for the first time since I have owned the boat.

Now I just have some little stuff to do to get it 100%, like drain the fuel tank in the floor and clean it out so I don't have to keep using the 6 gallon tank I have on the deck ( 6 gallons wont cut it if I want to go a few miles off shore one day)
Any tips on a good way at going about this? Obviously I can't take the tank out of the floor, but I will pump the old gas out (I am estimating about 15 gallons) flush some new gas through, and repeat a few times. Any other ideas, maybe a way where I don't have to waste a lot of new gas flushing it through?

 

[toddschubert]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

Get a good fuel filter with separator and install before the primer bulb. Run a can or two of seafoam through it and you may just get away with using old fuel if it's not more than a year give or take old

 

[S M McInto]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

Get a good fuel filter with separator and install before the primer bulb. Run a can or two of seafoam through it and you may just get away with using old fuel if it's not more than a year give or take old

I am going to siphon some gas out tomorrow and take a look at what I am working with, if it doesn't look too bad that could be an option. But I don't want to mess up the engine after I have done all this work to get it running right only to run bad gas through it and screw everything up all over again.

 

[Sisu-22]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

I am going to siphon some gas out tomorrow and take a look at what I am working with, if it doesn't look too bad that could be an option. But I don't want to mess up the engine after I have done all this work to get it running right only to run bad gas through it and screw everything up all over again.

I had the same problem on one of my 90hp 198x not sure of the year exactly. The problem plagued me for years. Ran fine on ear muffs put in the water hard to start.. When it finally started had to throttle up. After it ran a while up to temp impossible to start in water.

Tired of boat mechanic, not fixing problem I decided to tackle the problem.

Simulated the problem at home. On ear muffs started fine.. In the water tank hard to start.. Rebuilt the carbs floats and all.. No improvement.. Took off the carbs took them to the dealer. Considered resizing idle jets since engine dieting at idle. The dealer the noticed that carb needle valves on both carbs had very little travel he thought that the engin was gas starved at idle. He suggested the I bend the tabs on the float to allow for more travel of the needle valves. This made the engine easier to start and idle while in the water tank. I did have to adjust the idle up to compensate for the back pressure created by the tank. Adjusting the float to allow greater needle valve travel seemed to have solve the problem. Going to try it on th water this week.

I also determined that the choke wasn't working when I pushed the key it didn't inject fuel into the cylinder, in in addition the one of the small barbs on the choke was cracked. Went to eBay and found used one. Now I don't have to manually choke it it get it started.

 

[S M McInto]

Re: 1982 Johnson 115hp V4 Starting issues

I've got it running pretty good now, cleaned out the gas tank and put some new fuel lines from the tank to the engine along with an extra fuel filter for some added security.

A couple new issues to tackle.
Issue #1
The steering.
I don't really know much about how it works and what things are called so bare with me. I can see that when you turn the steering shaft goes in and out by the engine, which has grease nipples, so I greased it up completely. Whenever I turn the boat to the left, making the shaft go all the way IN, it gets really tight and takes two hands to turn the boat back to the right, only until it is about straightened out and then it is easy to steer again, turning to the right is cake I can turn the wheel with one finger. Any ideas?


Issue #2
Throttle.
The throttle seems very stiff, I have to really give it some muscle to get it to move. Reverse is nice and smooth and requires little to no force, but going forward it is very stiff so I always end up giving it to much gas and have to pull it back, then give it more, then pull it back. This issue combined with the steering makes docking very interesting to say the least