1985 Johnson vro 140

Jmitchell2012

Recruit
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
3
Please help. Having issues- engine starts no problem in and out of water, use ears at home for tests. Once warm put throttle lever down and when put into gear it stalls and or wants to stall. Engine still has vro system on it, I was told to disconnect that, mix my fuel to 50 to 1 and I should start my troubleshooting from there. I am mechanically inclined but outboards are new to me
 

boobie

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Messages
20,826
Re: 1985 Johnson vro 140

The vro has nothing to do with the prob that you now have. What's the compression on it ?? Will the spark jump a 7/16 " open air gap on a spark tester ???
 

Jmitchell2012

Recruit
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
3
Re: 1985 Johnson vro 140

The vro has nothing to do with the prob that you now have. What's the compression on it ?? Will the spark jump a 7/16 " open air gap on a spark tester ???

Thanks for the help. I made the mistake of taking my boat to a profession (used lightly). They found cylinder one misfire due to crossed wire, and power pack needed replacement. They charged me three hours to find this problem. I am mechanically inclined and know that it doesnt take three hours to find these issues. Now what is a power pack (i think coil pack) and how difficult is this to swap out. I know now why people work on there own boats. And they threw in a comment like, oh and the controls were dirty??? i had to take them out and clean them, no issues before. Sucker am I yes, is there any help for me here to resolve this concern.
 

emoney

Commander
Joined
Jul 19, 2010
Messages
2,551
Re: 1985 Johnson vro 140

Which concern, the power pack or the sticky controls? If you're mechanically inclined there's no reason why you couldn't change out a powerpack or a coil. Do you have a Service Manual? If not, order one and you'll be glad you did. Usually you can find the original factory version on Evilbay.

If this is a new-to-you motor, you're better off running the full gamut of diagnostic checks on it; compression/spark/fuel. If the motor's been even marginally ignored you can usually safely assume that cleaning the carbs, replacing old fuel lines, dropping the lower unit to change out the impeller, etc. would benefit you in both the present and long term. As for the VRO, if it's working I don't see why you'd want to disconnect it. Yes, they're no different than any component of your motor and can break, but you can also blow a headgasket, but normally don't change it "just because". Verify your warning alarms are all working, and should something ever happen, keep some 2cycle oil on hand and then you can bypass the system. For now, it's much simpler to just "pump gas" than to pre-mix.
 
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