1990 johnson GT 150

[FARQUART]

I recently had some work done on my Johnson 150 at a well known dealer where I live. The problem was that the overheat alarm went off while on the water and I shut the motor off. When I refired the motor it was missing. I took it in to the dealer to fix. They called me back about 2 weeks later and said the BASE TIMER ($300.00) was bad. I said to fix, they called back the next day and said the POWER PACK ($200.00) could be bad but that the base timer had to be replaced before they could tell about the power pack. Both were ordered and replaced. They called back and told me the motor was still missing and they needed to pull the heads and inspect cylinders. They talked about everything from the powerhead being bad (they said at the beginning the compression was fine) to head gaskets leaking. The total cost to me was over $1000.00 dollars to get my boat back into the water. Was all the parts needed or did this well known dealer put the screws to me

 

[ICEMAN]

Re: 1990 johnson GT 150

Hi Farquart, There are a couple answers to your question. When your motor overheated, the overheat can effect the other components. Leaking head gaskets can cause an overheat, and when you shut the motor down and restarted it, you can have misfiring due to the gasket failure, If the head gaskets had never been changed. 10 years is a long time, even in fresh water use. There are other items that can cause an overheat, but it soulnds, like the head gasket fixed that?? Then we have the amount of heat generated during the overheat. Some ignition components generate heat as they operate, some more than others. When a component has been in service for some time, it is more likely to fail. If a component was nearing its failure, Add excessive heat to that component and it fails sooner. The way the ignition system operates, It is possible that a power pack, stator, or timer base could fail following an overheat. When my customer brings their motor in, following an overheat, I generally inform them of the worst case, in your instance, your motor is 10 years old. You would have been told that the overheat could be one problem,(head gaskets or other areas) and it could have effected the ignition system also, (possible reasons for the misfire.) I would have addressed the overheat problem first, After all, that started the trouble. Then, if after doing the head gaskets,(provided the block and cylinders were ok) it still missed, look for that cause. The answer to your last question is, You may have needed those parts to get your motor in running order.