2000 Johnson 200 Ocean Pro - Out Of Ideas... Please Help

[stresspoint]

Honestly, I've never rebuilt a motor or even replaced a head gasket. Pulling a motor apart intimidates me.

then why on earth are you messing with someone's motor ??(i hope you are not charging to do this work)..
any decent marine /outboard mechanic with half an idea would look at those compression numbers and tell their customer they need it to be to torn down and rebuilt before moving on.

give the motor back to the owner , cut your losses and please stop trying to pass yourself off as a boat mechanic , stick to working on your own machines till you get proper knowledge.

sorry to be so blunt , but i and guessing others here diagnosed your issue as soon as you posted those poor compression numbers and mentioned smoking excessively..

 

[flyingscott]

You might want to look at the shift switch. You might want to get a manual

 

[Blowinup]

There is nothing to be intimidated by here.
If you have done all the other work you will have no problem with pulling the heads for inspection.
I have been following along with a lot of wondering why all this is being done with these low numbers and the overwhelming possibility of a serious overheat. Your harbor freight gauge could very well be off. If you can’t invest in a quality gauge most auto parts stores will loan them out with a deposit. It’s very important to get an accurate number here. If they are truly that low my personal opinion giving there is sentimental value in this motor would be a rebuild, find a donor motor with known good compression or get a short block and swap over all the new parts. As I’m sure you and the owner know you rarely get a return on your investment when doing things for sentimental reasons.
Best of luck to you both.

I appreciate your encouragement and suggestions. I've never had much faith in my compression tester. I've used it when buying boats and had sellers tell me that they, and other potential buyers, have had higher results.

Once I was on my way to buy a boat, and realized I'd forgotten my gauge. So I bought another one from Harbor Freight; The first is their 8 Piece Model and the 2nd was their Quick Connect. I'll bet neither are very accurate. But they do seem to be consistently inaccurate.



I'm going to take your advise and get a quality gauge. In the mean time, I'm going to 'rent' one from my Advanced Auto. I know this won't change the fact that the motor is worn out. But at least I'll know if there is any life left in it.

I did another test. The first was done after I replaced the flywheel, stator and water pump. The second was done after the carb and fuel pump rebuilds. These are the results.













Cylinder #1 saw the biggest gain of about 8psi. But just a pound or two, if any, on the rest.

For the record, when the results of the first compression test came back so low, I did tell the owner that it indicated a rebuild was needed.

A doner motor is a great idea. I recommended one when the owner was finding outrageously high prices for a replacement flywheel. Before he bought the flywheel, stator or any of the rebuild kits, I cautioned him that we could quickly exceed the value of the motor. I looked up the NADA fair market price and quoted it to him. His reply was that he already had twice that into it and it didn't make since to him to stop until it was fixed.

Thanks again for your kind post and well wishes.

Cheers

 

[flyingscott]

You're guy could have paid a real mechanic and actually had it fixed. You need to back away from this motor and apologize to him.

 

[KJM]

You're guy could have paid a real mechanic and actually had it fixed. You need to back away from this motor and apologize to him.

I don't see where he has anything to apologize for. He said in the second post that its already been in every shop that would work on it. He told his buddy that the motor needs to be rebuilt before replacing all those parts. Seems his buddy might have more money then common sense. but that's not the OP's fault!

 

[KJM]

I appreciate your encouragement and suggestions. I've never had much faith in my compression tester. I've used it when buying boats and had sellers tell me that they, and other potential buyers, have had higher results.

Once I was on my way to buy a boat, and realized I'd forgotten my gauge. So I bought another one from Harbor Freight; The first is their 8 Piece Model and the 2nd was their Quick Connect. I'll bet neither are very accurate. But they do seem to be consistently inaccurate.

View attachment 389621

I'm going to take your advise and get a quality gauge. In the mean time, I'm going to 'rent' one from my Advanced Auto. I know this won't change the fact that the motor is worn out. But at least I'll know if there is any life left in it.

I did another test. The first was done after I replaced the flywheel, stator and water pump. The second was done after the carb and fuel pump rebuilds. These are the results.

View attachment 389622

View attachment 389623

View attachment 389624

View attachment 389625

View attachment 389626

View attachment 389628

Cylinder #1 saw the biggest gain of about 8psi. But just a pound or two, if any, on the rest.

For the record, when the results of the first compression test came back so low, I did tell the owner that it indicated a rebuild was needed.

A doner motor is a great idea. I recommended one when the owner was finding outrageously high prices for a replacement flywheel. Before he bought the flywheel, stator or any of the rebuild kits, I cautioned him that we could quickly exceed the value of the motor. I looked up the NADA fair market price and quoted it to him. His reply was that he already had twice that into it and it didn't make since to him to stop until it was fixed.

Thanks again for your kind post and well wishes.

Cheers

If you had two different compression guages giving the same readings then I would trust the guage.

 

[flyingscott]

I don't see where he has anything to apologize for. He said in the second post that its already been in every shop that would work on it. He told his buddy that the motor needs to be rebuilt before replacing all those parts. Seems his buddy might have more money then common sense. but that's not the OP's fault!

You think what you want. I don't think we are getting the whole story.

 

[saltchuckmatt]

3 words, motor is shot.

Nothing more needs to be said.

 

[ct1762@gmail.com]

I use a $70 borescope as a 1st check with low compression/idling issues. takes me 5 min tops and all i had to do was unscrew the spark plugs and push a button. get a replacement powerhead if rebuilding it is out of the question. you need to set the rod caps correctly when rebuilding, and i dont do that without the special alignment tool. not saying it cant be done under skilled hands, but the tool is my favorite.

 

[w2much]

2 cents. My harbor F compression gauge is only used to find if the numbers are even. I have been through a few of these gauges. They all seem to run at least ten pounds lower than my Snap On or Cornwell compression gauges. That being said your compression is still low but I see your point in trying to get the motor running until a rebuild is done. Your buddy is one stubborn sentimenta fella. The info here in the post to the point. The motor is old, there are quite a few of them out there. I have two 3 1/2 . This winter look for a used one. If you are lucky you will find one with a bad lower unit or other than a bad powerhead and switch out the power heads. You should only pay a few hundred dollars or maybe even free.