50 Hp Johnson 1971 starts and runs for 5 seconds then stalls

75scast

Recruit
Joined
May 24, 2009
Messages
2
I picked up an old boat that was sitting in an outdoor storage facility for 20 years...everything was in decent looking condition except for the seats...anyway
I took the cover off and was quite pleased to see that alot of the motor was clean and lubricated and all moving parts moved....ruling out a seized motor...

it is a 1971 Johnson 50 hp 2 stroke.....now I changed the ignition switch, new throttle cable, new gas tank and hose...did every possible electrical test to find everything appearing fine...

now, I covered the bottom half of the motor in a plastic drum filled with water pumped my gas line and did my first crank...starter turned but solenoid did not engage...so I greased it up and worked the moving part till it was free...tryed the second crank and it engaged perfectly....

now, the engine at this point just turned over with no sound of wanting to start...I opened up the plugs....which are still original by the way....look clean...I tested for spark and only the bottom one sparked, not the top...
I swapped coils and plugs and re-tested and the same result occured...insuring me that the coils/plugs were doing their job...

the power pack appeared to be fine/clean looking...so I moved on and took off the flywheel...there are no points on this engine....so I cleaned the stator magnet with sand paper and cleaned up all the contacts, put everything back together gave it another turn over and it tried to start this time...

after numerous amounts of turning the engine over it finally started...each time it would run a little longer untill it would flood and I would have to wait a while...I checked the fuel filter...had a little bit of gunk but not enough to really cause a problem...the longest Ive had it running for is about 5 secs.

it doesn't want to idle....my choke lever has start and run on it...when I move it to run after it starts, it stalls immediately if I lift it all the way to the top it stalls...

Im still not sure if I am getting the spark from the upper cylinder (which is the no.1 cylinder) but it does run smooth during that 5 secs of life it has right now....

what could it be?? Im thinking gummed up carbs?? if so whats the easiest way I can try and revive them without taking them out?? can I spray some carb cleaner in there and keep letting it run till it idles??

Im not sure yet what to do....

this is my first boat/motor so any advice I can get I would be greatly appreciative of it

Thanks very much
Shawn
 
Last edited:

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: 50 Hp Johnson 1971 starts and runs for 5 seconds then stalls

read this >> http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=299680

90% of starter problems are bad connections. remove and clean both ends of the battery cables, so that they are shiney, also the cable from the solenoid to starter. check for nicks in the cables. and make sure the connectors are on the wire good. the cable tend to corrode from the inside out, if nicked, corroded wires, and connections, heat up and cause resistance to the follow of electricity, thus the starter doesn't get enough. you can also take jumper cable pos battery post to large post on starter. with a good connection, the engine should spin. then if the starter is good clean everything and retest. then trouble shoot solenoid. starters can be rebuit at a starter/alternator shop, much cheaper than a new one.

also have the battery load tested at the auto parts store, free, i've had new batteries go bad
 
Top