71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

[JoshTroski]

Hi, I have a 71 johnson 100hp that ran great until we got a bunch of rain now it is stuck in forward. I replaced the shifter switch with a toggle like described in another post and it sill does it. please help. this is how i wired the switch.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

You actually need a triple throw switch, forward has no power on any wire, neutral is power on green only, reverse is power on green and blue. What you are showing , you should only have either neutral or reverse. If indeed you are stuck in forward, check that you have 12v to the switch.

 

[JoshTroski]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

Heres what I got going on now. I attached the green wire to the positive battery terminal with the motor running which I believe should have kicked it in neutral but it kept going forward. Do I have the right kind of switch? If not the switch what else might be my problem?

 

[JoshTroski]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

I also used a LED to test the power wire to the switch without the engine running and the key on and it did light up. It wasn't very bright but there was power.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

If the battery is good, the LED should be bright. Check you have correct voltage. Motor off should be just over 12V , motor running , just over 14V. Volts isn't the only thing, you need amps also if the battery is old might be time to replace. You could also get the battery load tested. Just as a check, put your ohmmeter on eac wire to the block, each solenoid should read 5-6 ohms. Although I don't think this is the problem.

 

[orbanp]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

The switch has to have three positions:
- middle, power applied neither to the green or blue, this is forward,
- up, power applied to green, that is neutral,
- down, power applied to both green and blue wires, that is reverse
If your switch has these thre position than theoretically you should be right, if it only has two positions, then you should be either in neutral or reverse.

Being stuck in forward means that the switch does not provide power to either solenoids.
Check with a DMM if the green and blue wires at the switch indeed are connected to the solenoids: between either wire and the ground you should have no more than 6 - 8 Ohms resistance. If it is more than that then you have wiring problems or solenoid failure.
Also measure the power on the wire bringing power from the battery to the switch, it should be 12V.
Using a LED you also should use a resistor in series with the LED, about 470 Ohm. Without it the LED will burn out. Did you have that? Higher resistor value will provide less brightness in the LED.

Peter

 

[JoshTroski]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

The battery is good everything else hooked up to it works fine. The switch I used does have three positions. What is a DMM? Where are the solenoids? Do I need to take apart the lower part of the motor to get to them? There is no resistor on the LED I was using.

 

[JoshTroski]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

I just tested with the motor running and the switch it is getting power but when I flip it to neutral or reverse no power. I disconnected a green wire from the switch and touched it to the power wire on the switch and it sounded like it went into neutral a few times.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

A DMM is a digital multi-meter, us "older guys" knew them as volt-ohm-meters. Either will do the job. From your description, it still sounds like the problem is in the switch.

 

[JoshTroski]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

Thanks a lot for the help guys I had one wire on the switch wrong it works good now. If you didn't have me check the wires I would have never noticed now my weekend plans are not ruined i can go boating instead of the viking funeral I planned for myself if I didnt get it running. Thanks again.

 

[orbanp]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

The switch looks brand new.
Check the wiring, by measuring the resistance.
The solenoids are in the gear case, the green and blue wires come out from the leg at the bottom of the power head. There are knife-edge connectors there. Disconnect and measure the solenoid resistance. As mentioned, it should read 6 - 8 Ohms. If fine, reattach the connectors, measure it at the next set of connectors, that is the big connector where the cable from the control is connected to the motor. Follow the measurement in the control box, where your wires to the switch are spliced in.
Use a digital multi-meter as it gives accurate readings even at those low resistance values.

Peter

 

[JoshTroski]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

Well it was working fine do I put it in the water and back to the same thing only forward. The switch and wires are getting really hot. I disconnected from the switch and tried touching the wires together and nothing but I am still getting power to the switch. I'm ready to set it on fire and float away on it.

 

[orbanp]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

If you are not testing what is wrong with it, you will never find it!
In this thread #3 post describes the electro-hydraulic sgifting system in details: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=550274
We gave you all the help you could get, now it is up to you!

Peter

 

[jwilkey84]

Re: 71 Johnson hydro electric goes forward in all gears

hey if you need any parts/solenoids they are pretty pricy, but I just took one apart and may have some parts if you need them..