Re: '77 70HP Johnson Starter Issues Maybe
your starter has weak brushes?..... well disassemble starter clean up comutator, check brushes and springs.... reassemble starter... problem most likely fixed.................if that is real problem.
you say you ran motor on muffs, that has less back pressure than being immersed in water for sure.... but frankly I am not going to buy that it will affect the starter in any way, at the RPM the starter turns the engine, there is virtually no difference in back pressure at that time. Most likely you have adjusted the tune so that it ran very well on the muffs, this usually means not so well in water... final tuning of fuel mixtures should be done in water, that said.
Load test battery, make sure it is very well charged. Check, clean, spray with battery terminal protector the connections for your battery, make sure they are good tight clean connections. same goes for the connections on the starter, solenoid, and rest of cables.
if lake or river conveniently nearby, put boat in with freshly charged battery (take spare batt with your that is also very well charged) fire boat, tune for running on the water instead of muffs.... see if that takes care of your issues...
if lake isnt close enough.... try a 55gal drum, an old trashcan... well you get the picture. all you need is to be able to idle in it with the water pump covered.
Sean
