84' 70 johnson very hard to start

[chrisotenn]

hi im new to this forum but not new to reading here. my model number is
j70tlcrd. it took about 15 minutes to crank at the lake the other day. before it would crank kinda easy but not yesterday. its been wanting to die after you crank it up put in forward you would have to get in the throttle to get it to stay running. now same problem but very hard to start. every start after that was great hit right off. i took the screen filter off and cleaned it and put 3 new champion plugs in it. is there a fuel filter and if there is where is it? thank you so much.

 

[mikesea]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

sounds like your not getting enough fuel initially.Be sure you squeeze the ball good and hard,or,it may be getting bad.Next,your choke,make sure its working,you should hear an audible click when the key actuates it,if you cant hear anything,you may want to get a cheap test lite at an auto store for under 5 bucks.You want to disconnect the purple wire from the primer(its not called a choke anymore,different system)if you take one side of the lite to the purple that feeds the primer and the other to ground,when you actuate the choke ,the light should go on.if not you may have a problem where the purple wire with the white stripe screws to the switch.If you have power ,but no sound or ,fuel not passing thru(take one of the small hoses off the primer,when the key actuates it should squirt fuel)the squeeze ball pressurizes that primer,the key activates an electric valve that allows fuel to go out the small hoses into the intake manifold.That all said,if you should need to ,you can turn the red lever 90 degrees from position,that will manually allow fuel to pass .once sdtarted it must be shut or flooded engine will happen.You can use a meter or other devices to test.Not knowing one skills I try to simplify when i can. Keep us posted.Good luck

 

[chrisotenn]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

thank you very much mikesea. ive been thinking of a fuel problem the whole time. when i put the key in the switch to crank, i push the key in for over a minute for the primer but no sound whatsoever. i will test it out when i get off work today. again thank you so much. im hoping its something small like this cause when i got the boat around 5 years ago it was very very easy to start and idle.now its getting worse. i will let you know how it goes mikesea.

 

[chrisotenn]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

ok i put 3 new plugs again just to make sure. the primer does click when i put the key in i turn it once and push it in and i hear a click from the outboard. so lastnight i took it back out and instead of 15 minutes of cranking it took about 7 to 8 minutes of cranking. i also took the screen off the fuel pump and cleaned it. so after the first crank it would crank with just a hit of the switch. but id get into the throttle it would want to die. i have a drive on trailer and i cound not get it to drive onto it. its like its bogged down. once you ease into it it will go very good. so im lost lol. any help would be very appreciated thank you.

 

[patrick4266]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

Check that primer to see that it is really getting gas to the carbs. Pull off the little lines comming out of the solenoid and turn the key on and push in the choke.

 

[chrisotenn]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

hey patrick thanks for the reply i will check tomorrow i believe there is 2 lines on it do you know which one i need to pull. also ive been looking at trying to change the fuel filter out, but i cant find one. i have a 6 gallon plastic gas tank with a bulb but no filter. none around the engine either. this isnt good is it patrick or am i missing something. thanks alot for all your help.

 

[chrisotenn]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

allright patrick i pulled the 2 little lines off left the big one on. pumped up the bulb and put the key in. turn it one time pushed it in where i heard it clicking everytime i pushed in the key. no gas at all came out. turned the little red lever boom gas came out of both of them. i checked i get power to the solenoid and i ohmed the purple wire including the ground and i got 4 ohms. so according to all that its good but its bad because the gas isnt primed out the lines. now next thing i noticed i have a little leak of gas just a hint of blue inside. so the big line that goes into the bottomof the fuel pump is lose. when i pump the bulb up that line leaks just a tad. i noticed the line that goes from the pump to the "t" is dry rotted looking craked and stuff. so my question is with the small leak could that cause the wanting to die right out of neutral. sorry for the long typo but i need your help and you guys are awesome . thank you so much.

 

[patrick4266]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

first off replace all those bad hoses and try to clean out the selenoid. Have you rebuilt the carbs?

 

[chrisotenn]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

hey thanks patrick. i will replace all the gas lines. do you think the plastic zip tie looking things would be better than small screw in ones to hold the lines? these that are on here dont look like they hold very good. i will take the solenoid apart and clean. do you recomend any kind of cleaning solution? the carbs i dont know. my pappaw gave me this boat about 5 years ago before that he would let some mechanic at a marina keep up his boat. patrick thanks for all your help ill get back with you.

 

[patrick4266]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

I have a 83-70 hp johnson and I had to rebuild my carbs you need to do the same and also soak them. You can get the carb soak at auto zone for about 20 bucks, also clean out that solenoid. I would just use regular carb cleaner out of a spray can. After you rebuild the carbs be sure to link&sync

 

[chrisotenn]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

ok patrick would this be something i could do or let a trusted mechanic do. and do you know roughly this could cost?

 

[patrick4266]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

I did it and I'm not really a boat machanic, although I have been messing with them for a few years. I am however a auto machanic and I just applied that experience and what these guys told me plus the manual. If your mechanically inclined you should be able to pull it off.

 

[chrisotenn]

Re: 84' 70 johnson very hard to start

sweet thanks patrick ill check it out