HELP Idle problems?? dies when put in gear

[tandayn]

I have a 1976 Johnson 55hp. Don't know much about motors. I just bought this boat & motor and it seems to idle and run fine at home. Put it in gear back to neutral works great but, when I drop it in the water it starts fine but the idle seems low and it dies when I put it in gear. I took apart the carbs and cleaned and checked it with the help of a friend. any ideas???

 

[harleyg]

Re: HELP Idle problems?? dies when put in gear

sounds familiar to me. see my posting about plugged main jets. you can see the hoops i have hadto jump through, perhaps they will help. i'll watch your posting to see if anything helps.<br />good luck !!

 

[BF]

Re: HELP Idle problems?? dies when put in gear

Hiya,<br /><br />I've learned from reading here that the idle rpm will be different if it's running on muffs or actually in water. That's because when the lower unit is in water there is backpressure on the exhaust. So, maybe your idle is just set too low. If it were me, I would bump up the idle so it's at the correct rpm with the boat in the water and see if that solves it. If not, then I'd be inclined to think either a carb problem, or maybe that it's not running on one cylinder (which can happen for several reasons).<br /><br />Thats my $.02, but I'm no expert.<br /><br />Brent

 

[tandayn]

Re: HELP Idle problems?? dies when put in gear

Mahalo for the information. We adjusted the idle and now it works fine at idle. When we took it out for a test run and put the throttle down all the way the boat doesn't go as fast as it used to. Any clue.