I purchased a new (to me) boat with a 1988 Johnson 110 (J110TLCCA). On the test drive I noticed that it didn't want to idle and it had virtually no power at low RPM's. Once the boat got on plane it would run well. It runs well enough to push the boat to 47mph. On a side note the tell tale stream was not present so the test drive did not last long, it ended up being junk stopped up in the hose. I replaced the impeller/seals just in case though.
I thought it was the carbs stopped up as per the numerous posts about the idle jets getting clogged. So I purchased 2 carb rebuild/reseal kits. After cleaning the already apparently clean carbs we fired the boat up again (out of the water) and it would idle for about 20 seconds before it would cough and die. I initially thought it was running lean because if you would press the key in (to activate the priming solenoid, or whatever it's called) every 10 second or so the engine actually idled pretty smooth. So after taking the carbs on and off about 6 times to "double" check ourselves, we decided that this wasn't the issue.
After doing a little research and pulling from my dad's "old school" knowledge we decided that it was a timing issue. We obviously do not have access to a test tank or anything like that and we really don't have water close enough to put the boat in to tinker with the engine. So I read up and found a way to "static" time the engine. Basically we pulled all the plugs and grounded them. We connected a timing light to the #1 cylinder and checked the timing at idle and at WOT (obviously not running). From the info I gathered from the book the timing advance should be at about 28deg @ WOT and about 4deg @ "idle."
We found that the engine was set to about 20deg @WOT and about +4deg (that is 4deg the other side of TDC) @ idle.
So we moved the top "timing" rod one hole forward to the maximum setting and tried again. That brought us to about 24deg @WOT and about 0deg @ idle. We fired up the boat and it actually idles now. It still has a cough every once in a while but it does not die.
My main question is should I go through the sync process to try and get that extra 4 deg of advance? OR, should I just adjust the "eccentric" pin on the top "timing" rod to get as much spark advance without going through the sync process?
I have read through the sync process about 30 times and I think I understand what is going on there.
My secondary question is, how could the timing possibly be that far out? I presume that the previous owner fooled around with it, but how could he get it that far out of adjustment.
Thanks for any advice in advance!
I thought it was the carbs stopped up as per the numerous posts about the idle jets getting clogged. So I purchased 2 carb rebuild/reseal kits. After cleaning the already apparently clean carbs we fired the boat up again (out of the water) and it would idle for about 20 seconds before it would cough and die. I initially thought it was running lean because if you would press the key in (to activate the priming solenoid, or whatever it's called) every 10 second or so the engine actually idled pretty smooth. So after taking the carbs on and off about 6 times to "double" check ourselves, we decided that this wasn't the issue.
After doing a little research and pulling from my dad's "old school" knowledge we decided that it was a timing issue. We obviously do not have access to a test tank or anything like that and we really don't have water close enough to put the boat in to tinker with the engine. So I read up and found a way to "static" time the engine. Basically we pulled all the plugs and grounded them. We connected a timing light to the #1 cylinder and checked the timing at idle and at WOT (obviously not running). From the info I gathered from the book the timing advance should be at about 28deg @ WOT and about 4deg @ "idle."
We found that the engine was set to about 20deg @WOT and about +4deg (that is 4deg the other side of TDC) @ idle.
So we moved the top "timing" rod one hole forward to the maximum setting and tried again. That brought us to about 24deg @WOT and about 0deg @ idle. We fired up the boat and it actually idles now. It still has a cough every once in a while but it does not die.
My main question is should I go through the sync process to try and get that extra 4 deg of advance? OR, should I just adjust the "eccentric" pin on the top "timing" rod to get as much spark advance without going through the sync process?
I have read through the sync process about 30 times and I think I understand what is going on there.
My secondary question is, how could the timing possibly be that far out? I presume that the previous owner fooled around with it, but how could he get it that far out of adjustment.
Thanks for any advice in advance!