Just want to start by saying that I love this forum and read posts at least every other day (Can you say addicted)! There's tons of great info and advice here, but I may have something (or a couple of things) a little bit unique going on with my motor. Maybe I'm just over thinking too?
I picked up a 2002 Johnson 25hp (short, tiller, rope pull) in great shape for a song as it had been sitting for quite awhile and was trolled for most of it life before being stored.
You guys always want as much information as possible, so here you go!
On it's maiden voyage with myself as the new owner: It started quickly, didn't idle terribly well (rough with lean sneeze), ran "decent" on the high speed jet and wot, but seemed a little "flat" in performance.
The following day, I changed the lower unit oil (very dark, but water and particle free), turned the low speed screw out about an 1/8 of a turn and ran a can of OMC tuner through it in the driveway on muffs (WHAT a smokeshow THAT was) and let the tuner sit overnight.
The following morning I took it to the lake and ran it out, then put new plugs in. Acceleration was greatly improved. wot seems about the same, idle is better and the lean sneeze is gone but still a little rough.
The next day I pull the plugs and they are oily/slimy around the base, tan/brown on the electrode and I noticed oil was seeping past the gaskets on both plugs before pulling them (previously torqued them to 20 ft lbs). The inside of the combustion chamber is still pretty carboned up so I think another decarb is in order (Seafoam this time through the primer inlet??)
With all that said and not sure if it's related, I have noticed since the beginning and now running it quite a few times that it steams somewhat out of the exhaust relief below the rear of the hood (Not so much during mid-day when it's hot out). The "exhaust cover?" on the left side of the engine is cool, but the head cover is very hot (can only hold my hand there for about 2 secs tops). Tell tell seems ok, but I don't have anything to compare it to. At idle, it's comparable to about what we would produce after 1 beer :facepalm:
I'm "thinking" thermostat but any advice would be greatly appreciated! Also, any thoughts on oil seeping past the plugs?
I picked up a 2002 Johnson 25hp (short, tiller, rope pull) in great shape for a song as it had been sitting for quite awhile and was trolled for most of it life before being stored.
You guys always want as much information as possible, so here you go!
On it's maiden voyage with myself as the new owner: It started quickly, didn't idle terribly well (rough with lean sneeze), ran "decent" on the high speed jet and wot, but seemed a little "flat" in performance.
The following day, I changed the lower unit oil (very dark, but water and particle free), turned the low speed screw out about an 1/8 of a turn and ran a can of OMC tuner through it in the driveway on muffs (WHAT a smokeshow THAT was) and let the tuner sit overnight.
The following morning I took it to the lake and ran it out, then put new plugs in. Acceleration was greatly improved. wot seems about the same, idle is better and the lean sneeze is gone but still a little rough.
The next day I pull the plugs and they are oily/slimy around the base, tan/brown on the electrode and I noticed oil was seeping past the gaskets on both plugs before pulling them (previously torqued them to 20 ft lbs). The inside of the combustion chamber is still pretty carboned up so I think another decarb is in order (Seafoam this time through the primer inlet??)
With all that said and not sure if it's related, I have noticed since the beginning and now running it quite a few times that it steams somewhat out of the exhaust relief below the rear of the hood (Not so much during mid-day when it's hot out). The "exhaust cover?" on the left side of the engine is cool, but the head cover is very hot (can only hold my hand there for about 2 secs tops). Tell tell seems ok, but I don't have anything to compare it to. At idle, it's comparable to about what we would produce after 1 beer :facepalm:
I'm "thinking" thermostat but any advice would be greatly appreciated! Also, any thoughts on oil seeping past the plugs?