older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

[BarryBum]

I have a 1972 model Johnson 100 hp outboard. It has the electric hydro drive switch on the throttle, there is also an electric choke switch on the throttle. I was getting the boat out today and getting it cranked up for the first time this year when i noticed something that I had never seen before. On the lower right front side of the engine, just to the left of the fuel fitting was a small lever labeled "choke" but the knob is gone off of it. Is this choke supposed to be used in conjunction with the electric choke or instead of the electric choke? I am really at a loss here. The engine is hard to start using the electric choke but today I pushed in the choke lever on the front of the engine and it fired right up. This may have just been coincidence though. any ideas or thoughts are appreciated.

 

[jegervais]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

The manual choke is there for use in the event it was (is) neccesary to rope start the engine. With the difficulty you're experiencing starting it using the toggle switch, there's a chance the choke solenoid isn't working or isn't correctly hooked up. Remove the cowl and observe the linkage working (or not) while a friend activates the choke toggle switch.<br /><br />-John

 

[Franki]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

Hello.. someone with the same motor as me..<br /><br />I noticed that as well.. <br /><br />my electric soleniod works, but it only closes the choke butterfly.. I think the choke lever does more then that.. (for starters, its much harder to push in/pull out) it also closes the butterflies alot more then the soleniod does.<br /><br />Also, that choke lever has three positions.. <br /><br />right in.. level with the body.. and out..<br /><br />I have no idea what the correct position is, but assumed the middle as being a good guess..<br /><br />pushing it right in, does not affect the choke butterflies.. I thought maybe its a way of leaning out the mixture??? <br /><br />Barrybum.. can I ask you a favour???? can you hook up your fuel tank pump your primer a heap of times then hold it tight and see if it goes down slowly.. mine does and I am trying to determine if its normal or now.. (I have to squeeze reasonably hard.. but not as hard as I was expecting.) do you ever get abit of fuel running from the front of your carbs? (runs out the bottom of the carb cover.) I occasionally have that prob, and was wondering what was causing it.<br /><br />rgds<br /><br />Frank

 

[oldboat1]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

got to chime in here. I had a '70 85hp Evinrude until very recently. My starting procedure for about the last 6 or 8 years was to pull out the manual choke (lower right on the front of the cowling) to the fully extended position (full choke). When the engine started, I would immediately push the button all the way in (choke off). The middle position was for the automatic choke, which did not work on my engine -- just didn't see the need to repair it. I believe the toggle at the key switch worked only when the choke button was in the middle position.

 

[Franki]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

No, the toogle will work regardless of where the choke switch is.. the toogle is basically an electic magnet , and there is no switch or anything on the carb that would stop it working regardless of what position the manual choke is on. (even with the choke manually fully on, the soleniod still works, it just doesn't achieve anything since the choke butterflies are already closed..)<br /><br />Still, thankyou so much for letting us know what the 3 positions are for.. I won't be leaving it in the middle anymore.. I had automatic chokes on cars, and I doubt I'll like them any more on Outboards...<br /><br />rgds<br /><br />Frank

 

[oldboat1]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

Thanks -- stand corrected on the function of the toggle switch. I obviously didn't use it much. Glad the info helped. I agree on the automatic choke (preference for manual chokes on outboards). Still, a couple of years ago I was fooling around with a '61 Evinrude Lark (40hp) with a hot water activated choke that seemed to work perfectly.... That rascal had to be more complex than the one we have been discussing, and indeed seemed to work. But I guess if I had run that motor for 8 years, it would have quit working at some point too.<br /><br /> regards,<br /><br /> Curt

 

[Franki]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

Lol, its funny you should say that..<br />I have an old Lark40 here now.. <br /><br />I could never get the auto choke working on that either.. I always had to open the hatch on the front and do it manually.. (I miss that hatch.. I rekkon all outboards should still have them <br />great old motor the lark40... cept I had one of the selectric gearbox's and it was no end of trouble.. its what finially convinced me to upgrade to something with more promise...<br /><br />In my experiance, more complex usually means "harder to fix when it gets fubar." <br /><br />rgds<br /><br />Frank

 

[Franki]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

Lol, its funny you should say that..<br />I have an old Lark40 here now.. <br /><br />I could never get the auto choke working on that either.. I always had to open the hatch on the front and do it manually.. (I miss that hatch.. I rekkon all outboards should still have them <br />great old motor the lark40... cept I had one of the selectric gearbox's and it was no end of trouble.. its what finially convinced me to upgrade to something with more promise...<br /><br />In my experiance, more complex usually means "harder to fix when it gets fubar." (like the larks auto choke.)<br /><br />rgds<br /><br />Frank

 

[oldboat1]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

My Lark had the manual gearbox, which was a blessing. The '70 Evinrude, on the other hand, had the selectric box. I always was concerned it was going to let me down, but it never did.<br /><br />If you can get the hot water choke to work (assuming you have one on the Lark), it's a lot of fun to watch. I had replaced the impeller, and thought I had overlooked some blockage when I fired it up -- little or no water from the exhaust port on the back of the leg. Then the thermostat opened, water was suddenly blasting out of the exhaust port, and the motor leaned out and settled down to a nice quiet idle. But I finished the project and happened to sell the boat shortly after that to another hobbyist. By the way, I had a heck of a time getting the flywheel tight enough on that motor --kept shearing off keys. Don't be afraid to torque it down.<br /><br />fun stuff.<br /><br /> Curt

 

[Texas Ace]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

I posted a new message a few minutes ago, along these same lines. I have a '75 85HP Johnson with the auto choke problems. My manual choke has the three positions also, up, down and in the middle, with the middle being auto choke.<br /><br />I have to pull the cover off to manually choke the engine. I would like to get the toggle switch on the gear shift to work. I tried to get to the toggle switch but it is not that easy. I will probably have to pull the gearshift off its mounting.<br /><br />Nothing happens on the engine when I activate the toggle switch.<br /><br />I am reasonably sound with tools, but have had this motor less than a week and know very little about outboards.<br /><br />Could use any help you guys can give....

 

[PHANTOM85]

Re: older Johnson choke question.........any ideas???

Thanks -- stand corrected on the function of the toggle switch. I obviously didn't use it much. Glad the info helped. I agree on the automatic choke (preference for manual chokes on outboards). Still, a couple of years ago I was fooling around with a '61 Evinrude Lark (40hp) with a hot water activated choke that seemed to work perfectly.... That rascal had to be more complex than the one we have been discussing, and indeed seemed to work. But I guess if I had run that motor for 8 years, it would have quit working at some point too.<br /><br /> regards,<br /><br /> Curt

thanks oldboat1. my 1970 evinrude 85 just recently started bogging down at 3/4 to full throttle but runs great at lower speeds. appears to be flooding out. plunger in choke solenoid works via toggle under ign switch. should the linkage connected to the plunger stay staionery when elect choke is activated or should all the linkage move as well when plunger drops down? appears it doesn't matter where manual choke is set as long as elect one is working?