Re: 88 johnson and bad motor
I would invest in a compression guage.You can get one at your local autoparts pretty cheap.You want one that screws into the plug hole.Not one you hold over.As you may see Dhadley,a well respected mech.is also curious.Not to say it cant happen,but all 4 cylinders with bad compression at same time isnt common.Even more uncommon would be consistent readings that are low,Say 45 48 50 52.More acceptable would be 110 112 115 117.Thats for example.there is possibility that comp.guage is not reading right.If you had a blown cyl.it would read more like 0 to perhaps 20 and 99.999 percent of time 1 0r 2 crlinders might go bad at once.I just dont want to see a new guy spend unessary money.The common problems are dirty carbs if a boat sat too long.FYI,what you WANT to do when you buy an eng.is comp.as a number 1,spark yes if you can ,but if the eng runs spark likely not a prob.And see it pees water.I tell you this because after you buy your comp guage(about $25)you can use it anytime you go to buy another eng.Well spent money.Get back to us with comp readings.Usually,if a cylinder goes bad,you will feel binding while turning flywheel by hand with plugs out.Rings crack and can score the cylinder.There are other reasons.Even with bad comp,as long as it had gas ,spark and some comp.It should of tried to strt.
