New to me 82 Johnson 25hp question

[Ruddigger]

Newbie here,

I've been fishing for over 20 years now but have always used someone elses boat/motor, I recently purchased a 82 - 14ft smokercraft with a 82 Johnson 25 hp Seahorse from an older woman who says its ran like a top for the last 26 years but she is too old and fragile for it now and it has sat for about a year and half. Although I'm new to the boating side I consider myself very mechanically inclined so I used this site and did some tuning up. Here is what I did

- Changed lower end oil ... water came out followed by oil (I'm assuming thats not a good thing?)
- Changed plugs ... Champions gapped to .30
- Cleaned prop and prop spindle
- greased all fittings
- new gas and oil mix to 50:1

hooked up earmuffs and lit her up ... took about 10-12 pulls with choke on full. Started with a high rev and died within 10 seconds. It would start then die... it would then run for a minute or so but at a really high rev even when turned the accelerator right down to slow. Also I notice the prop was turning while in idle, nothing fast or anything but it was turning. I'm tempted to bring it in to a mechanic that i'm sure would be more then happy to charge me a fortune, but I'm also a cheap pollack that thinks he can fix anything. Please someone help.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New to me 82 Johnson 25hp question

well i would start with compression and spark test. then clean the carb, replace all fuel lines. tank to carb. it is all covered here, http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=299680

 

[restornator]

Re: New to me 82 Johnson 25hp question

water mixed with gear oil comes out in a uniform milky color. I'm going to take a guess and say the clear liquid you saw come out first had an awful smell to it. That's not water. Gear oil probably starting to separate because it has been sitting for so long.

Secondly, your motor doesn't have thru-hub exhaust, or at least it shouldn't. You can't run it on earmuffs and be able to see the prop spinning. That being said, it sounds like the gearcase has been upgraded, and water spilling from the muffs will rotate the prop like a watermill

Lastly the motor will rev up when it's not under load

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: New to me 82 Johnson 25hp question

Okay, I figured out my initial problem, the breather valve on the gas tank was stuck. So it starts first pull, however, after running for about a minute I wasn't getting a good stream of water the earmuffs worked like crap on my motor. I shut down the motor and I noticed black sludge coming out of the outlet holes where the water is supposed to comes out, almost an oily sludge. I filled up a barrel with water and ran the motor and again started first start, good water flow, smoked for a minute then smoke was gone, idle with the throttle at fast with no issues, but when throttle down to slow, bogged down to almost dying. I adjusted the big screw on the front of the carb and somewhat worked but the motor shook like crazy when in neutral on low idle. Also when I throttle up in neutral the engine revs a little higher but doesn't feel like there is a lot of power. The black sludge isn't leaking out the holes anymore but I'm still worried of the lack of power.

 

[missotis]

Re: New to me 82 Johnson 25hp question

I have the same model motor. Don 't worry about the black sludge coming from the drain holes. That is just unburned oil and water coming from your exhaust housing. The first time I saw it I was worrried too. Those two cycle engines never have complete combustion of the premix. My '82 is a little tempemental when starting cold. Once it is warmed up - no problem. You really need to get the boat in the river or lake and see how it reacts under load. I suspect it won't react like it does in the barrel. Lastly, you propably turned the needle valve (low idle adjusting screw) down too much. You are starving the carb of fuel and that is why you are experiencing the motor shaking so much. The adjustment is pretty sensitive and you should adjust it in 1/4 turn increments to get to the setting.