1979 25HP Johnson running on one cylinder.

James R

Commander
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
2,679
This is a tricky one so any ideas will be appreciated. I have had this motor a number of years and it always seemed a little finicky at idle but ran beautifully at wot. Had to leave it sit for a while and then it would not start. So into the shop. Fortunately I had fixed it up with electric start way back, my old arm wont take it anymore.
Compressions both 120. New CDI power pack and plugs with fat blue sparks grand canyon type. Carb cleaned and rebuilt by me, that means the whole deal. Fires and runs strong on the top cylinder and idles but the bottom cylinder not running.
Pulled the Power head and replaced the lower crank shaft seal. How are we doing so far?
New round of tests same issue. Swapped the coil and wire, no change. Monitored the sparks and everything solid. Running on top cylinder only the bottom sparks are strong and consistent.
Disconnected the top Spark plug and tried to run on the lower cylinder only. Shot fuel into the carb intake and it starts but then dies even if I continue the injection of fuel. Tried starting using the carb fuel supply only and same issue, will fire and then die after a few revs. Will always start and run on the top cylinder. Both plugs show fuel but I have noticed that the wet fuel deposit on both plugs have a brown tint. Never saw that before .Could it be that a varmint has crawled in there and died. Didn't see anything in there when I took the carb off.
Any thoughts?
 

James R

Commander
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
2,679
Ok, so nobody has any ideas. Seems to run evenly when throttled up and needs to Idle a little fast. Could this be symptomatic of a blow by situation on the lower cylinder?
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
38,504
Does spark jump a gap of 7/16 "----Answer with a YES or NO.-----Looked at fuel pump diaphragm ?
 

James R

Commander
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
2,679
Yes and more. Good point about the fuel pump diaphragm. Will try another pump. My spraying fuel mix into the carb intake normally shows any fuel deficiency. If it was a fuel problem the lower cylinder would have picked up.
Thanks.
 

James R

Commander
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
2,679
Ok , replaced the fuel pump no change. If I run at idle and pull the top plug wire the motor dies. If I run the motor at fast idle and pull the top plug wire the motor continues to run but only just.
Any ideas now?
 

werewolf

Seaman
Joined
Mar 9, 2020
Messages
72
i found a bad plug wire on my old 72 25 johnson it would cut out at times as i sped up then it would go like heck again wire had a break under the timing plate
 
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