1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

[hooterville]

Ok took my new boat and old 1990 48hp Johnson out today. Ran about 28-29Mph with wife and little girl in there. Pretty good i thought. Gonna have to do a little adjusting to get idle right on engine when throttle is in neutral. Other than that ran great.

One question i have is that when you squeeze the ball on fuel line a couple of times to pump up gas to the carbs there was gas coming out of a little mesh port on the top side of carb(s). Is this normal? I probably squeezed ball too many times.
I was switching fuel lines between my kicker motor and 48hp as well as tanks when i noticed gas smell at ramp.

Another i have my 48 hp engine setting on a cmc pt130 tilt unit. When going down the lake i noticed water spraying up almost into the back of the boat and all over the kicker. That is with engine trimmed down, if i trimmed it up a little ,water didn't spray as much. I don't have a tach on the motor to know rpm's and don't have a gauge on the cmc unit, just visual. I'm thinking the more trimmed up the more rpm's. Don't wanna blow it up.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

Sounds like a carb rebuild is in your future.

You will learn to judge the tilt by ear, but a tach is useful for more than that reason. Could you post a pic of your setup ?

 

[Harker]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

Water coming up between the motor and transom means the motor is too low. It needs to be raised up, not just tilted. The plate above the prop should be 1" below to level with the bottom of the boat.If your squeezing the bulb after it's firm, you could be forcing fuel past the float needle and out the vents.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

agree with all above. you need to soak the carbs then remove the low and high speed jets, you will need tool #317002 or make one. pic below.

 

[hooterville]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

well i took carbs apart last week and cleaned them up and reinstalled.didn't replace float cause they looked good. didn't really find any gunk inside carbs. Jets looked clean even though i cleaned them. motor runs find other than the gas smell i had. i suspect that squeezing the ball was my problem and flooded or overflowed carb.

I'll do a little measuring tomorrow and maybe take a few pics.

I may remove my kicker and take her back out this weekend if weather is good.

 

[iwombat]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

I think your float just needs some adjusting. You shouldn't be able to flood by pumping the bulb.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

agree, or the needle is not seating. did you use rebuild kits, and replace the needle and seat?

 

[hooterville]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

here is a update on my carb problem. as i said before i took it out a few weeks ago and it ran fine other than fuel coming out of mesh port on carb. I had been working 12hrs at work for a few weeks and took it out this past thursday and it didnt run right.
Engine ran fine while idling but when i applied throttle it would bog down and not plane boat out. It never quit running and when i pulled back throttle it would idle fine. Then after a few minutes of screwing around it took off full throttle and i ran bout 5 miles or so. I stopped to do a little fishing and when i re-fired engine to move to another spot it bogged again. Then after running slow it took off and run a mile and boged off and on all way back to ramp.

I took carbs off yesterday and soaked in cleaner over nite and rebuilt them with rebuild kit and now back on engine.

I'm going to get some new fuel lines this week 5/16th and 5/32 size if i'm not mistaken and replace all hoses to eliminate a possible clogged hose or sucking air inside engine cover. i have new tank and hose that came with boat,as well as fittings. Moller 12 gallon low profile. fresh tank of gas.

Also i replaced fuel pump with one from Sierra.

if dirty carbs isn't my problem where do i go next? (i know there not dirty now)
what is correct plug and gap for my engine?

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

Champion QL78YC gapped to .030

Did you ensure the jets and orifices were squeaky clean?

 

[hooterville]

Re: 1990 48hp Johnson Ran Great but a few more ???

squeaky clean everything.........

i read under another post that .040 was recommended but everywhere else says .030

.030 it is