How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

[sramos]

1975 Johnson 85 HP 85ESL85E

How do I manually check if the motor is in neutral. I removed the level at the controls to lubricate and clean. Now when I start the motor it starts revving high almost wide open. Never had this problem before. I shut it down right away but I could swear the prop was turning. I am operating the motor out of large tub with water.

I have added some pictures so you can see where I am at. There is a marking on the throttle arm "start" and a little bump which doesn't quite line up. I am pretty sure I just put the selector back on in the wrong position.

More info: I never shifted while the motor was running (if that matters). The prop does turn freely with the motor off

Please Help!

 

[boobie]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

Sounds like when you were working on your control box something was not re-installed correctly.

 

[Wishiniwuzfishin]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

Not sure I completely understand your situation, but assuming you have no gearcase problems, if you can spin the prop by hand it is in neutral. If you can't it is in gear.

It is normal, from my experiences, for the prop to turn slowly even in neutral when running w/muffs in a tub. If the motor was revving fast I would expect the prop to be spinning some even in neutral, but certainly not as fast as it would spin if it was in gear.

Sounds like you may have a throttle problem.

What exactly did you disconnect?

 

[sramos]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

May be the throttle - assume the lever was put back in the open throttle position and that was the reason for the high rev. I only disconnected the hand lever and the lower cover. Just to clean and lubricate the parts. Never disconnected the cables or adjusted anything there.

At the time I was attempting to improve the cold start. I disconnected the choke solenoid rod because the choke plates wouldn't close all the way with it connected. That started right up but engine was revving really high so I shut it down right away - wasn't expecting that result - assumed it was in gear because watering was splashing back in the tub but couldn't actually see the tub from where I was positioned.

 

[Wishiniwuzfishin]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

Water will splash out of the tub in neutral because of the thru-hub exhaust, which I believe your motor has.

I have a similar motor....1974 115HP but I still don't understand exactly what you disconnected.

Sorry, maybe my brain is in a fog today.

Did you disconnect at the control box (shift/throttle lever box) or at the motor itself?

And did you leave the choke solenoid disconnected or did you re-connect it.

 

[sramos]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

right now the choke solenoid is connected and the choke plates do not close all the way. I believe that this is at least part of the reason for the hard/no start. When I disconnect the linkage for the solenoid the motor fires but revs really high

The only item I disconnected was the shift level at the box NOT the motor. NO cables disconnected or other linkages.

Sorry for not having enough knowledge to explain it clearly and thank you for attempting to help.

 

[Wishiniwuzfishin]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

I adjusted my choke solenoid by unloosening the bracket and moving the solenoid to make sure my choke plates were closing all the way. It is the only adjustment I know of.

Do you have a choke lever on the motor? Should be on the front just to the right of the cover unlock lever if you have one. Mine was taken off when the service bulletin work was done.

I'll tell you about the service bulletin after I know if you have the choke lever or not.

 

[sramos]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

I have a white warm up level on the at the bottom on the controls (near the steering wheel).

I just figured out the throttle was sticking. I noticed that the warm up level didn't move the throttle at all like it was before. So I fired it up and brought the throttle back - PRESTO - idle came down and it was fine.

Next Problem - why is the throttle piece sticking? I guess I will try to clean it. By the way - My choke plates closed completely when I toggled this time even with the linkage connected. I think they were not closing because the throttle was stuck in the open position which inhibits the choke plates from closing - makes sense now

I checked the wiring on the solenoid and there are two wires (purple white/purple yellow). They are connected to different terminals.

 

[Wishiniwuzfishin]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

Here is the post with the service bulletin on the choke in it. It is down towards the bottom in a thumbnail.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=374638&highlight=choke+service+bulletin

But if yours is starting ok I wouldn't worry about it. It probably already has been done.

Only thing I might add is if you're going to open up your shift/throttle lever control box, be very careful. They are a lot more complicated than you would think.

I know I wouldn't mess with mine unless I absolutely had too.

Glad to hear yours is ok now.....I wish mine was....mine is a real pain to cold start.

I was planning on cleaning and rebuilding the carbs over winter but haven't got to it yet.

 

[sramos]

Re: How to manually check if the motor is in neutral

Thanks for your help. I will keep the bulletin in my back pocket so to speak. I will start another post to try and figure out why my throttle isn't coming back to idle unless I pull it with my hand. From the wear marks on the shaft it appears to have been doing this for some time and is probably the source of the hard starting and rough idle. No problems at a good speed - all makes some sense now.

Thanks again.