Johnson 150 over heat alarm

FlaCowboy

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Joined
Dec 8, 2011
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973
It is an STLCEM 1989 Johnson 150 GT

I bought a boat with this motor on it. The previous owner ran it hot. I took the motor completely apart. One piston melted a little but did not score the walls. I honed all of the cylinders, installed new rings, one new piston, new t-stats, new water diverters and rebuilt the carbs and a new water impeller.
The motor cranked fine. Good water flow out the tell tale. Everything seemed fine. Ran the motor easy once a week and never above 3000 rpms just taking it easy. Took it out the other day and after about 20 minutes I opened it up some. It got to around 3200 rpms and got an overheat alarm?? The first couple of times that I ran it was in smaller lakes and I never ran it more than about 10 minutes at a time until this last time in a bigger lake. I let the engine cool and ran it back to the landing at a slower pace and never got the alarm again.
Compression on the cylinders were all between 83 and 89 when I put it back together.
Any ideas what to look at first??
Thanks
 

FlaCowboy

Ensign
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Dec 8, 2011
Messages
973
Re: Johnson 150 over heat alarm

Forgot to say that I also installed new over heat sensors.
 

boobie

Supreme Mariner
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Nov 5, 2009
Messages
20,826
Re: Johnson 150 over heat alarm

Get a cheap temp gun and verify it's actually over heating. Check the temp on top of the block over each cyl bank. You could also have a fuel restriction causing the horn to go off.
 

emdsapmgr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
11,551
Re: Johnson 150 over heat alarm

Any chance that engine saw saltwater? During you overhaul did you pull the head covers off the heads to see if the internal head water passages were clogged/restricted with salt or other debris? That laser temp gun will tell you a lot. When you replaced the stats, did those nylon pressure relief valves look heat-distorted at all? Once the boat comes up on plane, those pressure relief valves in the thermostat housings open-flooding the powerhead with extra cooling water flow. The head temps when on plane should actually go down slightly from normal idle temps (145-155.) Did you determine the original cause for the powerhead failure?
 
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