Johnson '88 won't stop!

[eFish]

My 88 SPL had been sitting for a while so I decided to change the water pump, spark plugs, new gas and such. Pumped the gas, turned the key and Started it up and runs great! Went to turn it off and it doesn't stop. Tried the kill switch on the control and no help, disconnected the battery and it still runs! Finally threw the little red switch on top of the breather and it died. What could it be? I sure appreciate any ideas.

 

[DJ]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

My 88 SPL had been sitting for a while so I decided to change the water pump, spark plugs, new gas and such. Pumped the gas, turned the key and Started it up and runs great! Went to turn it off and it doesn't stop. Tried the kill switch on the control and no help, disconnected the battery and it still runs! Finally threw the little red switch on top of the breather and it died. What could it be? I sure appreciate any ideas.

There is a great big RED plug connector under the cowl of the engine. Unhook the battery and take that BIG RED plug apart. Clean the terminals and reassemble.

By the way, you probably cooked your rectifier by unhooking thar battery, while running.

Put a volt meter across the batery terminals, next time you run it. It should show 14 volts+.

 

[eFish]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

Thanks DJ for the suggestion. I was so excited I tried it out and woke the neighbors! It was very clean inside the plug, wiped it anyway and put contact spray on it. It has the big metal hook pin holding it together. Unfortunately the engine just keeps going . Curious as to when the key is turned off, what triggers the engine to cut off. Is it the red/yellow striped wire that goes to the selinoid? It engine sure runs good though!!

 

[DJ]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

Thanks DJ for the suggestion. I was so excited I tried it out and woke the neighbors! It was very clean inside the plug, wiped it anyway and put contact spray on it. It has the big metal hook pin holding it together. Unfortunately the engine just keeps going . Curious as to when the key is turned off, what triggers the engine to cut off. Is it the red/yellow striped wire that goes to the selinoid? It engine sure runs good though!!

Look where the wires branch off that plug. Any grounded that shouldn't be?


Next step is inside the control box. Something may be grounded in there.

 

[godfather318]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

Next time just choke the engine and it will stop causing no damge.

 

[da83moon]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

I had the same problem, there is something going on with your black grounding wire that is not shoeting it out either on the ignition side or the plugs side.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

I would heed DJ's warning about the rectifier, if you are unable to test it, unhook it until you are, or you may have other issues to deal with. Very likely you fried it when unhooking the battery.

 

[eFish]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

Well it was quite a mistery and I finally broke down and bought a REAL manual for my engine. I was tired of the "one book covers all" and got the Johnson one. Right there in print I was able to troubleshoot the key wire going to the power pack which was good. The power pack is directly connected to the key and responsible to shut the engine down with the turn of a key or activation of the kill switch. The powere pack was not the suspect becuase how well the engine ran. Replaced it, turned on the engine, then turned it off.....and the engine stopped! I am a believer in the REAL Johnson manuals...the price is a bargain compared to sending it to the shop.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Johnson '88 won't stop!

you better believe it.