Johnson 88spl problem..please help!

[Philupay89]

Hey all, I’m new to the site and fairly new to boating in general. I picked up an 89 Glassport with a 89 Johnson 88spl outboard. It’s ran pretty good most of the summer up until recently. I replaced the battery a month or so ago, and just replaced a trim/tilt relay because it was going bad and causing the up tilt to intermittently stop. The relay seems to fix the tilt issue, but now I have a different problem. I was out on the water yesterday, in which the boat ran ok for the most part. It started right up and seemed to idle ok after it was warm. Zipped around for a bit and then went to the sand bar. After we attempted to leave, the boat started acting up. It would start, but once I put the idle lever down the boat would really run sluggish and eventually stall, especially when applying throttle.
I noticed at home that I apparently didn’t attach a wire back to the battery after putting in the relay. It was a wire that went to the horn and nav lights. Idk if that would effect anything or not? Also, when I took the engine cover off I noticed a wire that is disconnected that seems to go into the cylinder? Could this be causing a problem and does it need plugged back in? I have a picture attached for reference. Any help would be greatly appreciated! No I have not checked compression or spark, but it seems to be getting fuel. I just don’t understand why it starts, but then runs crappy after lowering idle and attempting to throttle up. Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[flyingscott]

You need to do a compression and spark test. That wire should be connected both ends.are in the pic. That looks.like the overheat sensor wire

 

[Philupay89]

Ok I will check spark and compression. Will that disconnected wire cause any performance issues? My impeller seems to be working good. Nice solid stream coming out.

 

[Philupay89]

Also, what would be good compression readings? I know they should all be close to one another.

 

[interalian]

About 110/hole with 5% variance should be OK.

 

[Philupay89]

Just did a compression test on all cylinders. Although the engine was cold because I didn’t feel like warming it up and pissing off the neighbors. I got 110/105/95/40. I will try again tmrw after the engine is warm. Given the numbers, what would be your thoughts? Obviosuly there is a big drop in the lower right bank. Thanks!

 

[Philupay89]

A couple of the plugs also looked potentially fouled. Insulator was very black.

 

[bwilson2626]

My '98 90hp was doing the same thing. After rebuild w/ good compression tho... Ended up being about a half gallon of water in fuel tank.. NEW FUEL !! I have a clear inline filter, so it was pretty easy to identify. Seeing the 40 you got on the comp test makes me think fuel isnt the issue, but you never know.

 

[racerone]

Remove the head where you found the low compression.----Damage will be obvious.----Blown head gasket or the dreaded broken rings .----Broke rings are a very common on these engines.