89Johnson outboard motor ....Hard to start

[MWJ]

When cold starting, this motor will fire the first flip everytime but will not continue running. No problem when hot. To get it started I have to move manual throtle to 3/4 open and then it revs to high. adjusting fuel did not help. I have run out of ideas. Motor runs and trolls great.

[AKRISONER]

Clean the carb, and clean up all of the ports. re-do the gaskets on it, check the reeds consider replacing them. 
 

run seafoam heavily through it. 
 

check the cylinder compression, if it’s low you may have a bad ring/gouged wall and are losing compression.

 My assumption is that your carb is just gunked up. But I’m a little concerned that it runs really fine once it’s warm…that can mean that once things are warm and expanded they seal up nice. Aka when it’s cold you don’t have enough compression to keep the motor running.

 

 Don’t ever run gas with ethanol in it ever again.

Edited June 16, 2022 by AKRISONER

[MWJ]

Ok thks. Was my next plan.  When I mentioned warmed up,I really meant ounce it fired up it does not skip a beat when still cold. Was wondering about linkage adjustment. But I plan on cleaning the carb.

[Garnet]

These old OMC are a little cranky. Trim your motor so it's level . Because the carbs are at front of motor the float bowls aren't  full if trimmed up and they don't start great. Trim level and they start much better.

[strik]

Real questio is were to find ethanol free gas?

 

Was just informed last  week shell and canadain tire will not be offering a ethanol  free  selection any more. Premium was last month.

 

As for the "cold start" what i used to do is place into  foward gear squeeze ball 3/4 times back to natural turn key,fired right up.

[CrowMan]

If you can't find ethanol free...then you definitely want to add a fuel treatment. 

[AKRISONER]

13 hours ago, strik said:

Real questio is were to find ethanol free gas?

 

Was just informed last  week shell and canadain tire will not be offering a ethanol  free  selection any more. Premium was last month.

 

source for this? Canadian Tire has always been my go to. The other spot i go is in curve lake, they have marine fuel ethanol free

[DanD]

Just an experiment. When done for the day, disconnect the fuel line at the motor and let the motor/carb run out of gas. The next day plug fuel line back, pump the bulb until it has fill the carb's bowl, then try your normal stating routine. If it starts and runs better; it's likely that the small amount of fuel in the carb has gone stale (yes even over night) and lost its volatility. The fuel in the carb is exposed to the atmosphere; alcohol fuel loves to give up its essentials to burn and absorbs moisture. The fuel in the tank and hoses at not exposed to the air or shouldn't be with a good self venting cap and or you closing the vent at the end of the day. Just for worst and giggles give it a try?

Dan...     

[Hack_Fisherman]

On 6/16/2022 at 9:37 PM, CrowMan said:

If you can't find ethanol free...then you definitely want to add a fuel treatment. 

I have been running ethanol blend fuels for years. No problems at all. But I use a stabilizer religiously. And I Use it up every season. Or I run it down low so I can mix fresh in at the new season. Never had fuel or ethanol related problems

[GYPSY400]

Perform a "link and sync" on your motor.   Someone may have messed up the timing over the years.  When fine tuning while it's running, use small adjustments and wait 30 seconds between adjustments.   Don't use muffs, use a barrel for fine tuning.

[MWJ]

I am struggling with the choke setup on this motor. !989 20 HP Johnson. It is an injection type choke and not a normal butterfly choke. How do you set this up?/? Do you open up the red manual choke button to increase the choke. .   Another Question. What is a "link sync" ? thanks a bunch guys.  The motor is 60 kl back in the bush on a pontoon boat. I might have to drag it home.

[Sasquach]

[Sasquach]

[Garnet]

I don't like 30 seconds. Make these adjustments in quiet area and just listen, don't make adjustment until you hear the last .

 

I owned 20 hp Johnston, a 60 and 2 175's of this erea. These are carbureted engines means I'm old. Most important with all these carb Johnston is have the motor trimmed level on initial start.

My 175 rude I traded in, 6 months later I went to Green Bay Wisconsin and one of the other guys has my 175 rude on same boat. This guy starts talking to me on how hard it was to start. First morning of practice Todd was cranking and cranking motor , I told him to trim it down started. Met him next morning and went threw starting procedure. Todd was flabbergasted how well it started.

[MWJ]

thks. a bunch