Hi all, newbie to the forum, newbie to outboard ownership and certainly newbie to outboard mechanic'ing...
I spent the day yesterday studying the forum and studying my new service manual...yesterday evening I delved into my motor just expecting to find a faulty power pack but now I'm stumped.
Motor: J140TLCN, 1982 Johnson 140hp
Bought the boat a few months ago - have used it about a dozen times - run great - very happy.
Took the family to the lake on Memorial day - launch - hammer down -and much lack of power. It would crank (albeit more difficult than in past) and rev up but when put in gear it had no power to get up. I put in a new set of plugs but that made no difference. I noticed when changing the plugs that the two plugs on the left bank (I believe they are cylinders 2 and 4) were pretty wet while the plugs in 1 & 3 were dry. I figured this might mean getting no fire on left side of engine.
Came home (still enjoyed day on the lake by the way), studied the forum, bought an inexpensive service manual, studied it and began work expecting to find a powerpack faulty.
Checked compression - 125psi on cyls 1&2, 115psi on cyls 3 & 4 (very good).
Made a spark tester with nails and wood (very cool)...getting good spark on cyls 1 & 3...not getting spark on cyls 2 & 4...cool - just as I expected.
Next I think - I should be able to swap the location of the 2 powerpacks and the faulty ignition should move over to cyls 1&3 - so I swapped them over. But then I was still getting spark on cyls 1 & 3 and no spark on cyls 2 & 4...????
So then I think that possibly it is two faulty coils....so I move the coils that were on cyls 2 & 4 over to cyls 1 & 3 (and vise versa). Then I check fire and still getting nice fire on cyls 1 & 3 and getting no fire on cyls 2 & 4....????
Then I went to bed very perplexed.
It seems like I have good compression, two functional powerpacks, 4 functional coils, good plugs and wires, but something is preventing fire on cyls 2 & 4.
I should also mention that when warming up the motor while still on the trailer the heat horn sounded off for a short while. It did go off after about a minute or so but the motor was pumping water the whole time out of the spit holes. It never came on the rest of the day (we idled out about 100 yards offshore and anchored there for the day).
I read in a post yesterday that that the horn could be an indication of a fuel restriction / fuel flow. I may need to revisit that possibility but when I discovered the lack of spark that is where my focus has been.
Any help would be most appreciated.
Many thanks - and fantastic forum.
Trey Monson
McKinney, TX
I spent the day yesterday studying the forum and studying my new service manual...yesterday evening I delved into my motor just expecting to find a faulty power pack but now I'm stumped.
Motor: J140TLCN, 1982 Johnson 140hp
Bought the boat a few months ago - have used it about a dozen times - run great - very happy.
Took the family to the lake on Memorial day - launch - hammer down -and much lack of power. It would crank (albeit more difficult than in past) and rev up but when put in gear it had no power to get up. I put in a new set of plugs but that made no difference. I noticed when changing the plugs that the two plugs on the left bank (I believe they are cylinders 2 and 4) were pretty wet while the plugs in 1 & 3 were dry. I figured this might mean getting no fire on left side of engine.
Came home (still enjoyed day on the lake by the way), studied the forum, bought an inexpensive service manual, studied it and began work expecting to find a powerpack faulty.
Checked compression - 125psi on cyls 1&2, 115psi on cyls 3 & 4 (very good).
Made a spark tester with nails and wood (very cool)...getting good spark on cyls 1 & 3...not getting spark on cyls 2 & 4...cool - just as I expected.
Next I think - I should be able to swap the location of the 2 powerpacks and the faulty ignition should move over to cyls 1&3 - so I swapped them over. But then I was still getting spark on cyls 1 & 3 and no spark on cyls 2 & 4...????
So then I think that possibly it is two faulty coils....so I move the coils that were on cyls 2 & 4 over to cyls 1 & 3 (and vise versa). Then I check fire and still getting nice fire on cyls 1 & 3 and getting no fire on cyls 2 & 4....????
Then I went to bed very perplexed.
It seems like I have good compression, two functional powerpacks, 4 functional coils, good plugs and wires, but something is preventing fire on cyls 2 & 4.
I should also mention that when warming up the motor while still on the trailer the heat horn sounded off for a short while. It did go off after about a minute or so but the motor was pumping water the whole time out of the spit holes. It never came on the rest of the day (we idled out about 100 yards offshore and anchored there for the day).
I read in a post yesterday that that the horn could be an indication of a fuel restriction / fuel flow. I may need to revisit that possibility but when I discovered the lack of spark that is where my focus has been.
Any help would be most appreciated.
Many thanks - and fantastic forum.
Trey Monson
McKinney, TX