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1995 Johnson 130hp V4 Starting Problem thats driving me mad!

Jonathon Wood

New member
Hi All,

I have been trying to get my 130hp Johnson (model J130CXAOR) going for weeks but can not work out what I'm missing. Firstly I have checked compression all round and its all within 5psi. I have bought & replaced new carb kits and have set floats correctly. I have bought the correct champion plugs for this engine QL82YC and replaced. I had a problem with Spark Which was fixed with a new Powerpack. I have stripped and cleaned the VRO2 pump. I Have put carb Idle screws to stock 2.5 turns out.

The motor Will start for a few seconds and sound great, then it appears to return to low idle and just conk out. I can restart the engine using the primer on the ignition switch and the engine will keep running as long as I keep jabbing the primer solenoid on the ignition switch every few seconds. It makes me think there is a fuel issue? I know the initial high revs are due to fast start advancing the ignition for a few seconds, but wonder if this is a timing issue. This engine is one of a matched pair and the other engine runs ok, I therfore have tried swapping parts over like the vro pump/ primer solenoid pump but still with no improvement. I have noticed that the other engine has orange wax on all the screws that control timing and spark advance but the problem engine has no wax on any screws and I bought the boat with no history. My thoughts are could the symptoms of fuel starvation really be caused by incorrect timing?
I am by no means a mechanic but have used the johnson service manual and Seloc manual with a logical mind to perform basic checks. I even checked the reeds to see if any gaskets or reeds had gone but all were fine?

I bought an Aquasport 250 XF at the end of last year from a guy who had imported it from Florida to the Uk and he had not tried to get these engines running as was just selling on for profit. Before I attempted to start the engines I checked all the Carbs and they were clogged with a green sludgy varnish. My guess is the engines hadn't been run for a while?

Would really appreciate any diagnosis you guys can offer as have run out of idea's and my local Johnson dealer won't even look at it as he only services modern four strokes now?

Regards

Jonathon
 
Sounds like you have everything you need to fix it. Swapping parts has indicated that you have no fuel problem in the VRO. All this missing wax may have rattled off or maybe these settings have been altered. Timing will not necessarily cause a fuel problem but in this case may act like one. You may need a timing light to verify that the two engines are at the same timing. Many times when an engine with a rich running condition finds itself in the hands of a mediocre mechanic they advance the timing to counteract the rich condition. That being said, you're engine may have the timing retarded so that when it comes down off the fast idle the timing is too slow and it just dies. If you have no timing light and you just want to have a go at it then look very closely at the good engine's throttle linkages. Try to use reference points on the engine to compare the two and make some adjustments to get it as close as possible. Disconnect the throttle cable and move the linkage with your hand so you can understand exactly how each part works. The screw at the top of the linkage limits top-end timing advance, too much of that could hurt the engine. The screw at the bottom is the one you can mess with. Look and see if you can find a difference between these settings on the good engine and the bad engine. The trouble you're having suggests the engine is running lean. Sometimes an engine can run lean when the fuel system is perfect but there is an air leak in the crank case or crank seal. These leaks can be very tricky. You might find such a problem by reading the plugs and seeing if, for example, the bottom cylinders run leaner than the top. I'm just thinking out loud here but it sounds like you have a rascal. If all that has no effect you may want to think about swapping some ignition parts. You're very lucky to have these parts on hand.
 
Thanks for replying DMR,
I have bought a Timing light yesterday and aim to check the timing today, pending the wet weather in england today.
When you say an air leak in the crankcase or seal, what would be involved in repairing this? Will update after I have run the timing test.
Just thinking, If I can't get the engine to run for very long, how can i check the timing? Can I just crank the engine to obtain the same results?

Thanks

Jonathon
 
Just thought I would check the compression again today to make sure everything was ok... I was able to run the engine for about 2 minutes on the choke to keep it going before running the test. The engine had warmed up and I got figures of 60,65,68,70! I'm sure these figures were much higher when I first tested them last year. So fearing the worst I pulled the cylinder head on the port bank and found 2 completely carbon encrusted pistons. However the was no damage to the piston heads and the cylinder bores were both glassy smooth. I could see where previously the rings have sat on the top port cylinder but again no scoring. I only recently read in a seloc manual that an engine ideally should have approx 100psi per cylinder to maintain combustion. I have cleaned the carbon off the pistons and heads and are looking like new, do you think that It may be just a case of replacing the piston rings and new headgaskets to restore compression? If so what size piston rings would I order?

Regards

Jonathon
 
One thing at a time !----------How does the compression on your other motor compare with the perceived " problem motor "
 
I wonder....why pull heads, grind carbon, start talking about a ring job, etc. when the suggestion I made in post #4 is a fifteen minute test at most, and totally free.

How accurate is that compression gauge?

Boggles my mind....Good luck buddy....
 
Put it back together and try a real GOOD DECARB on it. If you see any improvement in compression,do it again.
 
Fixed it!

After all the worry about why the fuel was not going through, it turns out it was dirty carbs!! I had some great advice from a guy called Jim Hall in Tampa, who refused to sell me 2 new fuel pumps before trying his carb clean process. He basically advised to dis-assemble all the carbs and strip the bowls & bodies to nothing and then wash them in a tub of warm water. Then straight after blow out all channels with compressed air and then use a good carb cleaner or seafoam to soak bowls & bodies in and repeat compressed air through all channels. I think i must of rebuilt these 8 carbs 5 times now and it takes hours as so many parts.

But I would advise anyone with engine trouble to complete a very thorough Carb cleaner before spending out on expensive parts.

Regards

Jonathon
 
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