1988 Johnson 60 HP overheat alarm

I have a little 17 foot Lowe aluminum bass boat with a 1988 60 HP Johnson. It was a VRO but the previous owner converted to gas and oil mix. I used it all last year with no problems. This year I started pulling my son on a kneeboard and now it seems the load is possibly causing an overheat condition. It has only been in freshwater. The motor will run fine for about 45 mins or so and then the alarm comes on. Water is coming out of the tell tale. If I take engine cover off the exhaust port and head are pretty hot. Water does not sizzle though when I throw some water on head and exhaust port. After about 15-20 minutes the engine will cool enough for motor to start and then I can run it again for roughly half hour. I plan on replacing the water pump and maybe thermostat as this seems like logical place to start. Could it just be that the load is to much for that engine or should it be able to cool itself no matter. I read somewhere that there were TSB's for this model engine regarding placement of the cooling line to upper par of the exhaust port. If anyone has any suggestions or has had this happen to them please give feedback.

Thanks!

t2stroke said:

Can you give us your model number? If in fact it is a 1988 60hp then it is not involved in the TSB. Yours is a 49 cu in motor & different from the others. It is the near last year is why I am asking for the model number. Always a good idea to check the water pump & themostat in a motor of this age, especially if you don't know the history. If the motor is propped correctly it should pull the load without over heating.

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I actually just found the service records that were given to me with the boat. It is a 1989 Model 60TLCEA 60 HP Johnson. The service record shows that this motor had this problem back in 2002. The shop replaced water pump and thermostat. 15 years later it might be time again..LOL. It runs great other then when the overheat alarm comes on so definitely some kind of cooling issue. Thanks for your reply and comments. This might be a stupid question, but can the alarm come on when the gas tank is low? I noticed one tank was almost empty when this alarm came on.

15years on a water pump,you got your money's worth. A stupid question is one that is not asked, The alarm will not sound for low fuel.

I have the same motor 60 hp Johnson TJ60TLCEA. I set the over heating alarm off the other day, it was 90+ out. Was only idling for a few minutes. Went to full throttle and activated slow mode and the heat alarm. That was a first. The water pump was replaced this spring before the season. What could be causing this. I’m not sure about the age of the thermostat or temp sensor. Any help would be appreciated.

Do some trouble shooting.-----Are you sure this motor has the S.L.O.W. feature ?-----Compression test is first thing to do.

racerone said:

Do some trouble shooting.-----Are you sure this motor has the S.L.O.W. feature ?-----Compression test is first thing to do.

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I’m not sure if it has slow. And thanks I’ll try that.