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1990 Johnson 200 erratic idle

S

SnapperBlues

New member
Hello,

I have a 1990 Johnson 200 looper (J200TXESM) that I am trying to resurrect. I purchased the outboard from a gentelman that had it sitting for 5 years for 200 dollars.

He said it ran good the last time he used it and that he had just replaced the flywheel and starter.

I removed the VRO prior to testing anything. I had a new vro pump with the oil delete handy.

Initially I was not getting any spark, with a good 850MCA battery. I diagnosed that the stator was bad with my fluke and a DVA adapter.

I tested the resistance of the timerbase per the CDI troubleshooting and outboardignition.com instructions and it tested fine.

After replacing the stator, I found that the power pack was sending uneven voltage to each coil. So I replaced that.

With new champion ql77jc4 plugs, the engine will idle (in a test tank), but erratically. It shakes a bit. If I give it throttle, it tries, but then falls flat on its face. Pumping the primer bulb and pushing the choke have no effect on the result.

I have cleaned the carbs, and throttle body holes. 4 of my 6 plastic carburetors leak around the bowl where they meet the carburetor. I plan to buy new bowls, but I'm not certain that this is the issue.

From my research, these are low compression engines, my measurements are as follows:

76,76,82,80,85,85

These are after idling for a few minutes or so on ethanol free gas and xd50 oil 50:1.

I have a clymer manual which is what it is.

I'm trying to determine if this may be a fuel issue or an ignition/timing issue at this point.
 
Based on what I have looked up, I do not beleive that these have an adjustment for the jets. There are two screws on the left side of the carburetor, I think they are just to be tightened. Maybe not though.
 
Should be located on the base where the carbs sit. It's an Allen key screw .
You should be able to see it from the front of the carbs
 
With the carbs on this model you dont have the star key adjustable jet. Just two visible jets above the bottom left carb bolt.
 
Last edited:
Well then. I would say to get those float bowls changed. You might be sucking air.and a fuel leak in dangerous It's obvious you have fixed low speed .
 
I ordered new float bowls. I dont want fuel leaking inside of the cowl either. I'm wondering if it will even make a difference though. The leak is at the bowl so it shouldn't cause an excess of air once the fuel makes it past the carburetors, would it?
 
Carburetors are hard to understand.---That is why fuel injection with computers is so popular.-----But replace the float bowls and test run this motor.
 
Found some new old stock at a shop near me, seems very lucky for these bowls. I replaced the bowls with new gaskets and I'm having the exact same issues. I pulled the flywheel and stator to look at the timer base. I dont see anything out of the ordinary, and it seems to move freely.

I seem to be getting good spark, using a spark tester. Maybe I should start looking at the timing? Does anyone know of good resources for proper timing, I probably need a factory repair manual because the clymer that I have seems a bit vague.
 
faztbullet said:
Details please as pack puts out amplified of what was given.
Click to expand...


So I tested the voltage coming from each coil wire coming from the powerpack. The CDI troubleshooting states that each should be at least 130V. I must have messed up checking the first time. This time, I got,
1: 140v
2: 141v
3: 5v
4: 128v
5: 121v
6: 131v

From there I called the CDI folks.

First step, disconnect the yellow wires coming from the rectifier. No change.

Next, I was told to verify the pack's scrs are good (to verify the pack is good). From the corresponding trigger input wire to the corresponding coil wire you should get ~100M ohms and they should all be nearly the same (disconnected). They all tested almost exactly 100, between 100 and 100.2.

On to testing the trigger, I should have been seeing at least 0.6V from each wire coming from the trigger, all of them read above 0.6V except for 3: no voltage at all, 5: .1V.

The CDI tech (these guys are very patient and helpful) said that either the timer base is bad or the trigger magnets shifted.

I pulled the flywheel, turned the key to 12 o'clock, the tech said my trigger points should be at 2:30 and 6:30-7 o'clock. Mine are at 1 and 8 o'clock. Because of how the trigger ring is made there is no way it could ever be 2:30 and 6:30-7 o'clock. Movement would make one better and another worse in this case.

This is where it gets weird, I looked at the flywheel part number and it was 0583393 which is for a 1987 Johnson 200 counter rotating outboard.
https://www.crowleymarine.com/johnson-evinrude/parts/46058.cfm?mdl=G8HV0J

So I assume, when the previous owner had to replace his flywheel, he didn't get the correct one. I found a like new replacement for my 1990 Johnson 200 outboard and ordered it.

I think I have found why this thing won't idle correctly, or come off idle, it is being triggered at the wrong time.

I'll report back after I install the new flywheel.
 
faztbullet said:
In 1987 a CR motor actually ran backwards....:eek:
Click to expand...

Yup, and that is where this flywheel must have come from. I just installed the new, proper flywheel and this thing runs great. Checked the idle timing with my timing light and it is right at 4 degrees ATDC.

Quick star seems to be working like it should, dropping out after it warms up.

I do notice, however that when I turn the kill switch off, only the starboard bank shuts down. As well it seems I need the shift interrupt switch disconnected at the pack in order to get spark on the starboard bank. I assume both my kill switch and shift interrupt switch are bad, but curious if the two issues may be related.

Other than those issues I should be about ready to mount this thing on my boat.
 
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