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idle shifting issues

jsprestia

New member
I have a 1973 Johnson 50 HP outboard (Model J50TELCTA). I have owned it for about 7 years and have always had trouble shifting from neutral to forward or reverse without the engine wanting to quit. To keep the engine from dying I have to hit the primer button a couple of times to keep the engine from bogging down. Recently it has been worse so I attempted to change and check some items to see if it would help, but to no avail. Below are things I have changed or checked.
  • Fuel tank and primer ball, all good and ball primes up and stays hard
  • Replaced fuel pump
  • Replaced most fuel lines on the engine
  • Replaced spark plugs
I have noticed on the primer valve there is occasionally a slight leakage of fuel. Could this be the issue?

Additionally, with the engine out of the water and the muffs on, everything works as it should. Shifts from gear to gear without wanting to die. Once I put it in the water, the issue returns.

Any expertise thoughts would be much appreciated.
 
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Your motor is a 1983 model.----Replacing parts and guessing gets expensive in a hurry.-----So one thing at a time.----Do a compression test and post your numbers.-----Out of the water and even in gear ( still neutral ) your motor does not need to do any WORK and therefor it sounds good to you.----It will sound fine running on 1 cylinder !!
 
Your motor is a 1983 model.----Replacing parts and guessing gets expensive in a hurry.-----So one thing at a time.----Do a compression test and post your numbers.-----Out of the water and even in gear ( still neutral ) your motor does not need to do any WORK and therefor it sounds good to you.----It will sound fine running on 1 cylinder !!
Thank You for correcting the age of the engine (typo). A friend of mine checked the compression and indicated it was at 90 for both cylinders. However I do not know what gear(s) these reading were taken. I will check and update compression numbers if it was done in all gears. But for now, making an assumption it was the same in all gears does that provide any insight to you?
 
It does NOT matter what gear these readings were taken in !!-------Do you have any kind of manual ?-----Sorry , you need to do some reading.------Here with 90 PSI compression the motor would come apart for rebuild.----Simply the numbers are too low !
 
It does NOT matter what gear these readings were taken in !!-------Do you have any kind of manual ?-----Sorry , you need to do some reading.------Here with 90 PSI compression the motor would come apart for rebuild.----Simply the numbers are too low !

So if I understand you correctly with compression of 90 PSI the motor should be rebuilt.
 
Or test with another gauge.-----Or remove cylinder head for inspection.----Will cost you a new head gasket if there is nothing wrong ( scored cylinders ) and you will learn a lot.
 
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