2004 Johnson 150 (Bombardier) Sat for likely 3 years

[cham]

She was finally started up today and purred like a kitten on muffs. We'll have to take her out to confirm everything is good.

Had a little issue before this with the carb bowl drain bolt o-rings leaking fuel. It was the new o-rings provided in the Johnson Carb Rebuild kits that were leaking so I ordered replacement o-rings from Marine Engine. Used some silicone grease on them before installation and no more leak, weird.

Last thing I noticed today was the timing cam/spark optical sensor lever thing was not returning/springing back to its closed position very easily. It would freeze up and not kick all the way back once you put the throttle back into neutral. Below are a few pictures. The first one shows it in the fully seated/closed position and the second one is me just moving it with my hand and as you can see, with my hand removed it doesn't spring back.

Curious if the spring in the third picture is just worn out or if I need to lubricate something. I do not want to just start spraying lubricant everywhere as I know there is a small optical sensor somewhere within the timing components. Am I totally off base with this?

 

[cham]

Got her in the water and she runs great! Really impressed. After some research it sounds like the timing advance base needs lubrication where it rides on the bushing but unfortunately is underneath the flywheel and stator, that's why the timing link is sticking so it seems.

I want to confirm though, I know the motor has the QuickStart feature where it increases idle when cold after startup. When it does this does the system physically move that timing link arm forward or is the idle raised by the electronics alone? Wondering if this has anything to do with maybe why it won't fully close at certain times.

 

[racerone]

Done electronically I think.

 

[faztbullet]

Done thru the pack and sync and link is off. Should be like below

 

[cham]

Done thru the pack and sync and link is off. Should be like below

Wouldn’t that gap depend on how much slack there is in the throttle/gear cable? I checked and the roller contacts the spark advance arm right at the same time the carb butterfly valves start to open as far as I can tell.

 

[cham]

Done thru the pack and sync and link is off. Should be like below

Figured out why the gap is larger for my spark advance linkage. Noticed today the roller on the carburetor valve opening mechanism was skinny. Suddenly remembered years ago (probably close to a decade) that the little plastic roller collar broke off which I think is common. We took it to a mechanic all those years ago and they didn’t replace it but he must have adjusted the timing advance because the throttle lobe meets the carb roller the same time as the upper roller meets the spark advance link.

Are there any problems keeping things this way? As long as the timing advance progresses at the same rate as the carbs opening all is well?

1st photo is my carb throttle roller. 3rd photo is what it should look like based on what I could find online. 2nd photo is with the throttle fully open. Based on the position of the lobe on the roller, it looks like a bit more power/speed can be extracted out of the engine if we fix the roller collar but that’s not a huge concern. Boat still goes close to 40mph.

 

[faztbullet]

You can slip a piece of smooth piece of vacuum line over roller