1984 Johnson 25 Lower crank seal

[Nmocci]

I have a 1984 Johnson 25 sea horse. I recently purchased it not running because of a broken recoil. I got it running but it doesn’t start easily, idle well, or transition to more than 2/3 throttle well. Full throttle is great when it will get there. I have rebuilt carb, fuel pump, verified spark with a gap of about 1/2”. Last time around trying to figure it out I pulled the plugs after idling it on the hose and found water on the bottom plug. Top plug is wet but doesn’t look like water. Compression is about 125 in each cylinder. Give or take a couple pounds. I tore the the head off. The gasket looked pretty good. Pulled the exhaunt plate off and didn’t find anything suspicious. Decided to pull the power head off to look at the power head gasket and lower crank seal. Found baby poop coming out of the crank seal. My question is do you guys think the water is getting into the motor through the seal or another way. I don’t want to buy the 80 dollar gasket set and find out I have a cracked block. Sorry for the long first post and thank you in advance for any help. Just wanted to give you guys as much information as possible.

 

[Rwbutler]

Pull the exhaust tuner off,inspect bottom cylinder for crack and/or corrosion.

 

[Nmocci]

Exhaust tuner meaning the section of exhaust the hung down on the bottom of the power head when taking it off? I did remove it and thoroughly looked over the motor, head, and exhaust plate with a flash light and didn’t see anything. Not really much corrosion at all in the motor. Seems as though it was a fresh water only motor or flushed very well. I bought it from someone that had used it at their camp on a fresh water lake