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'86 Johnson 40hp

E

ericm107

Member
Hello, I recently had an issue on the water. When I was letting out my trotline, it slipped out of my hand, dropped down around the flywheel and stalled the engine. I got the rope out and continued on, then the beast started to stall/restart/stall. When all was said and done, I was getting towed in. The motor would start periodically but stall almost right away. Back on land, I finally noticed that the spark advance rod had popped off. Put it back on and all I get now is a "pop" out of the exhaust. I got the flywheel off and looked at things there and didnt see anything broke. I'm thinking the timing is way out. How do I get things back in proper order?
​Thanks
 
OK. Got the motor running again. It wasn't the flywheel key. Apparently I am my own worst enemy. When the line wound around the flywheel it knock off the rod going from the throttle linkage to the ?stater plate? Didnt notice until much later. Upon trouble shooting for an apparent spark problem, I swapped out the power pack and mis-remembered the cable connections. Switched the cables and started right up. Had it out and it ran really good then it started stalling out. I would pump the bulb (as it went soft) and then it would run fine for a while then stall again. I have a new tank with fresh fuel, new fuel line with primer bulb and performed a rebuild on the carbs. Any ideas? Thanks.
 
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This has the original VRO pump still in place. I don't think the rope got to that. What rebuild kit would I order. The one online looks like the style you would put on the port side of the motor. I have one of those on a spare motor. It looks like a real pain to get the VRO stuff off.
 
to tell the truth i've not had to work on vro's, my 87' 48 spl doesn't have one, the 80's were the first years of those things, alot of people (most) remove them and mix 50/1.
if you have an extra, change it, see if it helps
 
I've been reading some other posts and they say when removing the VRO and going to a non-vro pump that you need to block the "pulse" line from the VRO . How is this done?
 
bill_w said:
how about you put the cowl back on the motor so you don't drop things onto it?
Click to expand...
Ha!, There'ya go! :cool:

If pumping the fuel primer bulb (acting as a manual fuel pump) corrects the problem as you state... the fuel pump, VRO, whatever you have requires repairing or replacing.

Did that rope also possibly do damage to anything else... fuel hoses, fittings, whatever?

I've been around a few years... However... what the hell is a "trotline"?
 
Trotlines are long lines with baits attached. This particular lines I use for catching crabs. The reason I had the cover off was to make adjustments to the throttle if needed. I had just got this thing running and I had issues at the dock. I don't think I hit any lines because it ran for quite awhile before it started stalling. I did remove fuel lines when I rebuilt the carbs. Could a loose fuel line also cause this? The cover incident...if i saw someone else do that I would have been mumbling "moron".. the same (almost) thing I called myself when it happened.
 
Just trying to add a bit of humor. Sorry if I offended you. How long have you had the motor, or is it new to you? I'm trying to figure out how the power pack and now the fuel pump could go bad at the same time, even if you did drop trotline on it. For the record, I did know what one of those was.

If you have a loose gas line it might be sucking air, and making it seem like your pump is bad.
 
You didn't offend me. I called myself names you may or may not have ever heard. I'm going to recheck all of the fuel lines and take it for a spin. I've had the motor for a couple of years but am just now getting things rolling with it. BTW the power pack wasn't bad. When I came back home, I didnt notice the spark advance rod had been popped off from the plate. the motor acted like it was running on 1 cylinder. I had a spare motor so I swapped things around and from 1 motor to the other I put the wires from the PP to the coils on wrong. Thanks
 
I found a fuel supply line that comes off the VRO fuel pump and goes to the splitter to supply the carbs was loose. There was no zip tie clamp so I went and got a tool and zip ties and fixed that. Also the lines that come off of that splitter and go to the carbs were not fastened. Got all of the lines zip tied and tested in the driveway using a trashcan filled with water. ran for quite awhile without any issues. Took it out and it started on the first key turn and idled perfectly fine. Got out of the launch area and ran her up on plane and ran about 3/4 throttle for about 10 minutes. Backed off the throttle and and that was it. I could get it started and moving again but sounded like it was only running on one cylinder. Back home, I put it back in the trash can and it started right up but would stall. Had someone pump the bulb while running and it would stay running. Fuel pump??? Also, I put ALL ignition parts back to original as I had it running well prior to rope incident. Another question. How can I tell if the motor is charging the battery? Thanks again.
 
Pumping the fuel primer bulb eliminates the problem? Yeah, that sounds like a fuel pump problem... OR... a loss of pressure that's generated by one of the pistons going up and down (let us hope not).

Put a volt meter across the battery (engine NOT running), make a note of the voltage reading. Now, run the engine and observe the reading... if it increases slightly, the charger is working.
 
I'm curious about some things I've read here. I see a lot of adjustments for the low speed jets. On mine when I did the rebuilds, I didn't see any adjustments for the the jets. They all seemed to be fixed. Am I missing anything on these carbs?
 
I think the gurus are going to have to answer that but if you don't have any knobs for adjustment the I would say yours are not.
 
ericm107 said:
I'm curious about some things I've read here. I see a lot of adjustments for the low speed jets. On mine when I did the rebuilds, I didn't see any adjustments for the the jets. They all seemed to be fixed. Am I missing anything on these carbs?
Click to expand...

There are no adjustable jets (needle valves) on that model.
 
I got it running again. I took all of the VRO stuff out and installed the fuel pump from the spare motor. The VRO pump kinda fell apart. The very bottom where the pulse line ( I think ) hooks in separated from the main body of the pump. I had it idling well with the muffs. I will get another can and try it before I take it out. The pulse line from the VRO, I just plugged the hose and hose clamped it. I couldn't see how to get to that without taking the starter off. Pic attached to show where it separated. Thanks again for the help.




vro.jpg
 
Update: Had the motor running and idling good. I realized that in order for the motor to idle I had to move the idle adjustments to extremes like before I did the carb rebuilds. I decided to take the carbs off and inspect them. Glad I did. There was all kinds of crap in the in the carbs jets and in the bottom of the bowl. It looks like the stuff from the VRO pump. After looking at the old VRO pump again, I realized the extent of damage to that pump. It was falling apart in tiny pieces and migrating through the fuel system. I ran the motor for quite awhile before I decided to redo the carbs and shut it down. Hopefully this will take care of my issues. Thanks again for all of the help.
 
Update: cleaned the carbs and put it back together. Ran it in the can and did the adjustments. Took her out today and started on first key turn, idled like a champ and then ran it for about 45 mins up and down a canal. I have defeated the dreaded 2 stroke...at least for now.
 
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