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loose_cannon
Posts: 592 Officer
Fun with fuel
loose_cannon
Posts: 592 Officer
After a long day on the water last week I pulled back on the throttle at the idle zone and my 175 Johnson Ocean Runner J175EXECD dropped a cylinder. When I got home I inspected the spark plugs and found the #6 (bottom portside) plug to be much darker and I assumed it was fouled. A new set of plugs and a water test proved my assumption to be incorrect.
The motor would start and idle fine, but after a run at normal cruising speed it would drop a cylinder when pulled back to idle. I decided to check the coils and found them to be within the ohm specs in the service manual. I even put one in the oven at 200-degrees to see if it was a hot issue and the ohmmeter readings stayed in the good. I swapped the top and bottom coil around to try to move the problem, but again, the issue persisted. I had a timing light aboard and checked every plug wire and found them firing. I started pulling plug wires while it was acting up and found the #4 cylinder (middle portside) was dead, not the #6. There’s an old saying about assumption being the mother of all mistakes and it proved correct in my case.
During this on-the-water diagnosis, I got a whiff of fuel. I pulled the air silencer off and stuck my finger into the carburetors. The dead cylinder’s carburetor was spewing fuel at idle and that usually indicates a stuck float. One $27.50 overhaul kit later, the carburetor is back on the boat and it runs nicely. The carb overhaul is straightforward and not at all difficult.
So much for the preamble, I hope it helps someone with a similar issue. Now, I’m on to the latest issue. When I started it on the muffs and hit the primer, I noticed some fuel leaking from behind the red handle on the primer solenoid. My question is whether or not an overhaul kit is available for the primer? I see the parts individually on the BRP site, but no mention of a kit. Seems like a kit would be a good idea, right?
The motor would start and idle fine, but after a run at normal cruising speed it would drop a cylinder when pulled back to idle. I decided to check the coils and found them to be within the ohm specs in the service manual. I even put one in the oven at 200-degrees to see if it was a hot issue and the ohmmeter readings stayed in the good. I swapped the top and bottom coil around to try to move the problem, but again, the issue persisted. I had a timing light aboard and checked every plug wire and found them firing. I started pulling plug wires while it was acting up and found the #4 cylinder (middle portside) was dead, not the #6. There’s an old saying about assumption being the mother of all mistakes and it proved correct in my case.
During this on-the-water diagnosis, I got a whiff of fuel. I pulled the air silencer off and stuck my finger into the carburetors. The dead cylinder’s carburetor was spewing fuel at idle and that usually indicates a stuck float. One $27.50 overhaul kit later, the carburetor is back on the boat and it runs nicely. The carb overhaul is straightforward and not at all difficult.
So much for the preamble, I hope it helps someone with a similar issue. Now, I’m on to the latest issue. When I started it on the muffs and hit the primer, I noticed some fuel leaking from behind the red handle on the primer solenoid. My question is whether or not an overhaul kit is available for the primer? I see the parts individually on the BRP site, but no mention of a kit. Seems like a kit would be a good idea, right?
Join Date: March 2001
Member #813
Member #813
Replies
Glad to see that you did an well organized troubleshooting procedure to find out the main problem. Sometimes it takes a while to determine if there is a fuel problem or an electrical problem, or in some cases, a combination of problems.
"There is never just one thing wrong with a boat"
--- Travis McGee
******************************************
Member #813
Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.
The setup on those 60-degree loopers is really slick. You could overhaul one offshore if you had to. Total time actually spent working on R&R and overhaul was maybe one-hour. Remove four hex head bolts and a phillips screw and you'll have it in your hand. No hoses to disconnect, no gaskets to scrape and the carb had very little debris in it so the clean out was straightforward. I'm really impressed with that design.
Member #813
"There is never just one thing wrong with a boat"
--- Travis McGee
******************************************
Member #813