Re: 1972 Johnson 2hp – low speed and idle problem

[stan-k]

quote fleetwin:

Will do my best not to “muddy the waters” here. Stan, I think you mention replacing upper and lower crankshaft bearings, do I have this info right? If so, you had the powerhead completely apart, did you hone the cylinder/replace the rings? Why is it that you pulled the powerhead apart and replaced those bearing?
Did you run the engine before doing all this work? If so, how did it idle then?

Actually I only replaced the two oil seals, which I was able to do without taking the complete power head apart. The one on the lower bearing assembly was it bit more difficult. Hard to push the seal out without damaging the needle bearing. So one new needle bearing too. My local bearing supplier was very helpful in finding the correct replacement parts (at very reasonable prices). The reason for replacing those seals is because this motor had been sitting for a while and I suspected that the rubber seals may have dried out. Now I’m starting to think it was all for not.

The engine was running before I started the work on it, but I could get it to run on low speed or have it idle. I even ran a complete tank of gas through it while testing it on the lake. After the work I mentioned, I tested it again at home, with typically the same results.

So I haven’t taken the power head apart, but the compression tested at 85 PSI.

Thanks.