Reply To: Johnson 5.5 won’t idle

[Don]

aquasonic wrote:

Had a 1959 Evinrude Lightwin that ran well at first, then wouldn’t idle like your motor. The problem was that the points set screw rotated just a bit on one set of points, and the timing was thrown off. Just needed to reset the gap, and used a little more torque on the set screw.

It may pay to revisit the ignition assembly. Once that is checked, the link and synch adjustment is important to achieve the proper relationship between fuel supply and timing.

Good point, make sure the carb butterfly is closing properly and the throttle shaft isn’t jammed.