Looper or not
 

Ihave the 1985 140 hp Johnson, the tag says ( J140txco ) is this a looper, thanks.

http://shop.evinrude.com/media/docum...rReference.pdf

I did not realize they still offered a cross flow i thought they were all loop charged. That is evinrude's decode.

you got a looper. In 1985 Johnson went from the crossflow 140 to the looper.

It should be a looper. 85 was the 1st year of the V-4 and V-8 loop charged engines. It was also the year of the most problems. Be ABSOLUTELY certain which carbs it has and what to set the timing at. In 85 for the V-4, the 120 ran 18 degrees of timing, and the 140 ran 22 degrees of timing. They used the same carbs for both engines, but different jetting and relied on timing and the exhaust tuner to make the HP changes. this resulted in ALOT of burned up engines as they ran to lean in stock form, and overheated CONSTANTLY from the advanced timing. In 86 OMC made ALOT of changes, and many engines have been upgraded to 86+ specs. The changes were a different exhaust tuner, different carbs, different jetting, lowering the timing back to 18 degrees, and different reed valves. If you don't know which carbs you have, then assume it has been upgraded and run 18 degrees of timing. I upgraded mine to 86 carbs, rejetted, and ran 18-19 degrees of timing and it ran great. In stock form it kept melting down the #2 piston, and is how I ended up with it as the last owner got tired of rebuilding it.

Great thanks guys. Ferm ,that's a bunch of good information.I have been confused only because the mechanic I used a year ago told me its not a Looper,maybe that's why he couldn't get it to run properly

This is EXACTLY what I was going to say. :sun:

If it has a removeable exhaust cover between the cylinder heads, it's a crossflow, if it is a solid block between the heads it's a looper. And the 85 140 looper is a TOUGH SOB to get running right. I gave up on mine after the 3rd time rebuilding it for melted pistons, and upgraded it to 86 specs. No more troubles after that except for needing to jet the carbs differently to make it run right at idle and off idle.

I had to swap the carbs over to a set of 86(you can also run 87's, but you have to be careful as there are 2 different sets for 87), and drop the timing back to 18 degrees. Since the 85 140 uses a unique reed cage, it fows slightly different, and you will probably have to rejet accordingly. The cheapest thing to do is to set the timing at 18 and run the small carbs. It drops it back to a 120 instead of 140, but the lower timing is alot easier on the engine. Most shops set the timing at 18 because ONLY the 85 140 ran the extra timing(I don't think the 300 for 85 ran more than 18), and many manuals don't list it.

Boy to I wish I lived within trailering distance of Zepherhills and Goose creek.