235 johnson restart problems

kheid · #1 08-10-2008, 10:02 AM

well my 1985 johnson 235 has developed its 1st problem!?!?! boat starts perfect with a little choke on the key (pushing in key to start a couple times and fast idle lever up) in the morning and runs flawless wherever i go for however long i run it rpms are perfect no problems.... now after sitting for an hour or more fishing swimming etc it wont restart. Motor seems to be flooding. i can take the fuel line off and start it till it clears the gas then it will fire up. The battery is almost dying though till it will start. If i take the motor cowling off and spray starter fluid in the airbox it will start right up and run flawless again. Getting sick of taking the top off the motor everytime and doing this. I bought this motor off an older gentleman who always had the motor serviced, has all record receipts, new water pump, compression perfect. Thinking of getting a new motor but would hate to get rid of this motor for what seems to be a small problem. Like i said the motor runs flawless and starts right up in the morning but after sitting cant get it to start. Have tried both choking it idle lever up (which seems to flood it and have tried doing nothing but turning the key with no choke and it wont start either way HELP !!!!!!!

chumbucket · #2 08-10-2008, 10:17 AM

Does your motor sit low in the water? I had a similar problem years ago. The exhaust ports right under the lower cowling were underwater sometimes with the motor trimmed down. If I trimmed the motor up a bit to clear the waterline, it started fine. This same problem would also make mine stall at idle speeds a lot of times. Same thing. If I trimmed the motor up a bit, it would be fine.

kheid · #3 08-10-2008, 10:20 AM

will check it out but i dont think they are underwater ....thanks

tsubaki · #4 08-10-2008, 10:59 AM

One of the motors on my fathers boat will do that occasionally.
He would tilt the motor up, turn it over several times or until it acts as if it will fire and lower it and crank it up.
What this did was run some excess gas out the carbs.

THEFERMANATOR · #5 08-10-2008, 11:22 AM

Does it fire up if you choke it when it's hot? You say it will fire right up if you use starting fluid(big NO NO with a 2 stroke BTW), that would indicate that it's not flooding. Ethanol enriched fuel will evaporate pretty quickly in a hot engine after you shut it off. The next time you shut it off when it's hot, go back and pull the cowling and carb cover off and pump the primer bulb and see if the carbs run over. If not, try and choke it on re-start and see what happens. Your floats may be off somewhat, or you could have a fuel soaked float from ethanol. Or it could just be evaporation from heat.

kheid · #6 08-10-2008, 01:02 PM

will try that next time out ....i know that the starting fluid is not a good idea but when you are stuck on an island and have to get home ....what are you gonna do ?!....How do i know if the carbs run over? will fuel come out the overflow....i am not too familiar with checking that? thanks

kheid · #7 08-10-2008, 01:04 PM

....but nothing works when i choke it after its hot ive tried every combination....just turning the key....pushing key in and choking.... fast lever idle up....down.... no choke....choke.... nothing works

THEFERMANATOR · #8 08-10-2008, 03:42 PM

You wann look for gas running out of the carbs when you shut it off. Also for the heck of it, check it for spark on a hot re-start. Make sure and use a spark tester set to the correct gap to verify proper ignition arcing.

Jetty Rocker · #9 08-10-2008, 06:51 PM

I've seen some motors that if they a trimmed down to far will allow the floats to rise up and allow too much fuel in the bowl. next time you are out keep the engine level and see if this helps.