Ugh Johnson not starting.

**Gorilla0178** · 05-12-2019, 07:36 PM

couple months ago pulled my running 3.0 johnson intake apart and put new CCMS reeds in, rebuilt all 6 carbs, put a electric fuel pump and water separator in and replaced fuel lines. Wired and plumbed it all up, pump runs, carbs get fuel, replaced all the spark plugs and charged battery. No luck starting it. Tried starter fluid too. I cranked it for awhile. it was getting late so I didn't get to do much investigating but I figured it would crank right up. but after about 30 min I quit. I don't think I disconnected any wires but I'll check. any other ideas? other than liking a fresh battery, it always started before.

**DanUmbarger** · 05-12-2019, 10:33 PM

Do you have spark????

**Gorilla0178** · 05-13-2019, 05:15 AM

didn't have time to check. got dark. easiest way to check? it was running before I worked on it.

**XstreamVking** · 05-13-2019, 06:17 AM

I would look at the simple stuff 1st. Kill lanyard, key switch etc. Sounds like no spark. Try not to use the starting fluid. Bad for the engine. As for checking it, just pull a wire off a plug and connect to a spare plug , ground it to the block and look for spark

**DanUmbarger** · 05-13-2019, 09:12 AM

Even easier to check spark without pulling the plug is stick a phillips screwdriver into the plug wire and hold it 1/4 " away from a good ground and turn it over. X2 on not using starter fluid. Also have had many customers pull the kill clip not knowing it and VIOLA.... no start!

**Gorilla0178** · 05-13-2019, 09:49 AM

gonna do the rundown again tonight.

**SS Minnow** · 05-13-2019, 10:37 AM

Another one for no start fluid. Start fluid does not have oil in it.
Empty water bottle, poke a hole in cap, fill bottle with gas/oil and squirt gas into carb. I would not do this with my outboard motor though. I can fill the float bowls with my primer, and if there is no fuel making it after that, squirting fuel in carb will not help.

Another vote to check that lanyard. Mine has caused a no run so many times. It is the first thing I check if my motor cuts out or no start.
If that don't work, look at all your work with a magnified glass. Look at any and all wire connections you touched. You might have put it all together correctly, but maybe the fasteners are no good, and you did not notice. Has happened to me a few times.

**Gorilla0178** · 05-13-2019, 10:25 PM

So I tried again tonight with no luck. granted I'm not spending a ton of time trying to kill the starter. But I tried long enough to see its not starting. Kill switch is plugged in. I'll keep checking. Not sure what happened. didnt do anything electrically except wire a fuel pump in. Didnt undo any plugs, or mess with any wires. Only things I touched were in relation to pulling carbs and reed plates. I'll double check all the wires, and the key switch to make sure the kill switch is working. I dont use starter fluid usually, but trying to get it at least pop over. nothing at all, not even one fire yet and it ran fine when I pulled it apart. thanks again for the help.

**FMP** · 05-13-2019, 11:06 PM

Spark fuel running

**davemvegas** · 05-13-2019, 11:59 PM

Black wires with yellow stripe are the wires that shut down your spark when you ture key to off position.
Did you tap into a blk\yel wire to hook up your elec pump? There should be 2 blk\yell wires near your powerpack, top of heads area. If you see those wires just disconnect both of them. Try starting motor. Keep in mind if motor does start it will not shut off until you ground one of the blk\yell wires, or plug it back in to shut off motor.

**Gorilla0178** · 05-14-2019, 07:11 AM

I need to open the control box to see about adjusting it, so I'll check the wires when im in it. I did tap into the kill switch, on the ground side, its hooked to a toggle switch that can start and kill the motor. But it hasn't been an issue before. Maybe something got pinched. I'll keep looking into it.

**Gorilla0178** · 05-15-2019, 07:42 PM

Ok. No luck yet. Haven't tested for spark with a tester yet. But I swapped ignition switches to see if it was the kill switch, which it must not be. Still won't start. I have to look into the switch again. The choke stopped working when I swapped switches. Hopefully it's a connection. Was working before i swapped them.

**mrichartz** · 05-15-2019, 07:48 PM

What year? Have you checked your flywheel magnets?

**Gorilla0178** · 05-15-2019, 08:45 PM

Not sure of the year. Was a 99. But pwr head has been changed. I haven't looked at them, but will. I know it has glue running down, seems they all do eventually. This is all new. Ran the day I took the carbs off. I did put pullover tubes in. But that wouldn't cause it not to start? Not even 1 fire yet.

**DanUmbarger** · 05-15-2019, 10:37 PM

You have to know whether you have spark...FIRST...don't need a tester...all you need is a friend to turn the keyswitch and a phillips screw driver to stick in the plug wire...if you have spark it's either a fuel issue or possible out of time ( broken flywheel key ) but ya got to know if you have spark before you go any farther. Throwing parts at it takes a whole lot of time.