1997 Johnson 175 Fast Strike

[plugneck]

I have recently bought a 1997 Stratos 285 Pro Elite with a 175 Johnson Fastrike and 25p Renegade. The boat jumps on plane well but only gets about 4600 rpm's at WOT. Looking at other members with the same setup they are turning mid-5000's and speeds low to mid sixties. It seems to idle well but one time running at WOT it shut off just like the key was turned off. I put the boat in neutral and it started right up. I have also noticed that once it warms up and idles down it wants to stall sometimes. I did a compression test and the numbers on the drivers side top to bottom are 110, 110, and 95. The left side numbers are 100, 110, and 90. It appears to have the original power pack and the plug wires look worn. I haven't had a chance to test for spark yet. How do I check if it needs a new power pack or what other steps do I need to do next? Thanks.

[Jeffth]

I'll defer to others who know the 285 better, but I also have a 175 Johnson on my 19SS Extreme and have to run a 23P Renegade on it to get 5500 rpm out of the engine. This usually gives me a top end of around 56-57 mph with tournament load. I also have a 24P Raker that will push me into the low 60s, but the hole shot isn't very good, especially with full live wells, so I usually just run the Renegade as a better all around prop. Maybe the 285 is a significantly different hull, but I'm thinking you may be overpropped for 175.

[316jughead]

Next step would be get a real OEM service manual for your motor.

[ChampioNman]

Check these adjustments. http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=11790

[plugneck]

Thanks. I will check as soon as I get home from work.

[plugneck]

The timing roller looks correct. The sleeve on the throttle roller was broken off and what's left was laying on the bottom of the housing. I saw this in another thread and when I'm in town will get some tubing to replace until I can order the correct part. How much difference does the missing sleeve make?

[ChampioNman]

It won't allow the plates to open fully nor will it deliver timing and fuel to be delivered at the same time which is a must on these motors.

[plugneck]

It's been awhile but this is where I am with it. The old fuel line didn't look very good so replaced fuel line from the tank to the cowling. Replaced spark plugs. Put new sleeve on the throttle roller. Throttle roller still wasn't touching so adjusted that. With the throttle roller adjusted it wasn't in sync with the timing roller so adjusted that. I found a two wire connecter in the front of the engine, under the carbs, with a metal clip that was disconnected and reconnected it. I don't know what it is but I'm sure it wasn't made to sit disconnected in the bottom of the cowling. It took a while to get it back on the water. The above items improved idle, it is a little high now, though and I gained 200 rpm's but still only at 4800. All plugs are firing at idle, tested with both a spark tester and timing light. I tested the coils with a multi meter yesterday. The top coil readings were port: .4 ohms ground to main lead, 455 ohms main lead to spark plug terminal and starboard .4 ohms and 281 ohms. The second coil readings are .1 ohms, 284 ohms and .4 ohms, 279 ohms. The bottom coil readings are .4 ohms, 288 ohms and .3 ohms and 281 ohms. The manual shows the reading for the main terminal to the spark plug terminal should be 275 ohms +/- 50 ohms. The top coil failed with a reading of 455 ohms. I would assume this one should be replaced. The manual states that the reading for engine ground to the main terminal should be .1 ohm +/- .05. All coils failed this with readings of .3 and .4 ohms. Based on these readings, should I replace the other two coils as well?

[ChampioNman]

I'd replace the top coil for sure. The other two may be OK, if you want you can replace the other two and keep them for spares. They are in the $40 range at the online parts stores. Check your plug wires for chaffing.

[plugneck]

I just ordered all three coils and a set of plug wires. The plug wires all tested within specs with the ohmmeter but aside from just looking old one of them felt as if the terminal inside the boot kept wanting to come off the spark plug. I'll report back when the new coils are installed and water tested. Thanks.

[tav]

my 92....175 has a raker 26p and can't get 5500, only getting 53@ 4900.
looking at a raker/ raker 2 24p. so it maybe your prop to much pitch.

[GSXRFANIM]

The timing roller looks correct. The sleeve on the throttle roller was broken off and what's left was laying on the bottom of the housing. I saw this in another thread and when I'm in town will get some tubing to replace until I can order the correct part. How much difference does the missing sleeve make?

So I have been dealing with an issue for a while now where cylinder 6 on my Johnson 200 is not getting fuel properly. I did notice that the sleeve on the throttle roller was broken but not in complete pieces.
Could this be part of my problem as well?
Where is a good place to order that part?

[ChampioNman]

The broken sleeve would be a performance issue by not allowing the plates to open fully. The #6 carb with a fuel issue is a different problem. Not sure what your issue is with that but it could be the hose from the fuel tree to the carb is clogged or bad. The float is stuck in the float bowl, a warped bowl, a bad gasket, a bad reed or reed block loose from the intake. You'll need to pull the carb to inspect all of that. If you choose not to buy parts from Evinrude there are several online parts places. www.boats.net, www.crowleymarine.com www.marineengine.com to name a few, but stick with OEM parts.

[plugneck]

I replaced the coils and spark plugs the other day but the weather hasn't been conducive to a test drive. Temps made it up to 50 today so we were able to take it out. The last time it was just me and less than 1/4 tank of fuel in the boat. Today was with a full tank and another person. Boat idles really well now and jumped out of the hole. Boat runs trimmed down about 4600. As I begin to trim up it hits a point where it jumps to 5000 rpm but at that point the boat is throwing a rooster tail head high. I don't know if the whale tail the previous owner put on it is causing this so I will start a post in the setups section. I feel that mechanically I'm at the point that I can start playing with the setup and props. The carbs do leak some. After running the carbs are wet, not dripping where I can see where the leak is coming from, just wet. I suspect the bb's on the float bowl. Would this be enough to effect performance?

[ChampioNman]

Just go ahead and order the bowls and carb kits and be done with it. Just remember to transfer the high speed jets from the old float bowls to the new bowls.

[plugneck]

The weather has been too bad here to take the boat out so I went ahead and put kits w/floats and new carb bowls on the carbs. All six bowls had cracks on the outside and appeared to be slightly warped. One carb was missing the nozzle well gasket and none had seals on the needle valve assy. The kits came with one so I installed them, causing the floats to need adjusted as well. If it hasn't been started in a couple weeks this engine has always been a booger to start, especially when it's cold. When we were finished with the carbs it was still in the 30's outside. We pumped the bulb firm and it fired up immediately. I thought it idled good before but it idles really smooth now. The high idle was around 1200 and eventually dropped to 1000 on the muffs. If I can get off work early enough tomorrow we'll try it out and see how it runs wot.

[316jughead]

No seals on the needle valves, take them off. Then re adjust the float levels and drop.

[plugneck]

Was able to run the boat today. I did change props to a 24 raker and was able to get a shade over 5600 rpm's with two big guys and a full 40 gal of fuel. Prop to pad is 4" so I think I can be happy with that. The only issue I noticed was that in the water, out of gear it idled fine. When put in gear it wanted to sneeze a little and die. Idles good when taken back out of gear. When we worked on the carbs we didn't touch the idle jets. Will adjusting them maybe help with this?

[ChampioNman]

Yep give them a 1/2-3/4 turn CCW to richen the air mix.

[Hydrasport la185]

Hi I have a 1997 hydrasport ls185 with a Johnson Fastrike 175 on it I’ve owned the boat for about 3 years had no issues with it until a couple months ago it would flood out when I got to the lake and primed the bubble so I replaced part of the fuel line and put a new primer bubble on it it did not help and seems like it is getting worse takes several tries to get it to start before it would fire right up also another problem I started having is when I have two people, a full tank of gas , and water in the live well it does not want to get on plane and it seems like it wants to bog down also when I first got the boat it would run in the low 60’s now best I can get is low to mid 50’s I have noticed the float bowls look a little wet where the gasket is can someone please tell me what to do thanks