New to me 1990 Stratos 295 Pro 150 GT Johnson

Model # j150stlesb


Just bought a 295 pro with 150 gt johnson. After two weekends of fishing fun and getting familar with my first real bass boat. the engine is wanting me to learn about her in a hurry:doh: I realize its a process of learning how to take care of the both of them, so here is what the symptoms are and what ive done to trouble shoot, any help would be appreciatated.

First noticed slight loss of power at full throttle, port fuel tank gauge bouncing at 1/4 tank switched over to starboard seemed fine for about and hour, noticed it again as I was heading back to ramp, stalled out several time trailoring up.

Next day it continued to get worse, to the point it bogged out many times, so pulled it out of the water and began my novice trouble shooting.:praying:

backing up a bit, I should mention the VRO was not working correctly, after a few calulations like finding out how many gals of fuel each tank would hold, best guess is 12 btw and the fuel oil mix ratio, I determend the oil consumption was twice what it should be. It used 128 oz of oil for 24 gals of fuel, it should have been 64 oz of oil for a 50:1 mix, so It was smoking a lot but it ran well.

Symptoms: boggs under load revs up fine in neutal.

replaced ome fuel bulb and line with high quality replacement from marine parts house. to eliminate air penatration in very old hoses

Fuel filter and line, it appeared to be pinched in a 90 degree so lenthened the hose to ease the pinch point

closed off VRO due to heavy oil mix

mixed my oil/fuel in tanks

took it out and ran it for 30 min and would go to plain for about 15 second and bogg out but never died and would hold idle. I feel its fuel related but Im really guessing.

buds are telling all kinds of bad stuff, you need a new engine, power head, power pack. fuel pump and others, I know Im going to the shop with this but its 2 more weeks before they can even look at it.

so I did a compression check, all 6 cyl are 90 lbs +/- 5, I do believe that good?

ignition spark test ok I think, all plug wires arc to 20mm per tester assuming 20 on gauge stands for milimeters

What can/ should I do next?:praying:

Have a bud sit on the rear deck and keep pumping bulb, Dont run it up to full speed for saftey issues but if it runs much better your just not pumping enough fuel. I'm haaving some simular issues. Mine is intermitting. 4 days runs fine and pulls strong to 5800 then one day it will run out of fuel at WOT if i lift the gas quick she starts pumping fine. I'm ordering a new VRO tomorrow. If you do have a bad air leak you will over oil. When you pump the bulb will it get rock hard and see no leaks? also will it stay hard overnight if you dont run the motor?

Another thing you are going to want to check are your fuel lines. There has been an issue with the ethenol fuel stripping and collapsing the inside of the fuel lines. This will cause loss of fuel in higher demands such as WOT, it will also send debris in places to get stuck. There are new fuel lines that work with the newer ethenol fuels. Even if it isn't a problem now, replace them. If you starve a 2 stroke motor of fuel you also starve it of oil and may blow the motor. My buddy learned the hard way.

put it in the shop today. so in about 2 weeks I will post and update. BTW thanks for your imput.

Your tanks should be 20 gal tanks.

when you get the boat back from the shop post some pics of what the rig looks like!!!!!

Attachment 19710Attachment 19711Attachment 19712Thanks to all that had some advice, The cause of all the pain and suffering was?????????????

Fuel PUMP!i GOT HER RUNNING AT 54 MPH FULLY LOADED WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Shawn could you show some close up pics of your boat hull and the back of the boat or pad area . Want to compare them to a 1988 201 pro .

Glad you got her sorted. By the way, how old is your fuel? Startron SAYS it's good for ethanol fuel that may be on the edge.

Sweet boat, love the color :thumb up2:

After all these years i still got her!
My fuel tanks are 25 gal each and the GT in the Johnson 150 GT stands for Gas Thirsty!!!
I upgraded motor in 2014 to a 150 Opimax Pro xs, added a Talon and Ultrex in 2018. All you could want for a day of Bass hunting...
She is a great platform with a lot of storage.
20 plus rods and crappie riggings to boot.
All I really want to do anymore is chase crappie. thinking of selling her to a younger kid that will keep her in shape.
Its ashame my son would rather play video games than fish!!!

As mentioned the GT loves fuel. As long as you keep the carbon off the heads, clean fuel, and have the updated vro pump it will run for many years. Probably outlast the newest technological motors. It might burn lots of fuel compared to the newest ones, but any hiccup or fuel restriction it will be okay. The newer motors run on such tight tolerances on fuel and any hiccups and outcome is not good.