1997 Johnson Fast Strike 150hp

[Reel Northern Bass]

1997 Johnson Ficht Fast Strike, 150hp, model# J150ILEUC. On a 1994 Ranger Commanche 488VS, 20.5 feet long.

Was on vacation this past week, and was running my motor pretty hard. Did about 10 hours of full throttle tubing with 5 people on board, one on a tube. Went fishing this past thursday, and the motor was running great. Ran across the lake, fished, ran up it, fished, all with no problems. Halfway back to the launch, it started to make a funny sound, almost a faint clacking. So I came down to trolling speed, ran another 5 minutes, heard some noise from the motor, and it stalled out. Pulled the cowl off today, and I noticed that the throttle body, on the top, port side, was cracked and pushed out.

What could be the any and all possible reasons for this to happen? My guess is that, as a result of running it so hard for so long with the tubing, that the throttle body itself kind of over heated and cracked. That's just a guess. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Also, I can't figure out how the hell to attach a photo. So, if someone could please tell me how, I'll add that to this too, and hopefully someone can let me know what the underlying problem is.


Modified by Snover at 3:14 PM 8/8/2009


Modified by Snover at 4:51 PM 8/8/2009

[ChampioNman]

Upload your picture to shutterfly or photo bucket. once posted there click on the picture, then right click and select properties, highlight the properties and right click on copy. Come here and open a new or existing thread like this one and click on the mountains Icon on the top left of the message thread. Center your cursor between the [IMG][/IMG] brackets and click paste it should pop right up. Sounds like you may have popped it though better take a compression test.

[Reel Northern Bass]

Thanks ChampionMan, I appreciate it. I see it when I open it, so I hope everyone else can.

[ELGIN]

WOW, looks like something inside tried to get out.

[ChampioNman]

+1 I think that one is history.

[Reel Northern Bass]

I also just found a small, hairline crack on the back of one of the heads, middle cylinder, starboard side.

[ChampioNman]

That would be a sign of internals trying to become externals.

[THERAKE]

Looks like you broke it!Good Job

[Reel Northern Bass]

Dropped it off yesterday. A quick look by the mechanic and he feels that the throttle body breaking is the result of a backfire, and the crack in the head was pre-existing. So, while it will still cost several hundred for new parts, with luck, I could be all set with everything internally. Waiting to hear from them today, they're doing compression tests and the whole 9 yards to determine if it's completely dead or not.

[JeffA]

that must have been a pretty big backfire...

[dgamblin]

When you find out what you need, give me a shout I have plenty of those type parts from a 98 model laying around that I took apart.

[Reel Northern Bass]

Just heard back from the mechanic.

There is a crack in the head between cylinders 2 and 4. Cylinder 2 has ZERO compression. Total loss.

Question is, I know that motors can be rebuilt, but would this even be worth it? Or just start saving money toward a "new" to me motor in the spring?

[ChampioNman]

If the crank shaft is good that is good news if it is broken that is not good news. Look for a short block and take all of your electronics, VRO, stator everything that doesn't rotate and put them on the reman short block. Check on the motors for sale page here and the motor parts for sale here. If somebody lost a piston that is pretty easy to fix.

[dgamblin]

I just happen to have a good block for one of those things too!

[ChampioNman]

[Reel Northern Bass]

Sounds good. My father, uncle, and I will be pulling the motor apart sometime next week, so I won't know what I will need until next weekend. I would like the opinion of anyone willing to share though. I live by the motto that if you're going to do something, do it right the first time. So, I'm thinking that I will replace the throttle body assembly and intake manifold on port and starboard side, as well as both heads, and all of the pistons. Is that going overboard?

My reasoning for wanting to replace everything is that if I have to pull the whole thing apart, I might as well make everything new, so that I can make the motor last as long as possible. Also, I'm worried that there could be a possibility, even if it's minor, that by rebuilding only part of the motor, all of the new solid parts will be working so well and so hard, it could fatigue the older parts that I didn't replace, break them, and put me back in the same position I'm in now.

Thoughts?

[sc419795]

Not sure what your rebuild will cost - here is one in the motor's for sale page. The seller is looking for an offer - originally asked $4,000.

http://www.bbcboards.net...-sale

[Reel Northern Bass]

Sorry, forgot to put numbers in. This is a couple of scenarios.

1) Rebuild everything. For two throttle body assembly's, two intake manifold assembly's, and 6 piston assembly's, I'm up to $3,350. That's ordering everything brand new direct from Johnson.

2) Rebuild only what I need to replace. That would be one throttle body assembly, one intake manifold assembly, one head, and one piston. That would only be about $800.

Like I said, if something's worth doing, it's worth doing right. So, I would like to either replace everything during the rebuild, or just replace the motor, unless I hear from enough people with good reasons as to why it wouldn't be worth going the extra mile to replace everything.

[ChampioNman]

I think what you are going to find once you get the carbs and intakes off as well as the vapor separator tank is that a connecting rod or parts of it has decided to make an exit from the fron half of the crank case.

[Bassmeister]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ChampioNman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think what you are going to find once you get the carbs and intakes off as well as the vapor separator tank is that a connecting rod or parts of it has decided to make an exit from the fron half of the crank case. </TD></TR></TABLE>
And that crank prolly ain't gunna be pretty either.....