1990 Johnson 150 w/erratic/occasional no Pee Stream

[boaterbill]

Hi guys! I have 1990 Johnson 150GT model:VJ150SLESB Serial: R08562699 I have had it in the river 10-12 trouble free times in the 3 months i have owned it. Couple days ago i took her to the river & after start up the water pressure buzzer was sounding off, a quick glance at my w/p gauge showed Zero & there was no water coming out the teltale, So i shut her off, waited a min or so & cranked it back up... Same exact thing. So i brought it back home & cranked it on the muffs & it was peeing a stream, water pressure back to normal & no buzzer... pressure rises & drops with rpm so i'm pretty sure the pump is pumping & not just water hose pressure... It supposedly had a new water pump installed just before i bought it. Is it possible it has part of the old impeller in it somewhere causing occasional blockage? Anything else could cause this? I have cranked it on the muffs several times since & everything appears ok? I have not tried the river since but i guess that would be prudent. Any suggestions would be appreciated!! (sorry for the long post)

[ChampioNman]

Why chance it? Replace the complete water pump assembly and you will know for sure it is good.

[metalman76]

my 94 Intruder did the same thing. I replaced the complete pump assembly as championman said above. Fixed my problem.

[boaterbill]

Ever seen one come & go like that? I've never. I'm thinking a piece of something is roaming around in there somewhere? If i put w/p kit in it I still won't know for sure it fixed it... I prob ran it 100 miles before this happened the first time? I'm thinking about removing the stats & using muffs & hose pressure & perhaps a little compressed air up the old pee hole to see if i can dislodge something before putting a w/p kit into it? Waddaya think? I hate it when something fixes itself! I won't sleep good until i get to the bottom of it! Thanking you in advance,

[ChampioNman]

If you gonna do that then remove the popit valve too. Sleep well.

[boaterbill]

Thanks for the help guys! I WILL sleep better tonight!

[ChampioNman]

When you get a little assitance from the hose, you are priming the pump, so it doesn't have the ability to prime itself. When you drop it in the H20 it has to prime itself so if the impeller is weak OR there is a blockage in the water flow,,, you get the picture.

[boaterbill]

Thats the picure I had drawn in my head... With the w/p just being replaced prior to my purchase(& i believe it was) & not seeing the old impeller & not knowing why it was replaced and the way the senario played out I have to wonder if there's something wandering around there? I will take it to the river tomorrow & see if it will prime itself... If it don't... A new pump kit is in order. If it does I'll pursue my "unwanted debri" theory.

[boaterbill]

While were talking... Is there a better way to plumb the water pressure gauge than a tee in the teltale line? Does not appear to be anything dedicated or easily adaptable on the powerhead & teeing into the teltale sacrifices accuracy the way i see it?

[cw95bronc]

just to add what happened to me last year, took mine to boat wrench, Chris

installed a new impeller from seirra. took it out that weekend and ran to a

spot, no problem. went to restart the motor to move and low and behold all the

alarms were going off, looked back no pee and no pressure WTF.

Finally got the boat back to Chris he found that the 2 rubber pieces that are

fastened together on the impeller had seperated. The run was only 3 miles. I got lucky not to have the motor burn up.

Chris showed me the part, said I was the 3rd person in 2 months that happened to. good luck.

[ChampioNman]

That is why we only use BRP parts. As far as the pressure gauge that is the correct way to connect it. T it in to the discharge port. It will have no effect on the accuracy of the pump output. Worse case you will have to remove the heads and install new head gaskets.

[boaterbill]

I expect to find a sierra or similar non-oem impeller when i get into it but i'm going back BRP... Sierra claims the rubber in their impellers is a different formulation & superior to oem? Apparently that's not the case! Its been too damn hot here to mess with it past week or so but I plan on getting on it soon.. BTW i'm in the next county west of ya. The guys @ boat wrench do good work! (if your lucky enuff to get your boat in)