1985 Johnson 70hp not getting fuel to middle cylinder

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

I posted this on 2cool but I'm sure there someone in the area that can help me figure out the issue.

I bought a Mckee Craft 14 over the weekend that has a 1985 Johnson 70hp on it. I took it took the mechanic down the road to have them replace the shift cable which I knew needed replacing. He just called me and said the middle cylinder has good compression and all that but isn't getting fuel to it.


Any idea what it could be? Dirty carb? Need a new carb? etc?


I know my way around my Jeep motor and small outboards but I'm a newbie when it comes to larger outboards. I don't have a ton of money but don't mind buying beer for help! Help me get out on the water so I don't have to sit at home all day dreaming on here.

[rdb]

Dirty carb or clogged line to carb. If the other cylinders are getting fuel it is probably a dirty carb for that cylinder.

[Rollo]

How come your mechanic didnt offer up a reason or a fix,hes already got ya on the hook for the cable and a compression check? its probably just a dirty or clogged jet in that carb!rdb is on the path!those arevsimple carbs you can clean it yourself,BTW,That 70 is one heck of an engine !

[evansmarine]

Exactly

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

How come your mechanic didnt offer up a reason or a fix,hes already got ya on the hook for the cable and a compression check? its probably just a dirty or clogged jet in that carb!rdb is on the path!those arevsimple carbs you can clean it yourself,BTW,That 70 is one heck of an engine !

It would have been nice if he went ahead and tested it for me. He did tell me he'd walk me through the troubleshooting steps to find out if I needed help.

Do you think I just need to take the carb apart and clean it up or does it need rebuilding?

I've heard they're good motors. I hope I picked a good one. Supposedly the way they move through water attracts fish haha jk

[Rollo]

Its not a hard carb to pull apart and just do a cleanup with a little carb cleaner,make sure it will blow through all the passages it could could be a stuck float! And your right those motors do attract things, mainly reefs!LOL!

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

Does anyone on here do side work? I'd like to get it fixed by someone who knows what theyre doing but I can't afford shop rates right now.

[corndog]

Take the bowl off I''ll bet you will find the flloat stuck all the way up.

[The Fisherman]

Dirty carb or clogged line to carb. If the other cylinders are getting fuel it is probably a dirty carb for that cylinder.

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

Do ya'll think I need to take all the carbs off and rebuild them or just take the bowl of the middle cylinder, clean it out, and see if that works?

If rebuilding the cars is recommended I'm a newbie at this. I don't mind taking the carbs apart but I don't want to mess up anything.

[corndog]

Did you take the bowl off and look? The float has to go down to get fuel.

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

Did you take the bowl off and look? The float has to go down to get fuel.

Not yet. Going to take a look at it tomorrow.

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

Alright carb aficionados, as you know I'm a newbie at working on this motor. I took the middle carb off just to see if the float was stuck or if the bowl was all gummed up. I'm no expert on carbs but it seemed pretty clean and the float wasn't stuck. I fired the motor up but I have no way of knowing if the middle cylinder is getting fuel now or not. I figured I could put a bunch of photos on here and 2Cool and maybe someone could tell something. I appreciate all the help!

The 3 carbs on my Johnson 70:


Pics of middle carb with bowl taken off before starting the motor:


Carb upside showing float level





Spark plug after running the motor a minute:

[Bobcat_Fisherman]

I bought some cleaner to soak the carbs in tonight to clean all the gunk out.

I'm wondering why my spark plug is wet if the cylinder isn't getting fuel? Once again, the only reason I think there isn't fuel getting to it is because a mechanic told me so. I don't have a clue what method he used to come up with that. All I know is he wanted more money to look into it further.

[evansmarine]

Your getting fuel for sure, looks like you have no fire.