1984 40hp johnson

[20lbSloughShark]

I bought a 1984 johnson 40hp to push my boat faster than my 1972 18hp evinrude, and already regret it. It seems true, both johnson and evinrude come off the same asembly line, but the ones that start on the first pull are painted blue. I paid $1000 for it and was told it ran great, it didn't. After $175 carb work, and plenty of other new parts, it runs. Its scary fast and idles decent, but it makes a really weird noise. Its a clicking/knocking coming from the motor not the lower unit, almost like the recoil (its pull start only) is engaging when its running. It only does it at higher rpms. The inside of the cover is fine, the flywheel is not rubbing. I just hope to god it is not piston knock, the sparkplugs had a gap of .02 when I checked. They are suposed to be at .04 so I put new ones in. I will check tomarrow if it is still .04, if not, I expect a refund, and then an evinrude.

[wmw]

pull the spark plugs check the color black oily its to rich, golden brown its OK, white, chalky or burned its to hot or lean. you can search the internet for some pics of good and bad plugs. most of the time my plugs look oily or wet but if I am not fouling plugs I don't worry a bought it. if they look burned or like they were to hot don't run it.

if you think it may be the recoil I would give a slight tug on the recoil when the noise is happening and see if the noise changes. good luck

[hydro]

Did you remove the recoil unit and look at the underside for evidence of wear? Check the flywheel nut while you are in there and be sure it's tight. Did it make the noise before you had the "work" done? Look around the motor for anything else that may be bouncing around in the linkages. They may be loose after the carb work.

BTW, "Scary Fast" in a boat means different things to different people. That's where my screen name comes from. There is even a HSOforum with that name devoted to boats that go fast! Have fun and be careful.

[20lbSloughShark]

well Im not breaking any speed records, but I was keeping up pretty good with a 100 hp. I can check the pull rope, but it seems like the nut is tight, the rope locks in good when pulled. I have no way of knowing if it did it before, because it only does it at 1/2 to full throttle. It doesn't change with speed, it changes with the motor. It seems like something hitting, not rattling. My dad suggests I just leave it, but don't know if I trust it this way, its just too loud to be something rattling around.

[hydro]

Did you remove the recoil unit?

[20lbSloughShark]

I checked the spark plugs, they are fine, same gap, and brown not black or wet. I removed the recoil and think I found my problem. there was some rubbing on the inside of the circle thing, connected to the flywheel, that connects to the recoil. Also, when we first got it, my whimp dad couldn't pull start it, and broke the rope. Now that I think of it, there is almost 3" extra tension on the recoil now, he just pulled out some more and looped it back through the handle. After that I started it in one pull, one handed, and without even trying; he pulled a muscle.

[hydro]

The "circle thing" on the flywheel is what the pawls on the recoil starter engage when you pull the rope. If the pawls do not retract fully when the rope is released, they will slap on the flywheel and could be causing the noise you are experiencing. I have had that happen in the past. Time to replace the starter rope and have the recoil tension set so that the pawls retract fully.

[wmw]

well that's good news, i am glad it was the recoil and not something more serious.