Johnson 115 and Dirty Fuel

[bcc101]

As the title indicates I have a Johnson 115 Oceanpro on our 2001 Osprey 175.
After winter storage am having a difficult time getting it to run.
I emptied the filter on front of the fuel pump. And after pumping the bulb the engine starts but will not run for more than a few seconds. Did this several times.
Also, just out of curiosity what is the small red lever near the fuel pump on the front of the engine? Should it be facing up or down?

Thanks
Bruce

[seabob4]

The red lever is the primer solenoid.  12 o'clock position, solenoid engages.  Turn it to 12 and listen closely, you can hear the solenoid clicking...

[wingtime]

The red lever is just a manual choke override for if the push to choke on your key does not work.  It depends on how the choke solenoid is installed on your motor.  It's normal position should be along the body of the solenoid.  Usually this is facing down.  But I have seen them installed horizontal.    So in that case turning it up would turn on the choke like Bob says.   Now here is the big question.  What kind of fuel did you have in your boat when you winterized it.  Did you have stabilizer in it?  Did you drain the carburetors before you put it in storage?  Odds are you have some spoiled fuel issues.

[bcc101]

Thanks for the info.
Fuel stabilizer was used and the carbs were drained.
I did finally get it started. Once the fogging oil burned off it seemed to run as clean as normal.
I did however drain the filter on the front of the engine one more time before it started.

We did install a pretty good sized inline fuel filter a couple years ago.

I intend to start in in the drive tomorrow and if all goes well will take it to Cayuga Lake on Sunday and give it a good run.
Perhaps after the season ends I might consider replacing the fuel lines.

Thanks again

Bruce

[bcc101]

A couple more thoughts.
I assume it is difficult to remove the gas from the boat, use it in the lawn tractors and replace with fresh fuel.

A filling station about 30 miles from here has non ethanol fuel. It seems for the past several years the presence of ethanol in fuel has brought about a lot of concern. Even with stabilizer would it be better to make the trip and at least start adding some nonethanol fuel?

Thanks again
Bruce

[gran398]

Yes, put in some fresh non-eth, and if you can before the trip, install a Racor spin-off filter or equivalent. If the tank has water, you can drain the water from the bottom of the filter.

[wingtime]

Yes non-ethanol is worth it is you ask me. Draining the fuel is no hard. Just disconnect you fuel line at the stern, add alonger section of hose and siphon it out.

The last time I was in the finger lakes area was January of 1998 to pick up a Cessna just after a nasty snow storm.

[bcc101]

Yes. We have a short season here. Especially the past couple years the Spring rains have kept the water levels up on the lakes.
Memorial Day was nice weather but several lakes were closed for boating.
Pretty much why we escape to Ft Meyers for a couple months.
I really don't know how you tolerate the lack of clouds.

[slvrlng]

To speed up the pumpout you can hook up a cheap fuel pump to the fuel line then connect to a battery. This makes it go very quickly.
Make sure and add in a couple of long leads to the battery so there is no chance for spark anywhere near the fuel.

http://www.amazon.com/Autobest-F4027-El ... +fuel+pump

X2 on non ethanol! You still need to stabilize it over the winter but it is worth every extra penny.

[dburr]

Yes. We have a short season here. Especially the past couple years the Spring rains have kept the water levels up on the lakes.
Memorial Day was nice weather but several lakes were closed for boating.
Pretty much why we escape to Ft Meyers for a couple months.
I really don't know how you tolerate the lack of clouds.

Why close a lake to boating with high water? Erosion?  

[bcc101]

Actually a couple reasons. We were out last weekend and there were still trees, logs and docks floating here and there. Also a speed limit was imposed on some lakes to keep down property damage.
Cayuga Lake is about50 miles long and has a pretty large watershed.