# Just picked up a 1992 johnson 90hp



## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

I just bought a boat with a low hour johnson 90 on it, supposedly it was bought new by an elderly couple, husband died 2 years later. Boat sat for 16 years, then 2nd owner bought it, and used it a handful of times. I checked compression 122-124 on all cylinders, it fired instantly with a little fuel in each cylinder. Power trim works great. Gear case oil looked like new. I'm gonna replace the impeller and clean carbs before I go any further. Does anyone have any other recommendations on what else I should look for?


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

yep,pull the VRO pump off and throw it away. mines a 1995, 115,and purrs .found they same man dies lady lets the toys sit, theres lot of these garage finds out there just gotta search. nice buy. I change the thermostat, hoses, water pump ,and fuel lines. you can google your yr and vro,


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

I thought about the vro pump, I've read many people remove them to be sure they're getting a pure mixture 100% of the time.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

I mix 50/1 and I use pennzoil. info came from a marine mech at one of our better shops. think how old those seals and rubber are. some one will scream the pumps are great.[they never had one stop working,] the alarm will go of, says its not pumping oil ,BUT the damage is already done.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

What fuel pump did you use to replace the vro pump?


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

Well I got it fired up yesterday. I got rid of the vro pump, it was leaking gas anyway. I had to make a bracket to hold the old school fuel pump. I ran the carbs through the ultrasonic cleaner multiple times. Motor still seems to idle a little rough, but revs up great, sounds good. Anyone have a factory service manual for s johnson 90hp?


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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

Thought about getting rid of my VRO as well because of all of the horror stories. That new fuel pump looks good on there. I know my carbs need cleaning. I have good compression, good spark, but only get about 3000 rpms at WOT. Been a little hesitant to pull carbs off because you are supposed to link and sync them after rebuilding. Did you do that? I have a service manual for a 1988 90hp.....not sure if it would be the same for yours. It says it covers the following 90hp models...E90MLCC, E90TLCC, J90MLCC, J90TLCC.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

3k some things not right, ever try running sea foam thru them. theres a proceedure to do it.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

I didn't change anything on the linkage, I just popped off the connecting link when I pulled the carbs. Went back on same as it was.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

I have a friend with an 1984 johnson 90 vro, he trolls with it and it will make you sick with all the smoke. He's gonna dump the vro pump also in hopes of burning cleaner at slow speeds.


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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

bountyhunter said:


> 3k some things not right, ever try running sea foam thru them. theres a proceedure to do it.


I tried the sea foam procedure, it ran a little better. All of my research leads me to believe it has to be possibly the high speed jet's in the carbs. I just don't have the time to play with it yet.


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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

My Demeyes said:


> I didn't change anything on the linkage, I just popped off the connecting link when I pulled the carbs. Went back on same as it was.


I am going to try to clean my carbs when I get the time. Where did you get your carb rebuild kits from?


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

I didn't rebuild them, just ran through the ultrasonic cleaner multiple times. But you can get kits from NAPA, they carry all of the Sierra aftermarket parts.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

My Demeyes said:


> Well I got it fired up yesterday. I got rid of the vro pump, it was leaking gas anyway. I had to make a bracket to hold the old school fuel pump. I ran the carbs through the ultrasonic cleaner multiple times. Motor still seems to idle a little rough, but revs up great, sounds good. Anyone have a factory service manual for s johnson 90hp?


That mtr. Looks new. Congrats on a nice find.
Making sure I had good fuel lines, good, clean, properly mixed fuel and clean filter, I' d take her out and run the snot out of it. May just need ran a bit. Take a screwdriver with you and after she's warmed up, you may try some minor adjusting on the low idle.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

fastwater said:


> That mtr. Looks new. Congrats on a nice find.
> Making sure I had good fuel lines, good, clean, properly mixed fuel and clean filter, I' d take her out and run the snot out of it. May just need ran a bit. Take a screwdriver with you and after she's warmed up, you may try some minor adjusting on the low idle.


Thanks, it came from close to you, south of buckeye lake. I've replaced the fuel filter and lines, new fuel pump. The top carb is leaking a little gas from the top gasket, I think this could be the cause of the rough idle since that is where the idle circuit is located. If I hit the primer it increases rpm at idle, so I'm thinking low fuel pressure on the idle circuit from the leak. I'm gonna put carb kits in and hit the water soon . Should be a nice increase in performance over the 65hp evinrude.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

I got it switched over yesterday, I took the newer steering as well. The newer cable was a little shorter, so I had an opportunity to rework my old dashboard. Here's what I made from a piece of 1" thick starboard plastic.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

A little improvement over the old


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

nice job keep at it,you,ll find the problem. p.s fix that gas leak ,they can cause a fire.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

bountyhunter said:


> nice job keep at it,you,ll find the problem. p.s fix that gas leak ,they can cause a fire.


I'm on it, I got new carb kits to install before we hit the water.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

This old starcraft I bought this spring has me in nonstop upgrade mode. I just can't stop tinkering with it. It's an all original 1974 supersport 18'. I bought it just for early and late season walleye fishing on erie, because I couldn't ice fish last year.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

You did a good jod on that dash...heck, looks like you're doing a good job on the whole boat. Lookin good!


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

Not what I wanted to see. It did have a bunch of heavy braided line wrapped around the prop shaft when I took the prop off. The gear lube looked great when I checked it before buying it. Looks like it's gonna need a prop shaft seal before it hits the water.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

Pulled the prop shaft bearing assembly out, and found a bunch of heavy mono line wrapped up inside the seals.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

That'll do it every time.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

For $50 I got new seals, bearings, and o ring. Well worth the piece of mind.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

Well I haven't hit the water with it yet, good thing I found this before I did. I will say, this makes me think more about line break offs and birds nests that get left in the water.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

My Demeyes said:


> Well I haven't hit the water with it yet, good thing I found this before I did. I will say, this makes me think more about line break offs and birds nests that get left in the water.


Yup! It's always best to never throw line in the water. Don't want small clipped line tag ends in the floor of the boat either. They don't play well with the bilge pump.
Over the yrs have removed line from my outboard as well as trolling mtr


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

got the new switch panel in, didn't turn out to bad.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

^^^ Looks great!

You did a fantastic job.


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## BigDaddy300 (Nov 1, 2004)

Nice work! How hard was it to rebuild carbs? I have a 97 90hp and they leak a little when it's trimmed up.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

BigDaddy300 said:


> Nice work! How hard was it to rebuild carbs? I have a 97 90hp and they leak a little when it's trimmed up.


Very simple job


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## Fishtracker1 (Mar 29, 2009)

Love the work you've done on this older boat, perfect for your use as a early and late season fishing machine. I use one just a bit newer year round "88" SeaNymph 19.5. Like your creative upgrades etc. gives a person ideas to use. Have you used it much, I just found this post & been scanning through it. Thanks for sharing


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

Fishtracker1 said:


> Love the work you've done on this older boat, perfect for your use as a early and late season fishing machine. I use one just a bit newer year round "88" SeaNymph 19.5. Like your creative upgrades etc. gives a person ideas to use. Have you used it much, I just found this post & been scanning through it. Thanks for sharing


Thanks for the compliments. I had it out 2 weeks ago for the 1st time, trolling out of huron. It was a great maiden voyage. I'm ready to use it much more this spring, no more waiting until May to get the big boat out.


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## ShaneMC (Nov 27, 2012)

Nice boat! I have the same boat but in brown. Will you be doing any flooring or rivet replacement ?


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

ShaneMC said:


> Nice boat! I have the same boat but in brown. Will you be doing any flooring or rivet replacement ?


The floors are all good, and it doesn't leak a drop. I would like to give it a paint job some day, but for now it's all about functionality.


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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

Thinking of getting rid of my VRO. I have a 1988 Johnson V4. Where did you get your fuel pump? Also, did you have any problems trying to synch the carbs, after you rebuilt them? Man, you do some nice work.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

https://www.marineengine.com/newparts/part_details.php?pnum=SIE18-7352








This is the pump you need, it will bolt right to the block under the starter. Very easy install. A buddy just did this on his 1984 90hp vro, said it runs better than ever, hardly any smoke.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)




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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

Thanks for the info. I thought that the replacement fuel pump would go in the same place as yours did. My VRO is in the same place as yours was. Didn't realize it would bolt to the block under the starter. I have to wait until I get the boat uncovered and back in my garage to start working on it.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

I didn't realize that I did it the hard way until after I had bought the fuel pump. It would have been so much easier to get the one that bolts directly to the engine. It's the pump used on the 88hp models.


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## My Demeyes (Aug 2, 2010)

It should only take an hour to complete the swap.


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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

Ok, thank you......I get it now.


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