Thread: Johnson outboards - Any good?

Found a boat that might suit our fishing and waterskiing purposes, BUT it has this on it.
2006 Johnson, 115hp and ~80hrs.

How concerned should I be?
1) Will parts be available?
2) Wikipedia says this “OMC filed for bankruptcy on 22 December 2000. It has been owned since 2001 by the Canadian firm Bombardier Recreational Products. Bombardier stopped selling outboards under the Johnson brand after 2007, and moved all sales entirely to Evinrude Outboard Motors until they were discontinued in June 2020. Bombardier supports existing Johnson outboard motors through servicing and parts. Evinrude also provides information about the year of manufacture for vintage Johnson motors, if the model number and serial number can be provided.
3) Are Johnson’s reliable anyway? I was targeting Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki i.e. Japanese.
4) To me 18 years and only 80hrs hints at irregular use. Maybe Xmas holiday only. Not ideal for engines.
For sure it’ll effect future resale. The current asking price even reflects it, but I’ll keep that in mind if end up viewing and making an offer.

I have a slightly older Evinrude 115 hp two stroke outboard. I have owned it for around 20 years and never had any issues with it - and it tends to only be used over the summer months. It will mostly depend on whether they have looked after it, flushed it properly, and serviced it regularly.

I had one issue with mine once when we headed off down Queen Charlotte Sound and the motor stopped. It would start again but not develop any power. I got towed back in and had a Waikawa company have a look at it. All they found was an excess of two stroke oil in the carb, which they couldn’t explain but cleaned it out and it gave no further problems.

The mechanic did comment that these motors have an optical system to trigger the spark and that these were becoming hard to get. He suggested that if mine failed it would be the end of my outboard, but on returning home I searched for this part on eBay and it wasn’t hard to find one.

This looks to be the same motor as mine, but with a more modern cowl and a different badge.

Those things are pretty bombproof motors. Will love the fuel compared to a modern four stroke but they are pretty easy to work on and pretty reliable, the next model with the ficht ram injection were a bit of a hit and miss but that model there are solid performers. Get a compression test and get out on the water

those are good motors as far as reliability; just be aware your gas bill will be huge they drink gas like crazy when sking you're not exactly driving in a fuel saving manor ether
in the long run it will be cheaper to spend a bit more on the boat now buy something with a good 4 stroke on it might find its only a few grand different on a secondhand boat

I can back up the reliability of those Johnson's basic well built give them good quality fuel and they are good outboards

Good reliable engines the carbied models.
Yes thirsty but no worse than an equivalent merc of the same era.
Parts may not be sitting on every shelf in nz but new parts will be available for years to come and it is unlikely to need much more than spark plugs and water pump impeller for at least a couple of thousand hours.

Thanks all. Sounds like its not as much of a risk as I thought and makes the boat worth looking at when I get chance (6hrs drive).
Not worried about fuel use. Fuel = fun Also once add up cost for towing, ramp use, maintenance, repairs, insurance, lost interest from cash not in bank, etc the fuel bill seems insignificant.

Also maybe check to see if the motor has had all the cylinder bolts removed and refitted as I'm sure my old motor it had to be done at a certain age, otherwise they corrode in and it's a bloody big and expensive job to get them out later to replace seals.

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Originally Posted by 25/08 IMP

Also maybe check to see if the motor has had all the cylinder bolts removed and refitted as I'm sure my old motor it had to be done at a certain age, otherwise they corrode in and it's a bloody big and expensive job to get them out later to replace seals.

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Cylinder bolts would only ever need to be removed if getting replace head gaskets or internal work?

Originally Posted by uk_exile

Cylinder bolts would only ever need to be removed if getting replace head gaskets or internal work?

Pretty much
But that could be done under general maintenance
My mechanic suggested the head gasket should be replaced as a Maintenance item every 5 years or so
He says way easier to replace every so often than have it go and Potentially fuck the motor

this motor has orings rather than head gasket, at only 80hrs i'm not sure i'd be too concerned, looks like a motor thats spent its life in fresh water too?
If you do decide to remove either bolts or heads, torque bolts to 20ft-lb