TOPIC: 1966 Johnson 80HP just stopped running

I have a 1966 80 HP Johnson manual shift that just quit running this past weekend. It was running fine at full throttle then just stopped running. It felt like it ran out of gas, but there was plenty of gas and when trying to restart the water around the motor was covered with gas.Seems like it is not getting spark any longer as it just turns over with no thought of firing up. Any thoughts as to what may be wrong for it to quit like that? The belt that drives the magneto is fine and still turns freely.

Do you have a repair manual? If not - there are original OMC shop manuals on Ebay for cheap. Everyone that wants to work on their own engine should have at least one shop manual.

I don't believe any 80 hp engines were equipped with a magneto - they had battery ignition just like a car has. Also, I don't believe any 80 HP Johnsons were manual shift - I believe they were all Electric shift. If course, I could be wrong. Your engine might be a early 75hp. fitted with an 80 hood. What model number is on the ID plate?

If battery ignition like Bruce says, your rotor has burned thru the plastic & is shorting the spark to the distributor shaft.

I do want to thank you all for the replies. My engine is a 1966 80HP with a magneto not battery ignition, both models were offer that year. I did discover the cause of the problem it was the carbon contact in the center of the distributor cap had broken off and also the rotor had shorted out. I replace both and the motor is up and running again. Thanks again for the input.