Johnson/Suzuki ?

1972 Views 16 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Drum Runner, Sep 3, 2014

crabman00

Discussion Starter · Sep 1, 2014

Looking for a new used boat and keep seeing these Johnson motors that make reference to Suzuki. Assume Suzuki is making them for Johnson. Does anyone know if they are both the same motor? I see lots of folks bragging about their Suzuki, but hadn't heard much about Johnson. Are they worth buying?

Thanks for any input.

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

Brenardo

· #2 · Sep 1, 2014

As far as I know Johnson went out of business when the screwed up the ficht injection. BRP bought them and Evinrude out. As far as I know Johnson and Suzuki are not affiliated in any way.

Suzuki has a good reputation AFAIK. And some of the older Johnson's are really good outboards. I wouldn't be scared of either if you didn't have a boat.

sundrop

· #3 · Sep 1, 2014

It really depends on the yr and size. There have been a lot of financial changing of hands and rebranding amongst Johnson, Evinrude, Tohatsu, and Mercury in the last few years especially. Yes some Johnsons are Zukis, some Mercs are Zukis and some Merc s are Yamahas. Tohatsu was Nissan then some Mercs. It's a real mess.

Brenardo

· #4 · Sep 1, 2014

Hmm learn something new everyday

sundrop

· #5 · Sep 1, 2014

Google "Johnson Suzuki" and there are tons of posts about the whole mess all over the web. I love a Johnson/Evinrude, but the yr model can make a big difference in the quality of what you get. A lot of myths and hearsay about the metals being used in the Zukis being of lesser quality but in the same molds as Johnsons etc etc. Hard to find the whole truth in any of it.

Brenardo

· #6 · Sep 1, 2014

So it was kinda like when yamaha made the power heads for Mercury?

sundrop

· #7 · Sep 1, 2014

Yes and Mercury, Chrysler, Force and Mariner were once all in the same bed too.

papadave

· #8 · Sep 2, 2014

I know smaller Mercs & all Nissans are Toasters. I can personally vouch for older(90s) OMC 2 cycle outboards, and newer Toasters, both good engines. The older OMCs can be cold natured as heck, but once you get 'em warm they good to go. The 4 cycle Toasters are fine and hold up to salt with reasonable care. Heard a lot of bad mouthin' on Zukes, not from their owners though.

pizzamanrob

· #9 · Sep 2, 2014

sundrop said:
It really depends on the yr and size. There have been a lot of financial changing of hands and rebranding amongst Johnson, Evinrude, Tohatsu, and Mercury in the last few years especially. Yes some Johnsons are Zukis, some Mercs are Zukis and some Merc s are Yamahas. Tohatsu was Nissan then some Mercs. It's a real mess.

Head still spinning, and I read it three times....No doubt a mess

Girkman

· #10 · Sep 2, 2014

Brenardo said:
As far as I know Johnson went out of business when the screwed up the ficht injection. BRP bought them and Evinrude out. As far as I know Johnson and Suzuki are not affiliated in any way.

Suzuki has a good reputation AFAIK. And some of the older Johnson's are really good outboards. I wouldn't be scared of either if you didn't have a boat.

Johnson and Evinrude were in partner since 1935, its actually kinda cool because Briggs and Straton owned Johnson. Actually Evinrude and Johnson went out of business in 2001 because of strict emissions laws and Bombardier bought them out and kept the legacy of building one bad *** engine!

Reactions: 2

Brenardo

· #11 · Sep 2, 2014

Am I crazy or was the ficht injection junk?

Girkman

· #12 · Sep 2, 2014

I dont recall they just tell me if the engine is old and the repair exceeds the value of the engine offer the costomer a new engine. I like Evinrude a lot because out of all the engines they have 3year/300 hour no maintinence warranty. There s so many pros to the engine it isn't funny E-Tec is the only outboard approved by the EU and they have a 3 star emissions. They weight less and torque ratio is off the chart.

Reactions: 2

Drum Runner

· #13 · Sep 2, 2014

Absolutely the best most reliable motor I ever owned was a 1987 Mariner 60 horse. Made by Yamaha.

If you looked at the key too hard it would crank.

pgarick

· #14 · Sep 2, 2014

Drum Runner said:
Absolutely the best most reliable motor I ever owned was a 1987 Mariner 60 horse. Made by Yamaha.

If you looked at the key too hard it would crank.

Impressive

pgarick

· #15 · Sep 2, 2014

My first huge boat investment was a brand new late 80's Skeeter bass boat with flipping deck, amazing boat. The boat was rigged with a 150hp Suzuki. I owned the boat three weeks and tore the lower unit out of it. No problem, Suzuki was aware of a "problem" and the lower unit was replaced under warranty.
Roughly four weeks later the same identical problem, lower unit trashed. Lower unit # 2 in less than two months.
After an enormous amount of complaining Suzuki agreed to buy back the 150hp and the dealer bought back the boat/trailer.
I drove to Palatka Marine and purchased the same Skeeter with a Pro V, never ever had a problem.

The boat dealer I do business with now at one time sold Suzuki's, according to them they dropped the Suzuki line. No, they didn't bad mouth Suzuki, they simply said buying a Suzuki is not a wise investment (read between the lines)

I am running a 1999 70hp Johnson on my skiff, perhaps it's too new. I went out and stared at the key for five minutes and it didn't crank

On a serious note, it cranks right up and purrs as close to a kitten as a 2 smoke will allow

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Reactions: 1

sundrop

· #16 · Sep 3, 2014

that 70hp 2 stroke Johnson is a solid design , easy to maintain and changed very little from the late 60's on other than the electronics used to make them run. Kind of like the small block chevys and fords until all the new emissions and mileage stuff forced design changes and they moved on. I love the old Johnny Rudes!! If I could right now I would buy an E Tec in a heartbeat too. I don't want a 4 stroke in anything I plan to keep long term and use a lot.

Drum Runner

· #17 · Sep 3, 2014

No more than I could afford or want to afford to run one these days a 4 stroke would be fine for me. In the 80's every time the hitch ball met the trailer tongue on the Ranger it was a 100 dollar bill by the time you got on the water. I'd hate to imagine now what it would cost for 52 gallons of fuel for the boat, the truck, a bag of ice, and some cold belly washers.

Reactions: 1

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