B
Baydog
Two weeks ago my old reliable 96 Johnson Outboard started giving me a "no oil" warning. Not totally uncommon as it was only 15 degrees that morning. Usually the issue gets resolved with a couple squeezes of the oil reservoir bulb. After warming up it usually goes the rest of the day without a hitch. However I had 5 warnings in the course of a 4 mile round trip run. Each time I would shut motor down pump the oil bulb (which felt hard), start up and keep going. It has the Johnson Quick check 4 light/horn warning system. Next day it was 15 degrees and same thing.
So this morning it warmed up to 41 so I disconnected the direct oil injection and I'm going with the old mix it in the tank scenario. Only took about 40 minutes to disconnect and tape the wiring harness out of the way and plug the oil inlet. I'm actually a little conflicted about the whole thing. I've got nearly 20 years on the existing VRO pump so it was probably time for something to go wrong. However at $300 for a new VRO seemed like the best option. Depending on which mechanic you talk to the VRO is either the worst thing that ever happened to Johnson/Evinrude or a scapegoat for motor failures caused by other issues. One mechanic even told me he had seen way more motors burned up by owners who forgot to add oil to the fuel than by the VRO failure. Anyway wondering if anyone had gone thorugh the disconnect effort only to reconnect it later. Hoping for a test run to the duck blind tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving!
L.
So this morning it warmed up to 41 so I disconnected the direct oil injection and I'm going with the old mix it in the tank scenario. Only took about 40 minutes to disconnect and tape the wiring harness out of the way and plug the oil inlet. I'm actually a little conflicted about the whole thing. I've got nearly 20 years on the existing VRO pump so it was probably time for something to go wrong. However at $300 for a new VRO seemed like the best option. Depending on which mechanic you talk to the VRO is either the worst thing that ever happened to Johnson/Evinrude or a scapegoat for motor failures caused by other issues. One mechanic even told me he had seen way more motors burned up by owners who forgot to add oil to the fuel than by the VRO failure. Anyway wondering if anyone had gone thorugh the disconnect effort only to reconnect it later. Hoping for a test run to the duck blind tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving!
L.
