VRO. The Devil?

[Aswaff400]

i dont have much to add, i run my 1990 200hp e-rude premix, the guy i bought it from ran it with the VRO hooked up since new and had no issues. before seabob did my wiring i had no room in my console for the oil tank, it looked crammed in there. since everything was cleaned up and theres more space, ive been considering running the VRO again. only down side with pre-mix is if im ever somewhere out in BFE and need to fill up, places to get oil are pretty slim and pricey...

i too havent stayed in a holiday inn express  

[Group W Bench]

If your looper is a 1999, you should not have the issues associated with the early vro systems. Actually, i don't think the later vro sytems were variable injection at all. At the end of the day, I think a lot of carbeuration issues have been blamed on oil injection or lack thereof. If all the carbs are getting the same amount of oil, how do just 2 of 6cylinders go? There are a lot of tales of blowing cylinders number so and so due to vro failure, but it doesn't make sense if all carbs are getting the same oil. Nonetheless, there is some degree of comfort afforded to folks with Johnnyrudes knowing that there is one less variable to go wrong if the system is disabled. Those 60 degree loopers are really reliable power with a lot of balls. I did go through several power packs and optical sensors on my old 175 loopers though. I'm not sure if these are common failures or were unique to these motors.

Now a Merc efi, there is no doubt that I would drop the oil injection like a bad habit. You have to pull the powerhead to replace that nylon cam. But by the point you have to replace the small plastic cam, you likely have done greater damage already. I got lucky and noticed that the oil tank smelled slightly of gas, before I blew something. Fuel was back feeding into the oil tank leaning out the oil. Just caught a whiff of gas one day while filling the oil tank was a lucky thing, but could have been a powerhead.

[gran398]

All of the OMC's I've run, except for the  25hp 3 cylinder....the mechanics have disabled the VRO. That's six motors since OMC oil-injection intro.

Invariably, when I asked why, it was "aw, you don't need it" or "just more to go wrong", etc.

They never really gave an answer. Maybe it was a Friday afternoon. Yep, matter of fact, that's probably it. Every boat I've ever picked up from a shop has been on a Friday afternoon

[flounderpounder225]

Well,
Didn't post to argue the merits either way but rather to let you know that I had the same oil intrusion over periods of no-use time. Always cleaned out the carb bowls after an extended down time and never seemed to have a problem.
:|

Can you speak more on this? Boat hasnt been used for at least a year. How would float bowls fill with oil if boat wasnt used? Can the oil make it into the fuel tank?

Not much, only to say that I would find what appeared to be excess oil in one or two bowls when the motor sat for a long time. I'm not qualified to say why. Keith may find the same thing when he starts working on the 96 I sold him. While it ran fine when last used, it has sat for over two years. I don't know if the oil separates from the fuel or is siphoned in (it doesn't seem right but ) so I can't add anything else to the mix.

If you plan to keep the VRO active, I would recommend changing the filter in the remote tank. I did have one clog on me but the alarm worked and I disconnected the supply line from the tank fitting and inserted directly into the tank through the fill cap. Was able to continue home. This was on my 85 115 Johnson. The 96 never cause any problem.

I'm not sure how the oil would traverse back into the fuel tank. Good question. I also sold Keith my tank but it had been drained for almost 18 months before I removed it. I hadn't noticed any oil inside but then I didn't run a camera down the fill connection.

It seems that a lot of owners remove (disable) the VRO and from various postings on boating forums OMC mechanics point to failures. Sounds like a crap shoot to me.

Good luck.

The best one I remember from the article on continuous wave, was where the mechanic tells the customer "# (whatever) cylinder seized from lack of oil, because the VRO failed"  when VRO blends the oil with the gas before it ever even enters the first carb bowl, so individual piston failure from lack of lubrication (caused by VRO) is highly unlikely.  I would bet 75% of powerhead detonation failures on the traditional carb'd OMC's were from lean conditions caused by faulty carbs that had been ignored.  I see it all the time, the engine won't idle at the dock, or it stumbles coming off idle into the power range, what's the usual operator answer... rev it up in neutral, Rmmm, Rmmmm, Rmmmmm.... slam it in gear and go like hellll.  They don't understand that "Carb" is the oil pump for the cylinder/s.  And then "bang".  Mech tells them "lack of lubrication" darned Ol' VRO gets blamed again.