1987 Johnson 140 hp w/VRO

[bently]

The situation.

My friend has a boat with a (1987) 140 hp Johnson w/VRO which was winterized poorly one season and two cylinders had moisture in them and rusted away the rings. It was the RH side standing behind the boat. We pulled the motor and put new rings and honed all of the cylinders, which were still within spec.

We did get the motor running with 25:1 oil gas mixture while we tested the VRO. The motor smokes alot and we put a short, clear tube on the oil inlet of the VRO. Holding the tube up and making a mark where the oil level was when we started the engin. The oil level slowly drops while the engine is running, which means the VRO is pumping oil but the "no oil flow" alarm still goes off. I know that the VRO gets some imputs from the tach and if the tach is off and/or shorts in the wires may make the alarm go off. We are going to to just unhook the VRO for now and work on that this winter.

The remaining problem is that we replaced the water pump and reinstalled the lower unit. While running the engine on muffs we do not get water to flow out the tube in the motor base. We replaced both thermostats and still nothing, you can hold your hand on the heads for a while but as they slowly get hotter we shut down the engine in fear of overheating it.

I see the smaller tubes that are attached to the thermostat housing run over to a roundish type housing located behing the throttle/shift lever on the RH side of the engine and then a tube comes from there to the pisser that the stream of water should be visible from.

Can this be blocked or what is my problem for not seeing water out of the pisser?

Thanks

 

[taylor786]

Re: 1987 Johnson 140 hp w/VRO

Read the Top Secret file for the VRO conversion if you haven't!
Those pissers get blocked remove it blow it out. GL

 

[cdn-pk]

Re: 1987 Johnson 140 hp w/VRO

my '86 johnson 120 hp with working vro never pisses on the muffs. only in the water. the diverter just does not seem to work on the muffs. i did put it in a massive barrel once and the tell tale stream worked, but never on the hose.

in the line from the oil tank to vro there should be a clear plastic hose section that you can see the oil in. personally i love the vro.

 

[bently]

Re: 1987 Johnson 140 hp w/VRO

I do not have an issue with the VRO not flowing oil, just the alarm going off even though it is pumping oil.

 

[cdn-pk]

Re: 1987 Johnson 140 hp w/VRO

ahhh, i believe it's the low oil tank level (if you only have 3 wires coming out of your VRO, then it's the oil tank level). disconnect the tan colored wire..... problem solved. just make sure your oil tank is always filled up.

thanks for reminding me that my oil tank level malfunctioned too! hehehehe i priced out some replacements and they were way too expansive so i just check my oil tank level and always carry and extra bottle of oil in the boat. but might be a simple fix if i pull apart the assembly (thats off season work).

water pump issue... Since you replaced the thermostats it's not your air bleed holes but thought i'd mention it here anyway that the thermostat gasket has a small air bleed hole that need to be clear to allow all the air out of the heads. (other designs out there put the tell tale at the top of the heads to allow proper air bleeds.) anyway i have noticed i have to occasionally (bi yearly for sure) pull off the thermostats and clean them up. but again the channel i dock on can get muddy.

i do have a question about your installation of the impeller, do you feel the resistance of the impeller when you turn the drive shaft by hand?? i noticed a big difference between the old worn out impellers and a newly installed one.

 

[rsukup]

Re: 1987 Johnson 140 hp w/VRO

I've had the same two problems; Same model 140. Last year it wouldn't pee. I changed the impeller; Fine now
Tip: I have a double water hose input and also run a tap psi of 75-80 lbs. Most city psi runs a lot less( pressure regulated water lines)
My VRO tank sender has twice gone off with sufficient oil in the tank. It is a sealed pc board, Can't fix.
Hit it with a hammer until it quits buzzing or disconnect it.