How dependable are VRO pumps

[tony1z]

I have friends that lost motors because the Vro quit. Is this rare or a major problem?

 

[EricJRW]

Re: How dependable are VRO pumps

I bought my boat used about 3 years ago. I recently learned it once had a VRO. My vote would be for major problem, though I'm not sure if things got better with VRO2 (I guess the fact a 2 came out also says something). That's the extent of my information, and it's 100% non-professional opinion (but it seems I've ready many threads that extolled the benefits of pre-mix).

 

[AEROCOOK]

Re: How dependable are VRO pumps

I bought my boat used about 3 years ago. I recently learned it once had a VRO. My vote would be for major problem, though I'm not sure if things got better with VRO2 (I guess the fact a 2 came out also says something). That's the extent of my information, and it's 100% non-professional opinion (but it seems I've ready many threads that extolled the benefits of pre-mix).

X2 on the premix plan at a 50/1 ratio.
My motor had a good working VRO2 system but a little voice in my head was always telling me not to trust it, I was constantly checking the oil level to monitor how much oil it was using and making sure it had that tell tale puff of smoke at start up etc. I figured it would be less work and less worry to just convert it to premix. If you have a built in tank it's a little less convenient to premix but not difficult.

 

[James R]

Re: How dependable are VRO pumps

There are some VRO's that are out there that work very well however the VRO's have been known to fail. Wherever possible I replace the VRO with a standard pump and switch to 50:1. There are reliable oiling systems out there but they are gear pumps gravity fed from an oil tank under the cowling.

 

[AEROCOOK]

Re: How dependable are VRO pumps

There are some VRO's that are out there that work very well however the VRO's have been known to fail. Wherever possible I replace the VRO with a standard pump and switch to 50:1. There are reliable oiling systems out there but they are gear pumps gravity fed from an oil tank under the cowling.

The existing VRO pump will pump premix so it's a no cost mod.

 

[hidef]

Re: How dependable are VRO pumps

There are a pile of articles out there about the pros and cons of the VRO pump. The VRO2 corrected a major issue with being able to warn if there was no oil or low oil. This was later improved with the system check gauge.

A vast number of mechanics have blamed an engine failure on the VRO pump. Unfortunately if only one cylinder was burned up it wasn't the VRO pump but the carb causing a lean condition that was at fault but VRO was blamed anyways. I am not going to say the VRO pump is perfect OMC over complicated things (which they have been known for) when trying to make things easy to use. The electric shift was a bigger boondoggle. I have seen OMC pre-mix engines blow apart in the bottom end that didn't have VRO but were not put together properly at the factory. OMC was not perfect when it came to assembling outboards but they were pretty close IMHO. What was worse than VRO was the OMS mixing chamber on the triple 25s and 35s even with the monitoring system working correctly it could and would fail by filling the oil tank under the cowl with gasoline reducing the fuel mix until you were running straight gas through the system. Mean while the monitoring system was reporting plenty of oil in the tank.

If you VRO system is working there really is no need to disconnect it if you are paranoid about it failing remove it and premix.