No Oil Alarm 2000 Johnson 175 Ocean Pro

[Fed]

From what I've read in this thread I'd believe the No Oil light & go from there.
Disconnect the oil line at the pump & purge until clean bubble free oil came out.
Reconnect the oil line & give the oil primer bulb another pump or two.
Put pre-mix in the fuel and give it a run for a while disregarding any No Oil alarm completely.
FWIW I know mine takes a few minutes or so to reestablish oil flow after the system has been opened & the pump emptied.

 

[cfauvel]

FED,
your latest picture does throw a monkey wrench...if the system check just beeps the horn for 10 seconds I totally can see how I would interpret that as an overheat and/or fuel obstruction as I pull back the throttle in less than 10 seconds.

OP do everything we've suggested as far as cleaning the oil reservoir and priming...run on pre-mix external tank and do the no-oil test....BUT don't turn the motor off when the no-oil light comes on and time the horn (if it comes on).

Fed, I still think OP has something wrong with the vacuum switch, 10inhg seems high...but may be since they re-positioned it, it requires more vacuum to be considered an obstruction....
And yes...if the gauge is saying no-oil I'd believe it.....when the electronics goes out it isn't going to tell you that you have a no-oil condition....it is going to be silent.

 

[w2much]

2 more cents. My motor was a 1995 but controls and harness 1996. It had the OMC adapter harness. Do you have a newer motor with older harness or controls? This could cause other pain in the a.. issues. I see your motor is year 2000. Been following this thread and look forward as you do to the conclusion. Good luck.
By the way I did the clear hose test the other day on a different motor to check oil consumption. Easy test for peace of mind.
Remember as long as you run premix and your fuel side of the pump is working you need not lose time on the water. Check your oil reservoir to see if oil is disappearing and the clear oil tube test.
Does the no oil alarm tell you there is no oil in the reservoir or does it tell you no oil at the pump? Being delivered to the engine?(No oil vs low oil)

 

[ondarvr]

I Just skimmed through the posts, but if your motor has a system check tach and alarm, never trust it, they fail frequently, I had a few bad ones and just replaced it with an old school set up. Alarms may stay on all the time, alarms don't turn on, they work at random times and mean nothing, then work correctly and you don't pay attention to it, tach doesn't work but everything else does, or the exact opposite.

 

[cfauvel]

Does the no oil alarm tell you there is no oil in the reservoir or does it tell you no oil at the pump? Being delivered to the engine?(No oil vs low oil)

The no-oil alarm is strictly the test of a no oil condition at the pump.

the low-oil alarm is for the oil reservoir and that will continue to sound from 1/4 of the tank left to empty....at which time the no-oil alarm will sound.

 

[w2much]

Another 2 cents. Smell the back of the tachometer. Mine smelled like electrical burn so I replaced it also. Got one fairly inexpensive off eBay

 

[chevysam41]

Ok, so I went out on the water this morning and did some tests. The whole time I was using a 6 gallon 50:1 premix tank. As of yesterday evening I had done the following:

- Replaced old attwood fuel primer bulb with OEM primer bulb (minor point as I was not running the main gas tank that this was attached to).
- Removed oil reservoir, thoroughly cleaned and reinstalled on the boat. Replaced oil filter sock with OEM part and filled up oil tank with Quicksilver synthetic blend. Purged air from oil line going to the motor and reinstalled on VRO.
- Replaced damaged o-ring described in Post #29.

Here is what I observed from the tests:
1) I left the dock and within 3 minutes of going about 2000 RPM, the No Oil light came on and alarm sounded. When the alarm came on*, I immediately unplugged the VRO wiring and the light stayed on. 10 seconds or so later, I unplugged the wiring to the vacuum switch and the light immediately went off.

2) De-throttled the motor and restarted with VRO wiring connected and vacuum switch wiring disconnected (seeing if the problem is isolated to the vacuum wiring). After about 5-6 minutes of going at around 3000 RPM, the No Oil alarm came back on. After alarm came on, I maintained constant speed and unplugged the VRO wiring and within 1 minute, the No Oil light went off.

3) No Oil Test: Disconnected oil line coming from reservoir, vacuum wiring still disconnected from #2. Ran for 6 minutes around 2000 RPM, no light or alarm. Reconnected vacuum wiring and kept running at same speed for additional 4 minutes (10 total at this point), still no alarm. Alarm never went off during No Oil test.

4) Oil Consumption Test: After doing the No Oil test, I stopped boat, turned off motor and set up tube with oil. Restarted and drove boat at constant 1500 RPM. It took around 14 minutes for the VRO to consume the volume of oil within a 3"long x 1/4"ID section of hose. I have a video that I can post on youtube. Each time there is an engine pulse the oil level barely moves. I quit counting at 20 pulses lol. The no oil alarm I was seeking in the no oil test finally came on about 5 minutes into the oil consumption test, so it took around 15 minutes.

5) Low Oil Test: Pulled oil pickup out of reservoir. Within 2 minutes Low Oil light came on and alarm sounded*. Reinstalled oil pickup and light went back off.


My thoughts and conclusions:
- *All audible alarms were steady tone and lasted 10-12 seconds with no repetition. Fed, that image you posted up is a great find and I think it is spot on for my boat. I think all audible alarms are the same constant tone, though I have not confirmed this yet with the temperature sensor. Although the warning light will illuminate, It seems that the horn will not sound during an alarm if the engine is not running.

- I have pretty much out an overheat situation because I was constantly monitoring the engine temperature with a laser thermometer. The temperature stayed between 120-145*F measuring both the block and the starboard head, 800-3500 RPM.


- I think the main culprit is the VRO oil pump judging by the lack of oil consumption in #4. The vacuum switch seems iffy also as the light immedeatly went off when it was disconnected in #1. However, in this case it could have been a delayed reaction of the No Oil light disappearing after unplugging the VRO (making it appear as the vacuum switch solved the issue).

Sorry for the long post - alot of info to throw out there!

​

 

[chevysam41]

I went ahead and uploaded the video to youtube. Not the greatest quality since it came from my iphone but you get the gist. forgot to take a sharpie so I had to mark 3" with electrical tape (all I had). Hard to see since it is black on black but the bottom of the 3" mark is about where the hose and the surface where the engine cover sits meet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq0TOBz8rK4&t=4s

Far cry from this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YStE1PkqR0M

EDIT: cfauvel I just realized that is a video you just uploaded recently. Small world.

 

[cfauvel]

Ok well I agree with your assumptions....
1 - we need to verify that YOUR vacuum switch is indeed meant to close the circuit at 10 INHG...but not the crux of your problem.

2- FED's find was spot on...VERY cool.

3 - very strange on the oil consumption...I suspect the primer bulb of the oil reservoir. but could be a host of other things internally.
Here is where you decide on your next fuel pump.
a) do you buy brand new VRO
b) do you buy a brand new after market fuel only pump and pre-mix
c) buy the parts to replace the oil side ($90), and the fuel pump diaphragm (~$60), Air motor diaphragm (~60) and oil reservoir primer bulb? there is a slim chance that the valves in the intermediate housing are bad, but they could be.


on point C I don't suspect the oil side to be faulty. So you could replace both the air motor and fuel diaphragms and oil primer bulb......and be in it for cheaper than a new VRO pump...BUT and there is a big BUT, people who have MUCH more experience than I, have seen the rebuild kit only fixing the issues 50% of time.


for me it was worth the risk, as I would have been out of only $60.00 for the fuel pump side....


Based on what I know how the pump works I don't think the vacuum phase is drawing enough, thus not squeezing the main spring enough....so when the engine positive phase comes in and releases the pressure on the "poppet" there isn't enough snap to push the oil to the passage that is used to push the reset pin to reset the counter. Did you run through any of the flow chart for testing the VRO?
http://www.maxrules.com/graphics/VRO...Oflowchart.jpg

 

[Fed]

Sorry if this has already been posted but it's worth reading & understanding.
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html
Preventive Maintenance & System Upgrades.

 

[chevysam41]

Honestly, I'm leaning toward going with a whole new VRO. My only reservation is that the no oil alarm took a long time to come on during the no oil test, so how will I know when the pump is actually getting oil? In theory, will the no oil alarm come on sooner with a whole new VRO?

Part of me wants to just go pre-mix and ditch the VRO, but people seem to really speak highly of the VRO from these years. I like not having to worry about premixing every time I fill up the boat, though not that big of a deal as I premix for my other 2-strokes. My understanding is that the VRO more efficiently uses the oil supply which also results in a cleaner burning motor. I like to slow troll a lot so plug fouling could be an issue long term with premix fuel.

Another issue is I know that this fall/winter I want to pull the main tank from the boat to do some repairs/rewiring. If I have a 94 gallon tank of straight gas I can put it in the cars when I need to empty the tank. Otherwise I've got to find a way to get rid of 94 gallons of pre-mixed gas

I agree with your comment about the vacuum switch. How can I go about finding out if 10inHg is correct? I wonder if the manual would tell? If so, maybe jakedaawg could chime in.

 

[jakedaawg]

While running on premix let the alarm go off. Continue running. Slow mode should activate if bad vro...if it does not then that tends to point to system check gauge which does go bad. I replace way more giages than vros...

As far as inhg vacuum. Look earlier in thread and I posted specs. Gray body vs black body...remember giages vary, is your quality or harbor freight?

 

[jakedaawg]

I am not going to read back through all these posts.

Quick question, have you preformed these tests:

1. Oil usage, that's the one with the clear hose and the 1/2" marks. Post result. How.much oil, how many clicks.

2. Fuel line vacuum? Post result please.

3. Does it go into slow mode. This is a critical question. I

They are all important question. Thus thread is now 70 posts long so , maybe longest straight repair ever...

 

[cfauvel]

Honestly, I'm leaning toward going with a whole new VRO. My only reservation is that the no oil alarm took a long time to come on during the no oil test, so how will I know when the pump is actually getting oil? In theory, will the no oil alarm come on sooner with a whole new VRO?

Part of me wants to just go pre-mix and ditch the VRO, but people seem to really speak highly of the VRO from these years. I like not having to worry about premixing every time I fill up the boat, though not that big of a deal as I premix for my other 2-strokes. My understanding is that the VRO more efficiently uses the oil supply which also results in a cleaner burning motor. I like to slow troll a lot so plug fouling could be an issue long term with premix fuel.

Another issue is I know that this fall/winter I want to pull the main tank from the boat to do some repairs/rewiring. If I have a 94 gallon tank of straight gas I can put it in the cars when I need to empty the tank. Otherwise I've got to find a way to get rid of 94 gallons of pre-mixed gas

I agree with your comment about the vacuum switch. How can I go about finding out if 10inHg is correct? I wonder if the manual would tell? If so, maybe jakedaawg could chime in.

I think in your case the no-oil came on SO late because the pump is partially working. So sometimes the reset pin would reset the counter inside the electronics and sometimes it wouldn't....over the years the circuitry has changed as per rep on E-Nation so that at idle it takes longer to throw the no-oil condition. I did my test on a 1999 VRO at 2000 rpm and it fired the no-oil in one minute 30 seconds....at 1100 rpms it fired the no-oil condition at 3 minutes 40 seconds.

if you go with brand spanking new VRO...you'll do the no-oil test at 2000 rpm like me and report back as to how long it takes to throw the no-oil alarm.

NOW as far as efficient...the VRO's variable ratio has changed significantly over the years and it is no longer super lean like it was in 1984 when it first came out....it has gone down from 150:1 to 100:1 and NOW I think it is like 70:1 at idle (don't quote me) for an overall average of 60:1 and they call it an OMS....I suspect they change the name for two reasons 1 - the stigma of the 'VRO' 2 - it is not much varied anymore.


re: Vacuum Switch....indeed my manual states at what InHg that the horn should sound...so Imagine your manual does too.

VRO or No VRO - it is all matter of convenience and peace of mind as to which direction you'll go...I personally have no issues with running the VRO. I may have stated it before...but....my motor has been running a VRO since 1986...I replaced the pump once in 1999 because the pumping of fuel stopped (didn't know you could replace the guts, wished I kept it). And my only issue since then was the pump was pumping TOO much oil....on my last long outing I averaged 18:1.

conversely, running pre-mix you'll have peace of mind that you won't toast your motor for lack or proper lubrication ratio, You may still toast your motor by running too lean though....

 

[cfauvel]

I Just skimmed through the posts, but if your motor has a system check tach and alarm, never trust it, they fail frequently, I had a few bad ones and just replaced it with an old school set up. Alarms may stay on all the time, alarms don't turn on, they work at random times and mean nothing, then work correctly and you don't pay attention to it, tach doesn't work but everything else does, or the exact opposite.

Ok well that is not comforting.

Shouldn't be too hard to go back right? get a male Duetch connector....wire tan wires to pins

[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Pin 4 = No Oil (OMS sensor) TAN/YELLOW stripe Pin 5 = Low Oil (Reservoir float) TAN/BLACK stripe Pin 6 = Engine Hot (cylinder head sensor) TAN Pin 7 = Check Engine (fuel vacuum sensor) TAN/ORANGE stripe[/FONT]

then connect them all to a single tan wire.
buy an older buzzer (pre-system check)
connect a purple acc wire, a ground wire and the new tan wire to new buzzer and do the tests for initial turning key to ON, No-oil, low-oil, overheat and vacuum.

right?

 

[chevysam41]

Update: I ordered a new VRO, installed it Wednesday and took it out on the water last night. The problem seems to be solved as I cruised for probably 45 minutes to an hour off and on with no alarms.

I also performed an oil consumption test on the new pump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9buacVa2VJ0
The oil consumption test on the new pump was night and day compared to the old pump. With the new pump, I was pumping right at 3" of oil in a 1/4" ID hose in about 6-7 pulses @ 1500RPM (took between 30 seconds to a minute with the new pump compared to 14 minutes with the old). The pulse was also much stronger with the new pump as I could feel the click through vinyl tube (I couldn't feel the pulse of the old pump).

I also performed two no oil tests. With both tests the no oil alarm came on right at 3 minutes after disconnecting the VRO oil line running roughly 1500 RPM.

Additional things I learned about my boat during this process:
- In my case, the No Oil alarm was a legitimate warning, but it did not go off as soon as it probably should have with my old pump. In fact, it took just under 15 minutes to sound with my old pump going at slower speeds. Who knows how long I was running minimal or no oil supply (scary). What I take away from this is while the system check is a great thing for monitoring malfunctions, it is only good if a) the system check gauge/horn are working and b) said piece of equipment sending the alarm signal (VRO, temperature sensor, oil pickup, etc.) is working properly. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I know that going forward I am going to start routinely checking my system to confirm that warnings are working properly.

- All alarms are accompanied by a constant horn lasting 10-12 seconds. However, its worth noting that the horn will not sound if the engine is not running - you will only receive a light up on the tach. I suspect that the horn patterns could change to the beeping version if/when I replace the tach/check gauge.

If there is nothing additional that the experts think I should be on the lookout for, then I guess we're done! Let me know if I need to close the thread/mark as solved/etc. I know some forums have that option.

Thanks again to everyone that helped out! I know this thread got sideways there at the end!

 

[cfauvel]

Happy boating!

 

[carboman]

I just had the no oil alarm issue. Ended up being a broken/cracked fuel splice tube or nipple. You can see where the piece broke off but it is also cracked which let air into the vro system.