Re: VRO Maintenance
The VRO maintenance after a years layup should be pretty simple.
What I did when I put the VRO back in service on an old motor:
1. Removed the tank, drained the old oil, cleaned the tank. You might not need to do this if the tank looks clean and the oil looks good.
2. Checked to make sure all the fuel and oil lines were tight and so there wouldn't be any air leaks.
3. Refilled the tank with oil.
4. Removed the oil line from the connection at the motor and pumped the oil primer bulb until I had a solid stream of oil coming from the line. I have since read that removing it at the VRO pump is better. What I did worked for me.
4a. It took a lot of squeezes to get a solid stream of oil. I didn't really count, but I'm sure it was more than 20 and possibly as many as 50. It definitely took a lot more than the 2 or 3 that the fuel system requires.
5. I made a mark on the oil tank where the oil level was when I was ready to run the motor. I mixed 50:1 pre-mix and used that for fuel for three tanks. After those three tanks, the oil level had gone down enough in relation to my mark that I felt comfortable that the VRO pump was working. After that, I quit using the pre-mix and went to straight gasoline.
6. One other thing that I learned from this forum. If you disconnect the tan temperature sensor wire at the top of the motor at the cylinder head and ground it while the ignition switch is on, (motor off), the warning horn should sound so you know it is working.
7. Learn what the horn beeps mean. On mine, and I would guess your 1985 would have the same signals, a steady warning indicates overheating, a warning about every 1/2 second is no oil to the motor, a warning about every 20 seconds is low oil in the tank.
8. There are a couple of other tests you can run to check that your alarm sensors for the low oil and no oil are functioning, but I have never done them. For low oil, just let your oil tank level fall below about 1/4 and the warning every 20 seconds should sound. Their should be another tan wire connected to the wiring from the oil tank. Grounding that tan wire with the switch on should also sound the horn.
