killed my motor....any ideas

First time posting, but long time lurker…figured this would give quite a few of you a good chuckle.

Went out Sunday with my son and a friend out of Wapoo Cut. Boat ran fine all day until it was time to head back in. First sign of trouble was trying to get out of the hole, engine would do great until about 3500 rpm and then seemed to choke out like it wasn’t getting gas. After a couple of tries with the same result we figured it was a fuel filter getting clogged. My friend kept a hand on the bulb to give it a squeeze when it got empty and we seemed to be fine. After a little run, the no oil light came on…no overheat light, no low oil light, just no oil and the alarm. I killed the engine and checked all the hoses and the oil tank, which was half full. Let it sit for a few minutes and tried to fire it up again. It started and we set off to try and get back to the ramp. No oil light came back on while we were running throught he cut at the rocks, and I didn’t want to turn it off with the rocks and wakes (I was afraid we would either get swamped or drift into the rocks and I had my seven y/o with us :(). Engine started to knock and basically sound like crap, but I kept running until we were out of the narrow spot and could safely toss out the anchor. Called Sea Tow and they took us the rest of the way to the landing.

Any ideas on what may have happened? I’m going out of town for the next few weeks and won’t have a chance to do anything with her for now, but plan on taking it to Seel’s when I get back towards the end of July. I have a feeling I blew the motor and am expecting a huge bill. I was thinking either a pump died, or somehow a hose got pinched between the tank and the motor…

That is why the engine has lights and alarms to let the operator know something is wrong. Sounds like an expensive lesson, good luck

1999 90hp Johnson

oil pump would be my first guess… pay attention to those alarms, They are there for a reason. I’m sure you know this now…

2008 Sea Fox 197 CC
2008 Suzuki 140

Yeah, I have been kicking myself in the arse. I shut it off immediately the first time, but after sitting for a few minutes and checking the tank, etc, it fired up with no lights or alarms, so I thought…weird…and kept heading for the landing. When it came on the second time I was in a bad spot to kill the engine, especially with my boy onboard. I made the decision to push the motor to get to a safer place to stop…anyone have any ideas on cost to have it rebuilt? I’m pretty new to boating (atleast with my own boat).

Thats what makes me nervous about oil injection. I’ve thought about diconecting mine on my OX66 225 but the pros tell me it’s highly reliable. I guess you could keep oil with you and in a pinch like yours mix it with the gas in the tank to get out of a bad situation.

I would definitely say the VRO (oil pump) went out. Those things are junk on the Johnson motors. The Johnson oil pumps work off of suction and have been junk ever since they started making the VRO. I have a 2005 Johnson 150 and I disconected the VRO as soon as the warranty was up.

On the other hand Yamaha’s oil pumps are great. They are gear diven so as long as the flywheel is turing the pump is pumping. Why Johnson didn’t do this with their pumps I do not know.

20’ Hoog Flatts w/Johnson 150
16’ Duracraft w/Yamaha 50
Follow me and you will get wet and salty!</font id=“blue”>

What do I need to do to disconnect the VRO on mine? I have a 1998 Johnson 90. I have been nervous about it for a while. I would assume (1) cut and plug oil line (2) mix gas/oil…but is there anything I need to disconnect from the pump and tank to keep buzzers/bells and lights from going off?

those things just scared me. got one on my '99 mercury 90hp and been fretting over unhooking it since i got it. any opinions on that model system? its convenient but…

hightide 1602sc
90hp merc

alumnicraft 14’
25hp merc

My VRO still works. We replaced it once about 10 years ago as a precautionary measure.

For added piece of mind, I always keep an extra gallon of oil aborad incase something screws up. Mix it with the gas, disconnect and purge the line, and off you go.

Baker
Old, beat up 17’ McKee

EDIT: The only thing that scares me is that I don’t think the OLD VRO’s have a “No Oil” alarm on the pump itself, just a “Low Oil” alarm on the tank, so if it did crap out, I guess it could take the whole thing with it.

RE-EDIT: Yes it does, whew! OMC added it in 1986.

VRO = “Very Rarely Oiled” , same thing happened to my 2000 johnson 2stroke. start lookin for another powerhead. get rid of that vro and start mixing your gas/oil yourself. Then you will be the only one to blame for failure. mine knocked just like yours and slowy kicked it. i got a powerhead for 300 off ebay, put it on, and have prob put at least 100-150 hours on it since. no problems. that suck though man, i feel yo pain. just make sure that YOU find the powerhead and give it to someone to do the work. or you will pay a bunch of $$$$$$. send me an email, i got some good contacts turtle.

ft worry.

Rebel 17, you are assuming that when the oil pump stops pumping the alarm will go off, and you can mix the oil w/ fuel. I blew a powerhead on a mid ninties 150 Evinrude a few years back because the alarm never went off when the oil pump died. Not only do I not trust the oil pumps on those motors, I don’t trust the alarms either!

quote:
Originally posted by contender1

Rebel 17, you are assuming that when the oil pump stops pumping the alarm will go off, and you can mix the oil w/ fuel. I blew a powerhead on a mid ninties 150 Evinrude a few years back because the alarm never went off when the oil pump died. Not only do I not trust the oil pumps on those motors, I don’t trust the alarms either!


With all due respect–and with honest paranoia–is that actually what happened or is that what the mechanic told you happened because it was the “easy” answer? OMC motors started going to crap in the mid-ninteys for a whole host of reasons other than the VRO, and powerheads can fail for things other than faulty oiling.

I’m sure this has been posted here before, but it’s a great history and explaination of the notorious VRO, including several examples of misdiagnosed VRO failure…

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html

Also, keep in mind that in Turtle’s particular case, the warning system functioned exactly as it was supposed to… and the likely motor failure is a direct result of OE. I’ve used it for 20 years, and if a simultaneous double-failure of both the VRO & the alarm hits me, then so be it. In my case, it’s worth trusting to aviod the PITA of mixing, burning twice as much high-dollar oil, hard starting, and fouled plugs.

Baker
Old, beat up 17’ McKee

Just sent you an emial cordrayj1…TXS much!

quote:
Originally posted by cordrayj1

VRO = “Very Rarely Oiled” , same thing happened to my 2000 johnson 2stroke. start lookin for another powerhead. get rid of that vro and start mixing your gas/oil yourself. Then you will be the only one to blame for failure. mine knocked just like yours and slowy kicked it. i got a powerhead for 300 off ebay, put it on, and have prob put at least 100-150 hours on it since. no problems. that suck though man, i feel yo pain. just make sure that YOU find the powerhead and give it to someone to do the work. or you will pay a bunch of $$$$$$. send me an email, i got some good contacts turtle.

ft worry.


Rebel 17, no disrespect taken. This particular mechanic is by far the most honest mechanicd I know. Has been a family friend for over 30-years. Has retired from mechanics duites and now sells boats for a local dealer. He showed us the block and pistons before he dismantled everything. Been a long time ago now, but believe he checked out the alarm and determined it to be an electical failure.

Have a 115 1997 Johnson on my flats boat now. Disconnected the oil pump and mix myself. Knock on wood, but I never have a problem with fouling plugs, hard starting, or a smoking engine. Can’t see where premixing would change the amount of oil used over oil injection by more than a couple of ounces. I keep a mixing bottle in the boat all the time, takes two seconds to add the oil, add it the same time as my Star-tron, not that big a deal to me for the peace of mind.

Just my 2-cents on avoiding potential problems.

belay my last, it’s a J90PLSSE, so it’s actually a 2000 not a 1999, not that it makes much difference, it’s still gonna be expensive as @#*#! Still kicking my own arse for killing it…

quote:
Originally posted by turtle.sc1

1999 90hp Johnson


How much is the kid worth? Snow Bird could have ruined your day and life.Its money fix the motor and move on.Kiss the kid for us!!!

Stonoman

quote:
Originally posted by stonoman

How much is the kid worth? Snow Bird could have ruined your day and life.Its money fix the motor and move on.Kiss the kid for us!!!

Stonoman


I hear you. I’m gonna get it fixed when I get home. In long island now doing some fluke fishing with the inlaws. It’s all relative, just sucks that it blew. I do appreciate the advice/wisdom from everyone though.

You may want to consider simply replacing it…There are plenty of motors to be had and just switch it out, then sell yours for parts etc…I saw a 115 HP for $2K in the classifieds for instance??
Good luck w/it.

I would just find another motor and replace it instead of fixing it.

No one knows if YOU are THE village IDIOT or not until YOU open your mouth and speak!!!