Oil Warning

With the warm weather finally uncovering my boat I guess it’s time to start getting everything ready for the softwater….
I have a 2000 50hp 2 stroke Johnson so here’s the deal…Last year at the end of the season my “no oil” horn started going off..I would shut it down,pump the bulb (even though it seemed plenty hard)a couple times and fire it back up….sometimes it would do it again,sometimes it would not do it the rest of the day
Then one day I was running it on the muffs before a trip and had to run into the house for a minute…came back out and the horn was sounding…the motor was still smoking good so I knew it was still getting oil and before I could shut it down the horn stopped!
The light stayed on for about 10 seconds more then it shut off also….The whole time the motor was still smoking and running fine.
What I plan on doing first is removing the oil reservoir,drain the oil that is in it out (my kid bought some cheap Farm & Fleet oil last summer)clean everything that can be cleaned and buying the proper Johnson oil.

Do you guys think this will be enough??
Anything else I can do myself?
Thanks guys

PS….I’m am NOT going to disable the injection system…..been through that whole discussion before

Im looking at the possibility of the warning system being faulty. I rebuilt the VRO and replaced any potential culprits and no luck, it actually seems like it was slowly failing. 2000 Lund w/70 Johnson, any similarity? At this point it is just me throwing rocks in a pond till I figure it out.

I’m battling the same problem,60hr johnson,tiller.I took the oil tank and cleaned it and replaced oil,still does it once and awhile..I’m thinking its my overheating alarm,my pee tube comes out the side of the block,and I seen on the web, that a air bubble gets trapped at the top of the block and water does not fill up cooling system all the way..I’m going to drill&retap on top of block.I’m no mechanic,but I hope that helps..

I had the same symptoms with a 2001 johnson 50 horse 2 stroke it turned out to be the fuel pump. The mechanic said the 40 and 50 horse were known for this. The part cost 300 dollars and its possible to put on yourself.

Good Luck

One other thing I will mention is that the VRO system isn’t a pressure system, so if the ambient temperature gets too cold the oil you are using can be a factor. If the oil gets too thick for the diaphragm system to pull it from the tank the system can fail. The E-tec’s have to be running on xp100 (full synthetic) if the temperatures are at or below 32F. My Brother in-law had his 1991 Johnson 90hp seize last year while fishing on pool#4 last spring when the temperature was about 26F. He was using some cheap oil he bought at the gas station he filled up at. He had replaced the VRO pump the previous fall. Something to think about.

I had the same problem a few years ago with my 115 Johnson low oil horn sounding. And blew it up, $2800 later I was having the same problem and decided to replace the reservoir. When the new one came I noticed that the cap on the new one was vented. So I took the old cap and I could hardly get any air through it, I just changed caps and no problems since.

Quote:

---

I had the same symptoms with a 2001 johnson 50 horse 2 stroke it turned out to be the fuel pump. The mechanic said the 40 and 50 horse were known for this. The part cost 300 dollars and its possible to put on yourself.

Good Luck

---

I think mine was doing this, I ended up replacing the oil pump/switches/filter and I didn’t get any more alarms.

In retrospec I do actually think it was a fuel issue not a oil issue.

IMHO to be on the safe side, I’d premix the oil, for the first tank or so, and make sure you are using oil from the oil tank. The place I bought my first boat from told me to do this every year for the first tank of gas, I did no problems, though I suspect you’d be more inclinded to foul plugs, bring an extra set in case and run a good dose of seafoam.

That was my 97 Johnson 40 hp.

Thanks for all the idea’s guys Again IDO rocks!
I’m gonna try the cap and change the oil first…(I’ll do the pre-mix also Nick..thanks)
I’ll see what happens this spring (It did only happen in the cold mojo ) and if it continues I’ll try rebuilding the fuel pump…

After that……It’s time to buy a 4 stroke

The VRO’s were even coming off the line bad–,sometimes the horn won’t even go off. What I did with my 50hp evi was cap the oil line at the motor and ran premix in my gas–that advice came directly from OMC when I called to get advice on my VRO unit that came bad from the factory and the new one they sent was also bad. Do it that way and 1)you never again worry about your motor not getting oil 2) gain more storage due to not having an oil tank.
That motor may run forever if you get rid of the VRO completely.

I did manage to find this article on VRO’s…Interesting…
My warning horn was a steady beep
VRO Info

Anyone figure out anything more on this one? I got advice from a mech. He says disconnect the oil reservoir plug and see if the alarm goes off, if that dont work hook it back up and try the electrical connections on the pump, if that dont work possible bad gauge cluster. Im mixing till I get this figured out, dont want to pay for a rebuild, spark plugs are cheaper! After I rebuilt the pump with the new diaphragm and air motor my motor quit stalling which I thought was due to the ball or fuel line being bad.

I assume you read the vro link by mudshark? I just noticed it was talking about plugs causing problems with the horn too.

What warning beep/s are you getting? Have you done anything with the fuel pump? I think my problem may have actually been fuel related and not so much oil.

I do believe my cousin ran into another issue last year or so, I put a call in to him, see if he figured anything out.

I dont get a warning beep anymore But when I get it fixed I will reconnect that. Start the motor and within a minute it would beep for what seemed like around 30 seconds. No oil and low oil warning lights on the gauge cluster are illuminted. I rebuilt the mechanical parts of the fuel pump too.

Here is another positive update!
I removed,emptied,cleaned(including electrical connections)and refilled with fresh good oil the oil tank,
Fired it up with the muffs and all was good!,No horns and the motor ran GREAT…..
I guess I should nave done a bit more maintenance

Well, my cousin hasn’t gotten back to me So I don’t have an update, I’ll let you know, I suspect he forget at this point to call me back. I post when I hear from him

Myself I’d probably dig up a wiring diagram and start some trouble shooting with a meter, meanwhile cleaning up the connections which should only cost you time, atleast before I started tossing more money into it. That can’t be that many wires right?

Cousin called me tonight, I guess the only alarm he ever got since was when he was low on oil.

But he did mention he ended up doing a bunch of wok on the motor last year, it was running rough and dying a lot of him, he ended up bringing it to R&R marine and they did a bunch of work now it runs much better, apparently they soldered something (air intake related) and redrilled with a smaller hole, claiming it was something to do with gas or something, he did say it wasn’t giving him alarms though.

He did say as, that in his research and R&R reccomendations to leave the VRO system in place they are reliable on 90’s and up motors.

Sorry not much help for you guys