Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

[bradheil]

Well Gentleman,<br />I was able to isolate the buzzer finally. As I had told you all Thursday when I went out everything worked fine. I went to go out today (Saturday) and to be at ease I turned the key to ON first. Well, don't you know, that darned buzzer (Though glad to have it) sounded. Now totally frustraighted I started from the beginning again. This time as soon as I disconnected the to wires from the Oil Resevoir the buzzer stopped sounding. Question! how do these wires work? As I have always understood it, with VRO, you have LOW OIL and NO OIL. How do I distinguish which is the culprit? The bulb is hard, up to the point of last week the engine had been sucking oil fine. The day of the initial problem I put oil in the fuel tank to be safe. Where is the NO OIL sensor? I would conclude the LOW OIL sensor to be inside the oil tank itself, which has plenty of oil in it. I removed the oil line from it's point of entry to the engine, squeezed the bulb and got oil out of the line. I then hooked everything back up again, Oil Line, and Wires, turned the key to ON that Darn buzzer sounded again. I went into the house to cool off and, get my shotgun, but decided before I shoot the buzzer I would ask the experts. The only way I know to solve my question is to leave the buzzer unhooked, make sure I have oil in the fuel, and run the engine while watching the oil resevoir to see if the oil level drops in the tank after running it over a period of time. I thank all of you for letting me vent here, and I look forward to your replies.<br />Brad

 

[ob]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Is the alarm a continuous ,a rapid short tones ,or short tones every 45 secs

 

[clanton]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

I reread your post and dont understand what you are using for guages. One post said something about overheat light, is this in a Tach or guage with a no oil, low oil, overheat, check engine light? Did you get a new VRO tank with engine? Did you use old throttle control and harness, to connect to engine with a harness adapter? The old style warning horn is not compatible with new engine.???. Also sound like sensor in VRO remote tank may be bad.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Brad,<br /><br />Prior to 1996, the oil tank pickup had an electronic circuit in it that sounded the horn about every 30 seconds to alert you of low oil level. In '96, OMC came out with the System Check warning that used the 4 lites on a 2" gauge or on the SystemCheck tachometer. Your engine should have one or the other. The '96 and later oil tanks used just an on-off circuit in the pickup assembly to tell the SystemCheck to lite up the LOW OIL indicator.<br /><br />The NO OIL alarm system is built into the fuelil pump housing to signal if there is no oil delivery to the motor.<br /><br />Now if whoever wired up your motor and did it wrong, or jury-rigged the connections, you might have to find a QUALIFIED person to sort things out.

 

[ob]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Clanton ,was'nt aware this motor was hooked up to older controls and or alarm harness.If proper adaptations are not in place sounds like a can of worms

 

[bradheil]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Hello,<br />I installed the engine and wiring myself, dealing with Gotees marine on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I was not made aware of the fact that the Check System was available to me until after everything had been installed. I was sold a wiring harness that adapted my old wiring system to the new wiring system. This new harness came in an original OMC package and the paperwork that was inside the package was clear that this was an acceptable setup. Everything has been working fine up until last week when the buzzer sounded for the first time. The buzzer is continuous. Meaning as soon as the key is turned to the ON position it sounds immediatly without any pauses. Yes I did get a new VRO tank with the engine. The wires for this are not a part of the harness adapter that was sold to me. The wiring for the VRO tank goes directly into the engine housing and connects to a keyed 2 pin connector. Thanks for your replies. Keep them coming.<br />Brad

 

[bradheil]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Forgot to tell you about the overheat light. This is a seperate light built into the ignition wiring. This light never came on and the water flow from the engine was very good. I only made reference to the light so that everyone would know that I looked at all of the scenarios of what could have been the problem. Since this buzzer is continuos should I trust that this means the LOW OIL sensor is the culprit. If so and the resevoir is full how can I correct the false signal? Purchase a new sensor or, is there another way? Just to bring everyone up to speed I will be purchasing a new harness with the System Check gauge on it however I cannot afford to do this for awhile yet.<br />Brad

 

[bradheil]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

 

[clanton]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

I think???????? that the Late model VRO remote tank sensor is only on-off sensor. The 2 temp sensors are only on-off sensor, the fuel restriction/vacuun switch sensor is only on-off sensor. Not sure about the no oil flow sensor in the VRO pump. Key on alarm sounds unplug one sensor at a time, when you locate a sensor that turn off horn, check sensor with meter. If horn has the circuits on horn for self test, the horn could be bad, most self test horns had 3 wires purple, black, tan.

 

[bradheil]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Clanton,<br />I may have been getting a little ahead of myself. I have isolated the buzzer going off to the wires, Black&Brown, from the Oil Tank. Now does the VRO pump oil by suction or, electric pump? If it is by suction then I can put my fluke meter across the Black & Brown and check for resistance. If I read a low resistance then I would presume the LOW OIL sensor to be bad. If I read full continuity then we know for sure the sensor to be bad. Next question though, can it be replaced or do I have to purchase a new tank?<br />Thanks <br />Brad

 

[bradheil]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

After re-reading the responses I failed to answer one of the questions asked of me. I do not have conventional OMC controls. I have Binacle mount gear and throttle controls. The ignition switch, PT&T, buzzer, and overheat light are in a dash mounted unit, original to the boat. The old harness is the standard OMC outboard round female pin connector. The new harness adapter connects to the round pin connector inside of the engine housing. Sometimes I have to verbalize what I am thinking to understand something. In my last post I asked a question of the VRO about it having a pump or is the oil pulled into the engine by suction. I would believe that the oil injection works much the same way as the fuel flow. If this is correct there must be an oil pump somewhere. My confusion comes from where the pump may be. Is it inside of the tank, which somehow the 2 wires have to respond to resistance to operate both the pump and the low oil sensor, or is it inside the engine housing around the carburators. I also understand that the Check System will tell me which of the four warning sensors are the culprit but, as I said I have to wait a little while before I can purchase the Check System. Thanks for all of the great answers.<br />Brad

 

[ob]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

brad the oil/fuel pump is an air motor driven unit. it utilizes crankcase pulses via a rubber hose. A continuous alarm denotes fuel restriction or overheat alarm.If it detects overheat then it will limit rpms to 2500 by electronically altering the engine timing.If it detects fuel restriction the motor will operate at or near full throttle depending in whether it is actual or false alarm.A no oil pressure or no oil alarm is a rapid short tone alarm.A low oil level alarm is one short tone every 45 sec or so.if you are getting a continuous alarm and you can terminate it by disconnecting the leads from the oil tank then something is amiss in the wiring or in the alarm control box .I don't know the exact location of the vro pump on your motor but would assume it is located on port side of motor just below the carbs.Don't know for sure because i've never experienced problem with mine but would bet that the low oil sensor is some type of float switch.the wire harness that exits the vro pump is just for the alarm circuit and has nothing to do with pump operation

 

[bradheil]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

OB,<br />Thanks that is the information I was hoping to get. When the rain stops here I am going to take the screws out of the oil tank (where the wires go in) and check the float for the sender. When I put oil in the tank I have to use a funnel, because of it's location. Maybe when I put the funnel in I hit the float and caused it to not rise again. I'm not sure about this because I did not fill the oil tank the day of the initial problem. However I did fill it while out in the ocean when the buzzer first sounded. Question! I ahve talked with a local marina they told me many people have problems with the oil tank not feeding enough oil to the engine, especially after a long trolling period. They also informed me that there is a kit to put on the engine to bypass the oil tank and just put the oil in the fuel like on the older engines. Have you heard of this? Why would you need a kit to disconnect the oil tank from the engine? It would seem to me you could just cap the entry point for oil to the engine and disconnect the oil tank completely. Second question, reading some of the responses it sounds as if I may have a faulty wiring harness. When I installed this engine I did it following a reputable dealers guidlines for the conversion process. During the first 14 hours of operation I had no problems, or none that I was aware of anyway. I now know that I can purchase a new wiring harness with the Check System but, how can I be sure this will solve the problems I am having? I don't mean to sound cheap, I just don't want to open a can of worms and find it does not solve anything. I really do appreciate all of the help everyone has given me. This site is a great resource for any boat owner/operator.<br />Brad

 

[ob]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Brad if you are entertaining the idea to dis connect vro and operate as conventional fuel pump with 50:1 mix you need not be concerned with the alarm harness of vro pump or oil tanks compatibility with old control wiring as they will be disconnected.what you do want to be concerned with is that the high temp alarm still operates.the other alarms ie no oil or fuel restriction are gimp at best and under normal alarm operation if a boater was to lose oil flow through vro he is S.O.L. especially at or near WOT.The only conversion kit that you say your dealer speaks of to defeat vro by removing oil tank is by me,as I now use my oil tank as portable dispenser.No need to remove unless you want extra under console space.

 

[clanton]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

If the remote tank sensor is setting the alarm, remove the 4 or 6 screws in top of tank remove float and pickup assy, than and look at float, and filter, should be able to move float up and down to turn alarm on and off. Sounds like your problem is in the remote oil tank. I would not spend the bucks for the systemcheck If you have a working Tach. Just sort out the alarm system you have now. The overheat, fuel restriction, low oil in remote tank sensors, with the connections you have now should all give a continous alarm when set. You can check this by grounding the tan wire at the sensor. I would do it engine off and engine running. The VRO pump sensor can be check by clamping oil line from remote tank to VRO pump with small C clamp running engine with 50/1 mix until alarm sounds, should sound within 10 minutes or less.

 

[bradheil]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

OB, Clanton,<br />Thanks for the info. I will probably check the oil tank first for the low oil sensor float operation, and then unhook the system like Clanton says. I never did trust that system much but I wanted to keep everything as original as possible. I don't like messing with things that work but since this does not I suppose unhooking it is O.K. Another question! where do you find the information on the different beeps from the buzzer? or are you saying that with the wiring harness adapter that I have the buzzer will sound continuosly no matter what sending unit is closed?<br />Brad

 

[clanton]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Thats what Im saying, except for the VRO pump. I dont know what the VRO pump signal will do. That why I say you must verify the alarm system engine off, engine running. You should not have self test either, self test is one beep with key on engine off. The Vro pump is located on the front of the engine, and pulls the oil from the remote tank, that is why you must have oil line with no kinks, tied too tight with tie wrap, leaking air, or crushed between tank, battery, other boat parts. The last oil line I checked on new motor about a year ago you could squeeze closed with fingers.

 

[ob]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

Obtain an OMC operation manual from local johnson evinrude dealer. Within it should be the alarm identification information specific to your motors original set-up.

 

[clanton]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

I dont think you will find his setup in the OMC manual. I have a few and cant find it. The problem with his setup and some of the adapters is it ties all of the 5 tan sensors to 1 tan wire to the horn, which is a 78 horn. The horn does not know which sensor is sending the signal, all but the VRO pump is off-on sensors. My head hurts. e-mail me at clanton@atlantic.net.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: Problem known 1999 150hp Johnson Ocean Pro

I just re-read the posts and noticed Brad said he had an overheat lite. That is definitely not a factory item, since they haven't used a lite since the late '60s. Someone had to wire it in, and that jury-rigging could be another can of worms.