VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

[Luna Sea]

120 hp 1985 Evinrude<br /><br />Hi Guys, took the boat out Sunday, ran good, till I hit that 3200 mark, 20 seconds and it starts losing rpms and dies, even if I try to back off the throttle quickly. But it starts right up, I do prime the bulb again though. Been chasing fuel problems all summer, hoses, bulbs, filters, thought the VRO rebuild would take care of things. So I went to the local shop last night and they don’t even wanna look at this thing. And I know the guys! Thought they’d have a test tank and I could put it in and get em to look at the carbs, check the timing and do some electrical tests (in 1 hours time) . Was thinking carbs next but they suggested power pack? Gonna buy a spark tester tonight and talked to my buddy at work about helping me out Saturday. I read on here about leaving the boat on the trailer, secured well , and testing. Figure I can put it in gear and throttle up to the 3200 anyways and see if I lose the spark? Then do the tests for coils, power pack ect…or go for the carb kits………<br /><br />Also was thinking I messed up timing when I replaced shift/throttle cables cause all that linkage seems connected, but they didn’t seem to think that was possible.<br /><br />Did a search this morning, “evinrude power pack”, 240 hits, printed 40 of them. Got some good reading mat’l on the subject, but I’m not that electrically inclined, well, I (my big boat) did get hit by lightening once! <br /><br />PS The good news? The oil level went down in the VRO tank.<br /><br />Thanks for any input here guys, need to know which direction to head, Happy Holidays!

 

[plywoody]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

When you squeeze the primer bulb after it dies, does it feel like you are pumping a lot of gas in like you are filling the carb bowls again? If so, you need to keep chasing fuel problems, from tank to carb, including vent, and everywhere in between.<br /><br />Fuel, spark, compression--if it doesn't run, the problem has to be one of the three- try to eliminate one as the problem before going to the next.<br /><br />John

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Trying to eliminate ONE problem. Read about electrical stuff all day yesterday and I thought for sure it was spark problem, from all the posts I read. Untill I got home and started reading about carbeurators again. Think I'm gonna go for the rebuild of them first.

 

[bonitoman]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Luna Sea, Try this : go to a boat ramp and bring someone to help you. Secure the boat to the trailer and back it down making sure your lower unit is is the water. Start up the engine, let it warm up. Pull on plug wire off at a time. I use plastic pliers so I do not get shocked. If your rpm's drop every time you pull one wire then you are getting spark. Once you do that put your engine in gear and rev it for 20 seconds. Your tach will only get up to at the boat ramp tied up between 3-4000 rpm's. When it starts to die , choke the engine and see if rpm's pick up. Now shut it off and take some boat oil and gas in a plastic spray bottle have a friend work the controls. Remove the front plactic cover in front of the carbs and spray once or twice when the engine is about to stall, if it smooths out and sounds better it is probably your carbs. You can squeeze the fuel ball prettty fast, If it sounds better it could be your fuel pump. Lastly, pick up a compression tester at an automotive store, they are only 20 bucks. So if you have good compression and spark then it is a fuel problem. good luck

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Thanks bonitoman<br />Bought an adjustable spark tester last night. Think I had the wrong idea on how to use it though. Thought it could go inline and we'd see spark or not at the 3000-4000 range, but looks like its only use is when cranking or maybe idling. Yes, I'm thinking the boat ramp trick, with a helper whose a bit more mechanicaly/electricaly inclined than myself. The only parts of the fuel system I haven't touched are the tanks and carbs. Figured I have the same problem with either tank so thinking that's not the problem. My Seloc manual shows these carbs non adjustable orfices? So that should be easy to take apart and clean anyways. Was looking at fuel vaccum and fuel pressure gage kits at the parts store last night. If they were set up for 3/8 hoses I probally would have grabbed one. WHich one would I want? Thinking disconnect water separator and t-in vaccum??? Thanks again guys

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Bonitoman<br /><br />I do have pretty good compression. How do I "choke" the engine? Liking this boat ramp idea cause I can only do so much in the barrel and hanging off the back of an aluminum skiff while underway ain't for me!

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

luna,<br />push the key switch in to choke it. just as you would if you were tying to start the engine.

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Hi Rick<br />I have the warm up lever on my control box, and when I push the key in I can hear fuel squirt, manual says push in half dozen or so times before starting, this push switch is also choke somehow??<br />Thanks for previous reply.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

There is no choke per say. You have a "Primer" system that shoots fuel into the cylinders when you push the key in to prime the system. Same effect as a choke, but more effective. Normally when starting, you should pump up the bulb, raise the fast idle lever, push and hold the key for a count of 6 and turn the key to start it, while still pushing in on the key until it starts. Once it's running, pushing the key will inject extra fuel, like a choke would, into the cylinders. That is why if you feel like the engine is starving for fuel when you open the throttle, you would push the key in to see if it helps. If so, your carbs are likely the problem. If it starts to die, then it is most likely the fuel pump that is bad.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Luna Sea,<br />After re-reading your previous posts, I think you need to try some things that may narrow this down. First, you say you had the VRO rebuilt. I assume this would have taken care of your fuel pump problem, if there was one, as it is part of the VRO. Second, you don't need a spark tester to check the spark. Having a fully charged battery, get yourself a plastic handled phillips screwdriver and insert it into the spark plug wire, hold it 1/2" away from the block and crank the engine. You should see the spark jump to the block. If so, go to the next cylinder and check that one. If all fire, don't worry about the power pack yet. But do replace the spark plugs, just in case! Get a New fuel line and Primer Bulb, a Portable 6 Gal. Tank and hook that up and run it again and see what happens. If it starts to die again, push in the key and see if that helps. If so, rebuild your carbs. If it still does'nt want to run and dies, pull the spark plugs immediately(Before you try to restart) and see what they look like. Dry plugs mean your Carbs are clogged, wet ones would indicate a problem with spark. Let us know any more info.

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Did the VRO myself, and it's working good, I believe. Guess I should break down and buy a new 6 gallon tank, have 2 old 12 gallon ones, guess they could both be on their way out. Everything runs and sounds good till I hit 3000 rpms or so. Then it starts dropping rpms, takes about 10 seconds till it quits, and I do have to prime again but have all new parts from the tank fitting to the carbs. Will be keeping this post alive and let y'all know more on Monday. Thanks

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Hhhhmmm, That sure sounds like the fuel pump, if there are no vent or line problems. Did you do the oil side only on the VRO? Pump the bulb when it's dying is all I can say for now. If it takes off, take another look at the Fuel Pump. Never had any overheating problems, did ya? Just curious.

 

[Walker]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

This is just a thought> Are you sure you have all the fuel and oil lines hooked up to the vro pump correctly. There are 4. Fuel in, oil in, fuel/oil out to carbs and a vacumm hose to the engine block. I took mine off years ago so I can't tell you where each hose goes.

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Bought both kits for the VRO pump. VRO kit and air motor kit, same old symptoms. And no, I haven't overheated it Rick. If it's not the tanks, what would make a carb need to have the system reprimed? Wouldn't it have to be leaking fuel? Visibly?

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Walker, made myself a sketch before disassembly and replaced all 4 of those hoses. Even took the fitting to the pulse line out from way under. Hmmm though, there's supposed to be some kind of spark arrestor under there BUT it is a 1/4 NPT with a 3/8" barb, looks like a standard part BUT it looks like someone put a piese of that "Chore Boy" i think it's called, that meshy SS scrubbing pad, may be a home made type of arrestor. Wish I could remember if I blew through it........

 

[bonitoman]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Luna Sea, If I were you I would spend $45 at your local omc dealer and put a mechanical fuel pump. I do not like the vro pump and don't care what improvements have been made. This way you have a brand new reliable pump. So what if you have to mix your oil. I just met a man at the boat ramp one hour ago and he had a new vro put on his 1993 90 hp johnson. I told him about the mechanical pump and he was mad that the dealer did not offer it to him. He spent 300 on the vro pump and labor. Good luck in your decisions.

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

45 bucks? I would have bought one. I read on here a guy paid $160 at Boat US. I think there may be several pumps that will work on these old evinrudes.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Luna,<br />Just so you know, there is a "premix conversion kit" that you can get from any Johnny/rude dealer that will eliminate the VRO. It is part #438402 and is a whole lot less than the replacement VRO. It's basically just the fuel pump replacement for Non-VRO engines(Specials). Just in case you or anyone else need one in the future. You would need to ask for this, as they do not offer much in the way of info on it. Like it's a big secret!!

 

[round2it]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

The VRO is no more. They have been replaced by the OMS (OIL METERING SYSTEM). The OMS pumps at a constant rate of 50 to 1, at idle or WOT.

 

[bonitoman]

Re: VRO Rebuilt, Good News and Bad

Luna, Rickd1boat is correct. It is for the specials.