Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

[Mike_E]

G'day from Sydney Austalia.<br />I have a 1986 120 Johnson, model J120TLCDC. The VRO oil tank (1.8 gallon)is causing the warning buzzer to sound continuously, irrespective of whether the engine is running or not. I have proved this by disconnecting the wiring. It looks as though the oil pickup assembly is at fault but as it is a sealed unit I can't get into the wiring part of it. I have an old Johnson part number 174163 for the assembly. <br />Can anybody tell me where I can get a replacement pick up assembly?<br />Thanks in anticipation<br /><br />Mike

 

[ob]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

The only alarm that the vro tank initiates is a low level alarm and it is a short tone every 40 or so seconds.Continuous alarm is either overtemp sensor,or a defective horn or alarm module.The reservoir pickup tube can get restricted and initiate a no oil alarm from vro,but it shouldn't sound with the engine off.Rapid short tones indicates a no oil alarm.

 

[Mike_E]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

Thanks for the quick reply OB.<br />I have replaced the overtemp sensors so they are OK. I have removed the tan and purple wires from the alarm module and measured a constant 12V across them; hence I don't think that it is an alarm module problem, but more oil pickup float switch related. When I disconnect the tan wire that joins onto the wiring from the VRO tank, the alarm stops. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.<br />Cheers, Mike

 

[ob]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

Do you read 12 volts on the purple wire with one test lead to ground with key off?I believe purple wire is keyed 12 volt source.Also ,with the tan wire disconnected from the oil reservoir,can you ground one of the tan temp sensor leads and get the alarm to sound with the key in the 'on' position?

 

[Mike_E]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

12V only present when key is on. If either of the tan temp sensor leads is grounded the alarm goes off.

 

[ob]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

Weird deal.The vro tank has a float switch that intiates or completes a circuit for alarm.Only thing is the low oil alarm should sound an intermittent tone.Unless something is amiss on the module wiring,you may have two problems.<br /><br />The earlier 3 wire vro alarms were notoriously unreliable.The newer 4 wire ones were improved.Not sure where most of the glitches were with the older ones.<br /><br />Can you remove the float assembly and lift the float to simulate full oil and get the alarm to stop with the key on?

 

[Mike_E]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

Sure has got me confused. I have checked the wiring out against the circuit diagram. If the float switch is faulty could it cause a continuous path to earth? Looking at the diagram all alarms are triggered via the tan wire so it seems to stack up that the VRO tank pickup wiring could be earthing. I would be interested to know how the VRO related alarms are generated, i.e. the intermittent(20 second) low level and the no oil flow continuous short pulses. Thanks, Mike

 

[ob]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

I believe the intermittent alarms are controlled by the internals of the module.Perhaps via resistors or such.Still could be the module malfuntioning the input signal from resrvoir and initiating a constant alarm.But then,that's just a guess.I suppose there could be a ground somehwere as you mention playing games as well.<br /><br />See my last question in my previous post.

 

[marinemech]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

you can<br />1 buy new pick up<br />2 buy new tank<br />3 disconnect wire from tank pick up but keep oil tank full<br />4 if you dissassemble top part of pick up and cut one wire (not sure which one) the pick up becomes a switch i have not had much success with this. i would go with option 3

 

[Mike_E]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll have a go at removing the float assembly and see what I can find / simulate.<br />If all else fails, any ideas where I can buy a new oil pickup? I'd need to order this from the US via the web.

 

[seahorse5]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

If the electronics inside the oil tank pickup get flakey, they can give intermittent horns, constant horns, or even a "warble" sound. A new pickup assembly for 1995 and earlier oil tanks is around $75 US and it includes the hose and primer ball and filter.<br /><br />Because of the cost, most folks just disconnect the wires and keep an eye on the tank when they add fuel to the boat.<br /><br />For more info on VRO pumps, go to:<br /><br /> http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

I am with seahorse. the pre system checktanks had the warningdelay circuits in the tankpick up. but ifyou can dissconnect the tankwires andthe alarm stops it may be the tank.mine is long disssconected. my boat holds 40 gallons of gas and 1.8 gallons of oil. if I fill the oil tank prior to every trip its never more than 1/2 down even if I use 30+ gallons. at a wide open 50-1 mix it will use 1 gallon of oil per 50 gallons of gas.

 

[Mike_E]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

Disconnecting the oil tank wiring certainly seems like a good solution, thanks Seahorse and Rodbolt for the suggestion. One concern is that this will prevent the no oil flow alarm from operating. Is this the case?

 

[seahorse5]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

The oil tank electronics only affect the low oil beep every 20-40 seconds. Dosconnecting it will not change any of the other alarms. The NO OIL alarm is handled by the electronics inside the "VRO" pump.<br /><br />Read up on how the system works by using the link from my last post.

 

[Mike_E]

Re: Johnson VRO Oil Pickup

Ran the boat yesterday with the oil tank wiring disconnected and no alarms went off. Thanks for the help. Mike