2-stroke ignorant please help

[dwaynefromva]

while boating on the potomac river yesterday i double checked everything except the oil tank. needless to say i ran dry and the alarm went off. when the alarm sounded the motor started running very rough, is this a limp home mode or did i ruin my motor. i only went about 5 minutes after the alarm went off. got more oil primed the tank and motor ran fine at slow speeds but after 10 minutes at about speed the alarm would come on again. if allowed to sit for a while would run fine for another 10 minutes or so. motor is a johnson 120hp vro i believe it is a 1990. one other thing when i bought the oil for the boat the kid behind the counter tried to sell me regular 30w motor oil what would have happened if i had used it? the kid said it was good. No i did not use car oil only 2-stroke oil tcw3 <br />i am not completely stupid i am a ASE certified auto mech. but have no experience with boats and my only 2-stroke exp. is with chainsaws. maybe ill use my saw on my boat. please help any advice or tips will help.

 

[JB]

Re: 2-stroke ignorant please help

Howdy, Dwayne. Now you know why you see so many late model engines with oil injectors disconnected and running on premix. Don't feel bad, many many folks have had the same problem.<br /><br />A compression check should tell you if your engine has suffered serious damage. Look for over 100# and all cylinders within a 10 or 15# range.<br /><br />Red sky at night. . .<br />JB

 

[MGuckin]

Re: 2-stroke ignorant please help

The alarm is not a warning sensor, it is a no oil notice and your not the first to do it nor will you be the last.<br />A motor is a motor except with outboards, water and the oil/fuel mixture is used for cooling and lubrication.<br />In as much as you are a mechanic, treat it like a car motor that was run without oil in it but they are much easier to repair.<br />Try mixing oil/fuel in a separate tank, heavy on the oil and running it.<br />Automatic systems are known to be unrealiable and hard to prime once empty.<br />Check your valves and cylinder walls for scorching or any other visible damage. <br />Do a compression test, not sure of specs for your motor but anything above 80 should be ok (you might want to doublecheck your specs first).<br />Most outboards of that vintage were 95-100 when new and most new outboards today are around 90.<br />If not you might want to check for bad rings or even a bad pistons.<br />In an emergency situation, regular oil will work but because of the additives, it is not recommended.<br />Good Luck<br />Mike

 

[TONY H]

Re: 2-stroke ignorant please help

You may be OK. It was limp home mode. If you idled back for 5 minutes, you were prbably still mixing the oil correctly, the alarm sounds when you are about 2/3rds low. So you nursed it home with 1/3 oil in the engines tank. Does the manufacturere call for you to do any priming after this alarm has sounded?

 

[dwaynefromva]

Re: 2-stroke ignorant please help

i checked compression have between 95 as a low and 105 as a high rechecked low cylinder with a shot of oil wet compression was the same how can i be sure oil injection is still working? how can i be sure of motor year? looking to but a manual but 1990 is the cutoff year for johnson outboards and the previous owner was not sure of the motor year. do clymer manuals go into depth on diaganostics or do i need to get an actual johnson repair manual. we have no boat dealers around this area and everything i get would need to be special ordered through the computer. the closest dealer that i know of is about 100 miles away.

 

[MGuckin]

Re: 2-stroke ignorant please help

Try here to id your motor. http://www.evinrude.com/docktalk/modref/jomodyr/jomodel.html <br />Mike

 

[Beernutz]

Re: 2-stroke ignorant please help

Your compression readings are fine. Doesn't sound like your motor got hurt.<br /><br />If you don't trust your oil injection, and want to check it, put a 50:1 mix in your fuel tank for the sake of safety. Mark the level in your oil tank with a strip of masking tape. Go boating, but lay off the extended WOT operation with the mix in the tank, just in case the oil injection is working properly. The level in the oil tank should go down, if it's working.<br /><br />You got 12 years out of that oil pump. I think I'd consider eliminating it and running straight pre-mix. If you're really hooked on the system, try contacting www.dfitechnologies.com. These guys have a handle on getting reliability out of the pumps.<br /><br />Good luck.