New owner 91 Stratos 201 with 93 200 Venom

[tvtech]

Hello.

2 days ago I purchased a 91 Stratos 201 with a 93 200 HP Johnson. Test drove it put down my money and brought it home. Impressive looking boat but I have some general questions if someone would not mind helping me out.

My "other boat" is no way as fancy as this. It ran like a banchee on the test drive and I saw no obvious issues. I have yet to take it out myself.

The motor I was told was rebuilt, the block is clean and black with the telltale red sealant between the mating plates, so I believe that to be correct. I drained the lower unit and it was a little milky or aerated I think but grey/green in color. Not sure if that was normal. Replaced with Penzoil "amber" oil.

It has hydraulic steering with what appears to be a filler cap on top of the steering column. Is this a fill to the top and what viscosity fluid should I use?

The oil mixer has been disabled, assuming it had one. How can I make sure this was done correctly?

Prior owner said NEVER squeeze the primer bulb, just choke it a couple of times and "tickle it into life" using the hot foot accelerator. If you use use the bulb it will flood. Sound right to you folks?

I pulled one spark plug and it was "wet". Does that mean anything significant?

I would actually appreciate any pointers from you folks reagarding this new purchase as I hope to keep it a long long time.

Thanks in advance.

 

[dehydrated]

Re: New owner 91 Stratos 201 with 93 200 Venom

oil in lower unit was probably a synthetic milky green color hydrollic steering would be best to know what brand of steering unit it is but most will take aviation fluild or get the sea star oil if thats the brandof the unit spark plugs being wet seems normal after idling sounds like you got a good normal motor as far as vro disabled personally i mix my own premix and have for years i think theres a sticky file on this though good luck and happy boating

 

[jonesg]

Re: New owner 91 Stratos 201 with 93 200 Venom

"I drained the lower unit and it was a little milky or aerated I think but grey/green in color."

Too late now but those are the things you check before buying.
Its water, probably from re-using the drain seals.
I had the same condition but an oil change with new drain screw seals fixed it. iBoats sells the seals in bulk for cheap.

I would want to know the compression now so the conditon can be monitored into the future.

 

[d.boat]

Re: New owner 91 Stratos 201 with 93 200 Venom

RE: the disconnecting of the automatic oiling system. It is really simple and would be unusual for it to be done "wrong".

There are 4 things that are done, you can visually check. However, if yours is a recent rebuild, there's a chance that they put a new non-mixing fuel pump system on there, so none of the following would be relevant. Instead of doing that, they might have used the old fuel pump or a mixing pump they had on hand (the price of a mixing vs. non mixing pump is very little... that's what had been done on a remanufactured engine I once owned). In that case, check the following.

1 - oil tank removed. Very unlikely it's there. If you don't see a ~2 gallon cube-ish shaped translucent plastic tank somewhere in the boat, you're good.

2 - oil tank to fuel pump hose disconnected at or near the fuel pump. Look at your fuel pump (trace the main fuel line to the engine). All nipples should be connected to a hose, but there will be one nipple (oil inlet) that is either capped with a rubber cap and clamped, or it should have a short length of hose coming off of it that is plugged and clamped. This is the most critical part, because if that nipple isn't air-proof, you will encounter performance problems and maybe engine damage due to lean fuel-air mixture. Regardless of which method, make sure it's securely capped or plugged. I prefer the hose+plug configuration vs. a rubber cap because I had a rubber cap crack and leak on me once. The hose+ plug will not do this assuming the little piece of hose is fuel-rated hose.

3 - alarm wiring from oil tank to engine disconnected. Originally there was a two wire cord running from the oil tank to the engine, with a rubber plug connecting the tank's wires to the corresponding engine wires. Or there were two separate connections, like barrel connectors or simple crimp connections. Look in the engine compartment and see if you can see two wires (usually one tan and one black) kind of near the fuel pump that are disconnected, or a two prong rubber plug with tan and black wires. Make sure the wires or plug are covered and secured so they don't accidently short to the engine block. They are alarm wires only and won't affect engine operation, but you might get a false "low oil" alarm (intermittent beep every 30-40 seconds).

4 - alarm wiring from oil portion of fuel pump disconnected. On your '93 originally there was a four wire cord running from the fuel pump to the engine, with a rubber plug connecting the pump's wires to the corresponding engine wires. Look in the engine compartment and see if you can see another plug w/ four prongs kind of near the fuel pump that is disconnected. Make sure the plug is covered and secured. Again, they are alarm wires only and won't affect engine operation, but you might get a false "no oil" alarm (rapid intermitent beep every second).

 

[tvtech]

Re: New owner 91 Stratos 201 with 93 200 Venom

Thank you to all who responded. It's is appreciated.

Reagarding the hydraulic steering I will look to the manufacturer for guidance.

The oil mixing system? For the life of me I could not find an oil tank however the fuel pump has a 3/8" - 1/2" long yellow nipple over the oil intake on the fuel pump. The 4 way connector from the pump is diconnected and floating around in the engine compartment. I assume I'm good to go as long as I put 50:1 in the tanks. Is the fuel pump now the same as my 70 hp Johnson, simply prime the line and the pump uses a diaphram from the crankcase to keep it going?

Ethanol Fear. I read a lot about fuel lines and fuel line material breakdown making it into the carb jets. Have yet to figure out the grade of fuel line on my rig however is adding Startron Enzyme Fuel treatment a good idea? Claims to conteract the effects of ethanol. Can't find non 10% ethanol gas around these parts it seems.

When I trim the motor (on dry land) down it hops or shudders in say the last 20 degrees of travel to vertical Is this normal? seems to me it's shaking the bejeebers out of the transom

I will be purchasing lower gear unit plugs and an abundance of seals. Referring to comment that the seals are one use only. took me ten years to learn this. Thanks to this forum I now know why my 70 HP johnson always had foamy lower case oil.

Again thanks to all. My first outing is tomorrow morning.

 

[jonesg]

Re: New owner 91 Stratos 201 with 93 200 Venom

If its jerking during down travel then the pivot is too tight or needs lube.

I use startron, decent stuff.