Evinrude 1992 150hp - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Would like to thank you in advance for any help you provide. I know I have come to the right place!
I own a 1992 Evinrude150 Ocean Pro.
I got a tone from my alarm system the other day. It happened after about 10 - 30 minutes of run time- I tried it once in the driveway also after it happened out fishing and it did the same thing. I read the manual and see this alarm means no oil. The oil tank was 3/4 full both times. Naturally thinking I have no oil I turn it off. I have oil, the bulb is firm on the line and I see the engine smoking a little like always. I have to wonder what the problem could be? I did also have an issue with low fuel pressure. The bulb would have to be pumped in order to keep the engine from chugging and stalling. Are the 2 related?
Please help if you have ideas.

Dave - Hampton Roads Va.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

No oil alarm (beep every other second) indicates that the VRO is not pumping oil. This has nothing to do with the quanity of oil in the oil tank. Apply pressure to the oil primer bulb to force oil into the VRO when the alarm is sounding...... if the alarm stops sounding after a short time, then resounds later, suspect a failing VRO pump.

This is assuming that there are no obvious leaks in the oil line anywhere whereas the pump could draw air.

The oil tank running low..... getting down to 1/4 tank will result in a "Low" oil supply alarm (beep approximately every 20 or 40 seconds.)

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

My guess, the two are related.
If NO oil and at the same time NO fuel (bulb must be pumped), it indicates a failure in the air-motor section of of the VRO and/or leaking pulse line.
When running at idle, there should be a 'click' from VRO pump about every 20 sec indicating a pump stroke.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

I do hear the clicking sound that you refer to but far more frequent. The tank has never been below 1/4 for the oil and the bulb is firm when I try and pump it. When it happed out in the water the fuel (Gas) bulb was losing prime. A little squeeze and it would keep running. Are there 2 side to this pump that work independently?Gas & Oil? Is there perhaps an oil strainer that might be clogged? Almost seems as if both are giving me trouble. If indeed the pump is the problem do you recommend a rebuild kit? I do most of my own mechanical myself.
I appreciate the reply from both of you....

Thanks,

Dave

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

The leading cause of the primer bulb losing its prime is leaking fittings on the suction side of the primer bulb. They frequently do not leak fuel, but do leak air. I would replace any quick connect fitting between the bulb and the fuel tank.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

If the clicking is more frequent, it indicates an air-leak on the fuel pump suction side unless you have a flooding carb (?).
That however would normally result in an over-oiling situation.
It might be caused by defective valves in the fuel side of the pumps, but that too will result in over-oiling.
Your oil consumption should be somewhere in the 2% range.
Test the system with a clear plastic hose made in a loop.
If air is building up on top of the loop, you have an air leak between tank and test hose.
Use the plastic hose for short time testing ONLY!!!
On the oil side, make a similar hose in U-shape. Fill with oil, and check that at each 'click' the oil-level goes down.
If suspecting oil-problems, always add about 1% oil in the fuel in addition to the VRO for safety until problem is solved.
A lot of people will suspect to remove the oil-line from VRO, block the inlet and run 2% fuel mix.
I prefer the original system.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

The bulb on the oil tank is very very hard to squeeze. not like the one on the fuel line where you can easily squeeze it even when full.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Drummerdave said:

...running. Are there 2 side to this pump that work independently?Gas & Oil? Is there perhaps an oil strainer that might be clogged? Almost seems as if both are giving me trouble. If indeed the pump is the problem do you recommend a rebuild kit? ...

Click to expand...

First, read this excellent article on the VRO/OMS pump:
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html

As you can see, there are two sides to the pump - oil and gas - and they are both run by a mechanical air motor that gets it's pulse from the crank case.

There are rebuild kits available for the fuel side. I'm pretty sure the oil side can't be rebuilt and don't know about the air motor. I've read varied opinions on whether it's worth it to rebuild the fuel side or if you should just bite the bullet and buy an new pump.

You can also see that there is indeed a filter inside the oil tank. If it is clogged, it could indeed cause the "no oil" alarm. But that wouldn't affect the fact that you need to pump the fuel bulb to keep it running.

BY the way, you can easily see if it is in fact pumping enough oil or not. First, during this time you're unsure about the health of the pump, simply run premixed 50:1 fuel until you get it figured out. Even if the oil pump is not working, you won't mess up your engine for lack of oil. Then, mark the oil tank at the level of the oil, fill your fuel tank full and run it for 5-10 gallons. Then measure how much oil and gas you've used and if it's around 50 or 60 to 1, it's OK. Then maybe you'll look at whether the "no oil" alarm is faulty.

But from the sounds of it, my WAG is that that either both sides of the pump are failing, that the air motor is failing or the pulse fitting is not working right.

Drummerdave said:

The bulb on the oil tank is very very hard to squeeze. not like the one on the fuel line where you can easily squeeze it even when full.

Click to expand...

The oil bulb is always very hard compared to the gas bulb.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Good info d.boat and I appreciate it. Will be very helpful in determining the problem. Today I mixed 50 to 1 in my fuel tank and took her for a ride. Once again, she started speeding up and slowing down UNLESS I pump the fuel bulb. I am hearing a bit of suction sound near the fuel connection on the actual fuel tank when I squeeze the bulb. I will be replacing the anti siphon valve and cutting the rubber fuel line to get to a little better piece for a good snug fit.
Today, I rode quite a bit and could actually cruise along pretty good until I tried to speed up past 3000 RPM, then I would get the stalling and have to slow back down. Will try the Anti Siphon replacement and possible bulb repl on fuel line and see how that goes.
I just loves me a boat!

Dave

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

since u r getting an oiling prob,AND a fuel issue,....i'd repl the vro/oms pump,...after of course,..cking a syphon valve etc,..but,that has nothing to do,w/oil sd....i think,u r looking at a new pump,.in fact,..if u dont know when it was chg,or older than 8 yrs,.....repl it...

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

I'm with JWB....fuel and oil problems point to the pump. The only other thing you can check is the pulse hose from the VRO to the crankcase. Make sure it isn't cracked or kinked. Also, remove the pulse limiter and make sure it isn't full of gunk. If that doesn't pan out, change the pump AND pulse limiter.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Okay,

One last thing and I will leave you guys to help others.I appreciate the time you folks have donated to help me find my problem.

I am suspecting the VRO to be at the root of all my issues. I am considering doing away with the VRO and doing strickly premixed 50 to 1.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction on where to find a fuel only pump for a 1993 E150EXETG (Serial# G 03503476 ) Evinrude motor. I thought I saw a couple while searching VRO but cannot find one now for my application.

Thanks again

Dave

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

the 'fuel only' pump is now around 50 dlrs cheaper,than the whole deal....i'd get the new pump /oiler and inst & TEST properly,...and forget it for a few yrs.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Drummerdave, I'm probably going to dissagree with 75% of those on this forum but here I go. I've owned a 1985 XP150 for 16 years, during that time I've had 3 VRO pump failures and a rebuild due to a cracked oil hose. In total I've spent more due to the VRO system than I originally paid for the engine. In my opinion the VRO system is marginally reliable at best. The symptoms you described of running OK up to about 3000 rpm then bogging is exactly the same symptom mine exibited in two of the three failures. This indicates a failure of either the air motor or the fuel pump to deliver enough fuel to satisfy the engine at higher rpm. I (just yesterday) bypassed the oil pump portion of my latest VRO2 pump because even though it was still pumping oil the sensor kept setting off the horn telling me it wasn't. So it was either replace the pump ($400), disconnect the sensor and essentially turn it into an older version of VRO with no warning horn (unacceptable), or disconnect the oil pump and pre mix. given my experience in the past, I choose to go with pre mix! When the fuel pump portion gives up the ghost (and it will!) I plan to retrofit an electric fuel pump with an interlock relay to prevent the fuel pump from running more than a few seconds without the engine running. I've heard some say that there is a straight fuel pump that can be installed but if it works as well as the VRO system you'll still be replacing it about every 3 years whether you run your motor 100 hrs /year or 10 hrs/year. I'm told it's still almost $200. Should you decide to run pre mix don't forget to remove the oil tank from the boat or your best buddy who borrows your boat might not add oil assuming that it is still injected.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

John, The symptoms you describe of the intermittant horn and fuel starvation indicate a failure of the air motor. It sounds like your previous failures have been air motor related as well. The 1985 motor I had wasn't originally equipped with the pulse limiter. You may want to double check that the most current pulse limiter with the blue face was installed with the most recent VRO pump. Without that limiter, the full crankcase pulse pressure will destroy the check valve block within 100 operating hours. In addition, a backfire through the crankcase will destroy the pump even more quickly with out the pulse limiter.

The VRO is a proven, reliable system. If you're having that much trouble with it, something else is contributing to the problem.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

I can actually drive the boat in it's current condition with the premix. I can run along around 1000 RPM without any issues. Keep in mind I have the horn disconnected because that goes off constantly (Reason for premix during testing) If I pump the prime bulb on the fuel side it will run fine at almost any speed. If not it races forward and drops back in RPMs constantly.

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Dave..... Disconnecting the horn altogether is really asking for trouble. That eliminates the VRO warning, the oil tank low warning, the overheat warning and also the fuel restriction warning..... really not a good idea.

Since you're running premix, I strongly suggest that you hook that horn back up and do the following.

(VRO Pump Conversion To Straight Fuel Pump)
(J. Reeves)
You can convert the VRO pump into a straight fuel pump, eliminating the oil tank and VRO pump warning system, but retain the overheat warning setup (and fuel restriction warning if so equipped) by doing the following:

1 - Cut and plug the oil line at the engine so that the oil side of the VRO pump will not draw air into its system. Trace the wires from the back of the VRO to its rubber plug (electrical plug) and disconnect it.

2 - Trace the two wires from the oil tank to the engine, disconnect those two wires, then remove them and the oil tank.

3 - Mix the 50/1 oil in the proper amount with whatever quantity fuel you have. Disconnect the fuel line at the engine. Pump the fuel primer bulb until fuel exits that hose with the tint of whatever oil you used. Reconnect the fuel hose.

That's it. If you want to test the heat warning system to ease your mind, have the key in the on position, then ground out the tan heat sensor wire that you'll find protruding from the cylinder head. The warning horn should sound off.

Thousands of parts in my remaining stock. Not able to list them all. Let me know what you need and I'll look it up for you. Visit my eBay auction at:

http://shop.ebay.com/Joe_OMC32/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Drummerdave, Joereeves is correct about disconnecting the warning horn altogether, Bad Idea! I hope what you meant was that you disconnected the VRO oil sensor alarm! you have never made it clear which alarm you were getting! Horn going off constant indicates overheat. beep one second apart indicates no oil at VRO pump, while beep every 20 seconds indicates low oil in tank! I have experienced the same symptoms you describe with my own engine and it's always been the air motor portion of the VRO pump was shot. this may also explain the oil sensor horn if the air motor is not pushing the pump rod enough to make a full stroke every time. the air motor and fuel pump diaphrams are available as a VRO pump rebuild kit but make sure to replace the pulse limiter too! without it one good backfire will ruin the air motor!

Re: Evinrude 150 - No Oil Alarm - Oil Tank Full

Sorry to confuse everyone. The tones are every other second and it happened after running for a few minutes. I have not been using the boat, only testing. The short ride I took the other day was only to test the fuel side of the issue and I have premixed the fuel / oil just to be safe. I said I disconnected the horn but didn't mean all the alarms. Just the one from the VRO Pump. I plan on testing with the clear tubes tomorrow weather permitting in my driveway. Don't forget about me and I will let you know what I find out.

Thanks all

DrummerDave