Markmywords
New member
I have, what I believe to be, a 1986 Johnson 90 hp power trim ,VRO OB. It could also be an ‘85 (the Lund boat is an ‘85) but the electrical schematic is closer to the ‘86 than the ‘85. The ‘85 schematic has no mention of a VRO unit but it does have a warning horn.
I landed on this forum because there was an older post that discussed my problem. But it didn’t quite get me to the solution.
So here goes: When I turn the key “on” to its first position (before starter engagement) with a cold engine and an adequately filled VRO reservoir I get a continuous warning horn sounding; engine not running. I know my boat well. The engine will start if I want to but I have hesitated to actually “run” it. I get to “fire”. It ejects water nicely as it always has. I went into the control box. Not new territory as I recently replaced the throttle/shift cable. The horn has 2 blades. 1 blade slide has 2 purple wires and 1 blade slide has 1 tan wire. There are 2 tan wires that are connected to cylinder heads temperature switches (1 for each bank) and appear to be solidly connected. The VRO reservoir has 2 wires that enter the engine housing with the oil hose line. It appears that 1 of the wires is grounded to the engine. According to the schematic the other one goes to “low oil” switch. These 2 wires are conjoined and black and looks similar to a typical lamp chord. This type of wire is absent from any other place on the engine/boat. Also, the VRO is shown in the schematic as a 3 wire device.
More:
The first time this constant horn sounding occurred I instinctively added a half quart of oil to the reservoir. Which, by the way, was no where near a “low” level. The horn stopped sounding when I turned the key and started the engine. The engine ran normal and smooth, ejecting water normally for about 30 minutes at various RPMs with no problems and no horn warnings. The second time this occurred I removed the reservoir from its mooring (as I always do to add oil) and the horn stopped sounding. I concluded that moving the reservoir has something to do with the horn sounding. The third time this occurred I removed the VRO reservoir and nothing changed…..continuous horn sounding. This is its current state of things.
Out of curiosity, I removed the rectangular black plastic fitting on the top of the VRO reservoir. It appears to be a float device. I have no knowledge (yet) of how it works. Near the bottom of the device is a disk (on a rod) about the size of a dime. It functions up and down smoothly. The VRO oil hose line also has a pump bulb. I periodically check it and it has always been hard as it is now.
Does somebody out there have some experience with this?
Thanks
Mark
I landed on this forum because there was an older post that discussed my problem. But it didn’t quite get me to the solution.
So here goes: When I turn the key “on” to its first position (before starter engagement) with a cold engine and an adequately filled VRO reservoir I get a continuous warning horn sounding; engine not running. I know my boat well. The engine will start if I want to but I have hesitated to actually “run” it. I get to “fire”. It ejects water nicely as it always has. I went into the control box. Not new territory as I recently replaced the throttle/shift cable. The horn has 2 blades. 1 blade slide has 2 purple wires and 1 blade slide has 1 tan wire. There are 2 tan wires that are connected to cylinder heads temperature switches (1 for each bank) and appear to be solidly connected. The VRO reservoir has 2 wires that enter the engine housing with the oil hose line. It appears that 1 of the wires is grounded to the engine. According to the schematic the other one goes to “low oil” switch. These 2 wires are conjoined and black and looks similar to a typical lamp chord. This type of wire is absent from any other place on the engine/boat. Also, the VRO is shown in the schematic as a 3 wire device.
More:
The first time this constant horn sounding occurred I instinctively added a half quart of oil to the reservoir. Which, by the way, was no where near a “low” level. The horn stopped sounding when I turned the key and started the engine. The engine ran normal and smooth, ejecting water normally for about 30 minutes at various RPMs with no problems and no horn warnings. The second time this occurred I removed the reservoir from its mooring (as I always do to add oil) and the horn stopped sounding. I concluded that moving the reservoir has something to do with the horn sounding. The third time this occurred I removed the VRO reservoir and nothing changed…..continuous horn sounding. This is its current state of things.
Out of curiosity, I removed the rectangular black plastic fitting on the top of the VRO reservoir. It appears to be a float device. I have no knowledge (yet) of how it works. Near the bottom of the device is a disk (on a rod) about the size of a dime. It functions up and down smoothly. The VRO oil hose line also has a pump bulb. I periodically check it and it has always been hard as it is now.
Does somebody out there have some experience with this?
Thanks
Mark