1999 200 Ocean Pro fuel issue

[2ntow]

Model No J200VXSSS
Serial No 04821170
Manuf Date 12/1999

Motor sat for 1 year without being run. I dis-assembled, cleaned, and re-built the carbs. Couple of odd things when doing the tear-down:
1. Carbs were full of oil. VRO is still intact, so how did the oil get to the bowls?
2. When removing the needle valve (part 0342776), I first counted the number of turns to run them all the way in prior to removing.
Carb #1 9 turns
Carb #2 11 1/4 turns
Carb #3 9 1/2 turns
Carb #4 10 1/2 turns
Carb #5 7 1/2 turns
Carb #6 7 1/2 turns

Got everything back together and guessed at the needle valve settings:
Carbs 1 and 2 11 1/2 turns backed off
Carbs 3 and 4 9 1/2 turns backed off
Carbs 5 and 6 7 1/2 turns backed off

Are these settings correct or what should they be?

All old fuel drained from tank, new fuel/water separator, new in line fuel filter and new spark plugs. For test purposes, I am running the motor from a portable 5 gallon tank with fresh fuel.

The only way to get the motor to fire and run is to hold the choke in while cranking, then keep it depressed once the motor fires. Let off the choke and the motor dies.

Any possibility I am fighting a bad fuel pump / VRO pump? Curious if ethanol gas may have caused an issue with the diaphram in the pump. Is the VRO pump even serviceable?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Bassmeister]

When they sit for long periods the gas will evaporate leaving nothing but oil in the bowls. As far as the needle valves I'll defer to the gurus......sometimes the vent on the oil tank can help flood the carb bowls with oil, but usually with long periods of sitting it will be the fuel evaporated.

[ChampioNman]

Initial setting for the Idle jets is 5 turns from closed. Tweak from there.

[2ntow]

Thanks, ChampioNman. I also think I will be removing the vRO/fuel pump and rebuilding it with oem parts on the fuel side. I am suspecting that over time ethanol fuel may have taken its toll and I am not getting good fuel flow to the carbs. I will install a piece of clear line today between the pump and carbs to see exactly what is going on with the fuel supply, just out of curiosity. Has anyone else had luck rebuilding these pumps or do you just replace the pump and go the pre-mix route?

[ChampioNman]

I leave that to the customer as far as which way they want to go. There are aftermarket pumps that used two of the old mechanical style pumps "stacked" and use a mounting bracket between them that attaches to the VRO mounting bracket. Those are in the $200 range and are designed for the pre-mix application. The other option is to replace it with a new VRO pump those can be found on E-bay/Amazon in the $375 range and are the latest and greatest part number 5007420. I've never had much luck performing a VRO rebuild. To add to that the cost of the parts is in the $200 range so better off to replace.

[2ntow]

Ok...looks like we will be going with a new pump. Dad likes the simplicity of not dealing with pre-mix and said go with new VRO if rebuilds are questionable. Will be ordering one shortly.