Replace Oil Injector or bypass Oil Injector ?

[Basscaster]

I have a 1998 Ranger with 150 Johnson. I have had a problem starting boat these last two years with oil filling carbs. A trusted Johnson Tech suggested I bypass oil injector instead of replacing it. Both will cost about the same. What do you think and Why ? Boat and Motor are mint and engine might only have 500 hours (small lakes).

[joefish]

I eliminated the injector and now mix oil in gas tank after the injector failed and had to rebuild my Johnson engine. I know it's getting oil now.

[jusmangrum]

Eliminate the injector is my vote

[Basscaster]

Thanks for your opinions. I am leaning this way too.I would appreciate more suggestions with reasons.

[lpugh]

There is a much higher probability that you will at some point in time get the oil mix wrong or forget to put oil in the gas than the oil injection failing!

[crank68]

From what I’ve seen over the years....most all reputable engine guys recommend mixing yourself verses allowing a “plastic” geared system the opprtuntuy to fail without giving you warning...

[ChampioNman]

Here is a little bit of light reading for you on the VRO/OMS, the newer style that is on your motor, will over oil should a "failure" occur. Not only is the pump driven by vacuum pulses from your crank case, it also monitors tach pulses. But should you decide to bypass the oil side you can do it yourself and save that money as you still use the fuel side to deliver the fuel/oil mix. Simply remove the oil hose from the pump, cap off and secure the oil inlet, disconnect the 4 wire harness to the pump and the two wire (low oil) harness. Prior to bypassing, you should run the motor at a 50:1 mix to ensure the motor is getting the correct amount of mix.
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html

[fishnfireman]

Almost like a cell phone !!
Got along just fine for years without one.
For a while some Mercs had a plastic gear that ran the oil pump which would fail at high RPM's Lots of us took them off and hand mixed.

[buster502]

Here is a little bit of light reading for you on the VRO/OMS, the newer style that is on your motor, will over oil should a "failure" occur. Not only is the pump driven by vacuum pulses from your crank case, it also monitors tach pulses. But should you decide to bypass the oil side you can do it yourself and save that money as you still use the fuel side to deliver the fuel/oil mix. Simply remove the oil hose from the pump, cap off and secure the oil inlet, disconnect the 4 wire harness to the pump and the two wire (low oil) harness. Prior to bypassing, you should run the motor at a 50:1 mix to ensure the motor is getting the correct amount of mix.
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html

i would trust fred he knows more than 99% internet tech do

[mgeod]

Champion is on point. Merc is the plastic gear driven . I premixed for years but do not miss it at all.

[Basscaster]

i would trust fred he knows more than 99% internet tech do

I came to the same conclusion and I am only a driver... Thank FRED and everyone else. If you have an opinion, Voice it >You need to be Heard...

[Upstate Gamecock]

Had same engine . I by-passed injectors and mixed my own . No worries and never had issue with engine . Price of oil much less than re-build if system ever failed .

[LJL]

I'm with champ.

[okiebass]

Mine is removed---runs fine. I here people talk about what if you forget to mix oil ? Sorry but if you cant remember to mix your oil then you probably dont need to be running a boat anyway lol

[bassiholic]

Remove it but have a good tech do it . from my understanding its more than just taking pumo out . Mine gone and its not that big of deal mixing your own . A engine not getting the right amount of lub is the biggest reason for blow ups and problems . There are a lot of people who do away with it after engine warranty runs out !

[ChampioNman]

Remove it but have a good tech do it . from my understanding its more than just taking pumo out . Mine gone and its not that big of deal mixing your own . A engine not getting the right amount of lub is the biggest reason for blow ups and problems . There are a lot of people who do away with it after engine warranty runs out !

Actually it is a fairly simple process to delete the oil side on the VRO/OMS pump, the key is to add the correct amount of oil to the gas tank before unhooking the oil side. Then run the motor with the oil side hooked up to ensure the motor is getting enough oil then it is safe to disconnect the oil line.

[Davecon]

A long time friend/Johnson dealer/mechanic (now passed away) told me twenty years ago that VRO stood for “Very Rarely Operational”.

On all of his personal motors he would disconnect the VRO when they were brand new and he spent a great deal of time in the Keys fishing offshore and trolling.

[DrewFlu33]

There is a much higher probability that you will at some point in time get the oil mix wrong or forget to put oil in the gas than the oil injection failing!

This. How many years has it been going without messing it up? I trust it more than I trust a human not to make a mistake.

I don't think it's so much as people "forgetting" to mix it as it is people not making the right calculation. "Oh, I'll put the oil in for 20 gallons of gas," before figuring out it won't hold 20 gallons. "I'll just add a little less next time." One thing leads to another... Or someone makes a simple math error. I consider myself to be pretty sharp, but I know I've made "what the hell was I doing?" mistakes more times than I want to admit.

In my opinion, very few of the many blown engines that are blamed on oil injection failure are actually caused by oil injection failure.

[Netweid1]

I would replace it and did way back when I had a Johnson with a VRO. One big difference I didn't see posted is oil consumption WILL be much greater if you mix all the time. Instead of having variable oiling based on rpm you will be burning 50:1 all the time. While it will work fine it also will build up if you do a lot of idling for things like SI scanning.

[rlgdguy]

I am experiencing this VRO dilema now. I have a 91 Johnson Fast strike 150. I apologize in advance for the lengthyness of this post.

It was running very rough and using a lot of oil it seemed. I brought it to a very reputable marine mechanic that had actually rebuilt the engine himself 2 years prior for the guy I bout it off of. You can or could before this eat off of the engine it was so clean. I had not told him about the oil consumption at first (my bad). The previous owner had messed with carb adjustments, timing, etc. because he wanted more speed. The mechanic checked out the compression on all cylinders and they were all over 101 lbs and within 8 lbs of each other. He also told me that the timing and everything were not synched and the carbs needed a good cleaning and took care of all that. He said it was now running much better, especially at low idle. When I then mentioned about the oil consumption he said the VRO pump was probably bad. After wiping a little crud off the front of the VRO, there was a hole melted through the small cover, just above the oil line. He said it definately needed a new VRO pump and looked up the price. "Holy shit!" was his response (Not good for me!). An OMC pump was listed for over $500. Add in his labor and ouch! He advised to either invest the money and get the OMC or bypass the system as some have noted above by doing exactly what thos have said to do. He strongly suggested NOT buying a cheap Chinese knock-off from online, as they are mostly junk and not reliable. Either way he said to do something before running the motor more now. Well I went against his advice and went with a knock-off for about $200. Hey, it came with a 1 year replacement guarantee so I took a chance.

The day it came in the mail, I installed it. It was very easy to hook up and did not leak anywhere when I had it on the muffs/hose in my driveway and I was on the water that same day. Not 5 minutes into driving away from the dock, it stalled. After numerous attempts to restart the motor, I popped the engine cover off. I then noticed a nice rainbow slick in the water behind me. While I was looking at the engine, I squeezed the primer bulb. Gas was pissing out from both sides and the top of the pump. I tighten the screws that I was able to just a tad and tried again. It made no difference and gas was still pissing out. I trimmed up the motor and fished completely on trolling motor power for about an hour and just ended up calling it a day. Got my money back from the guy I bout the VRO pump off of and he told me to just throw it away I provided action shots of gas pissing out sides), since it was of no use to him. I tried to exchange the protected circuit board and put it on my old pump (that was not leaking ever). When I pumped the oil bulb on top of the oil tank and watched, oil was now pissing out. I put the old one back on, primed it and no leaks Now I'm just back to where I started.

I have decided to bypass the pump as some have suggested and by the instructions mentioned. I ended up finishing at 10:30pm, a little too late to start the boat on the muffs/hose. The neighbors would not have appreciated it. Now I am just going to pre mix. The problem or maybe just a challenge is that I had filled both gas tanks prior to launching. What is the best way to get the oil mixed with that gas? Today I am going to West Marine and over paying for a pre-mix bottle and some more oil. So I'm pretty sure that I can't just pour the 50:1 amount down the gas fill tubes, right? Maybe I can remove

the gas gage units on top of each tank

, pour it in and use a clean pole or something to mix or maybe I will have to just get a few gas cans and syphon out the gas in the tanks and then measure and mix the oil into those on the ground? A lot of work (and probably the most accurate)

but I don't want to blow my engine.

Suggestions on best methods mentioned or any others I haven't?
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my looooong post. I'll try to keep them shorter moving forward.