Engine Rebuild 1997 175 Johnson Fast Strike

[deadeyed]

It was not a good year for me and my boat motor, first while on vacation my motor just would not run right could not get it past plane without bogging down. Took the boat to the mechanic who said it was the VRO pump (replaced) Next time out the boated started fine, right up on plane and then 15 minutes later nothing dead in the water. Towed back to the ramp. Back to the mechanic and know this time he tells be the motor is blown No.5 cylinder melted. So know here I am looking for a reputable place to have my motor redone. I thought I found one near where I live central Pa. but looking farther into it I find out this guy has a horrible reputation for bad work. Does anyone know a outfit that has a great reputation in this field ?

[buster502]

check with champoman you might be able to ship to him,i would not waist my time on a shop that maybe they know what they are doing,this guy knows what he is doing,then you will be happy in the end,goodluck

[Lockjaw]

You need to find out what is wrong with the number 5 hole too. Rebuilding it won't necessarily fix it. You could have some trash in the carb.

There is a guy on Scream and Fly selling reman'd powerheads with a 3 year warranty. It is Chris something marine. Look in the engines for sale section.

[greeneboat]

We will be happy to help you. We've been working on Johnson/Evinrude motors for years and years. Call Paul in my service department.

Andy Greene
Greene Boat & Motor
828.286.2290

[fishnfool38]

From the sounds of it the mechanic that replaced the VRO cut a few corners such as a consumption check!

[Ranger462]

I feel your pain man. I had the exact same thing happen to me this year. I have a 97' 150 Fast Strike that was blown the very first time out after having VRO replaced. Not saying that the mechanic I used was bad, but it doesn't leave you with the warm and fuzzies after you dump a pile of money in the engine only for it to fail the very first time back out...Oh yeah, and the mechanic tells you that there's nothing he can do because it's blown. I am having mine rebuilt as we speak, with another certified guy of course, and I am going to bypass the VRO and mix my own gas/oil because of all the bad shit I have heard about them. Just my 2cent.

[Condor482]

I also read another thread on here where a guy was on his 3rd vro pump in about a month, with brp telling him they were having issues with some bad pumps coming out of their factory.

[SCOTT196]

My dad just had his 97 175 fast strike rebuilt. He had the vro pump removed and mixes his oil. It runs great so far ! I would have the pump removed and mix oil.

[fishnfool38]

I have had my boat since new 94' 150 intruder 2 VRO pumps and both times the motor let me know they were going down! I feel very confident in the vro's I also do a full repair when replacing them. Some of the jackleg mechanics just replace them and send them out....they do not test the alarms or do a oil consumption before sending them out (russian roulette) then everyone wants to blame the vro... I am not a mechanic just a picky azz about my boat, I personally think the vro was the greatest thing since sliced bread, thats jmho!

[Lockjaw]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SCOTT196 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My dad just had his 97 175 fast strike rebuilt. He had the vro pump removed and mixes his oil. It runs great so far ! I would have the pump removed and mix oil.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Why? I hate mixing oil and gas.

[SCOTT196]

Most of the time the vro pumps fail with no advance warning. I had a brand new one put on mine and it failed less than a year later. Horn was working but never went off. Ruined powerhead. Thats why !!!!!!!
I dont know of anyone that has had problems since they removed vro.

[bassinRX]

I just can't understand how the brand new VROs are going bad so quickly when the stock ones lasted 10 years.... are they being hooked up wrong or is it a quality issue? It seems that over half of the VROs being replaced recently are bad... if thats the case maybe it is better to use premix. When it comes time for mine to be replaced what can I do to make sure I don't have these problems? (minus using premix)

[Lockjaw]

Man you guys kill me. I just don't believe the VRO is the culprit in all of this. If you have one cylinder let go, that isn't the VRO pump.

If you don't bleed the air of the oil line when you re-install one, guess what, you are running your engine without oil.

When I put a 97 Venom on my old boat, with a premix flow as the prior engine I hooked up the vro, and ran the pre-mix I had in the tank. I MADE SURE I was pulling oil out of the oil tank before I ever added gas to the tanks and ran off the VRO only.

That is a fundamental requirement, and I would never assume your mechanic did it either. The upside to you being pro-active about it is, you don't have a blown engine, and you get to go back and raise cain with the tech.

Hey Mod's, LJ is defending OMC!!!!

[deadeyed]

No there was not a warm and fuzzy feeling as I talked to the mechanic becuase I just cannot think of anything else that could have gone wrong in that short amount of time besides his covering his ----

[SCOTT196]

Lockjaw, I did the same to mine before I depended on the NEW VRO pump. When it blew , there was NO OIL in the engine anywhere when it was taken apart. Yes mine original pump worked great for 10 years too. But my rebuild only lasted a year. I cant afford to have one rebuilt every year !

[bassinRX]

That's just scary... has anyone talked to BRP about the problems with this new generation of VRO pumps?

[SCOTT196]

I just switched to yamaha several years ago after the bad design on the fichts. I would like to try an E Tec. I hear they are great motors.

[Lockjaw]

I check mine pretty regular and top it off. I also switched to XD100, which makes mine run better, but I also think it just offers me a little extra protection.

I would need more then just some mechanice telling me it was the OMS pump. Seems to me you could have an air leak in the line and cause problems too.

Plus if all 6 holes aren't bad, then it wasn't the OMS.

[fishnfool38]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SCOTT196 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lockjaw, I did the same to mine before I depended on the NEW VRO pump. When it blew , there was NO OIL in the engine anywhere when it was taken apart. Yes mine original pump worked great for 10 years too. But my rebuild only lasted a year. I cant afford to have one rebuilt every year !</TD></TR></TABLE>
Ask all the mechanics you can find why they do not rebuild VRO's and OMS's! Take the old ones out and throw them in the trash, put a new one on,purge the lines, do an oil consumption test and test the alarms! You may be impressed how long it will last and not blow your motors or tell you before it blows!

[Circle Hook]

I'm the one that has seen 3 brand new pumps not pump oil in the last 2 months. I'm scared to death.

One was installed and seemed to be fine in the test tank. Left overnight and when ran the next day, got a no oil alarm. Clear line test comfirmed no oil flowing.

#2 installed same deal no alarm the first day. Second day alarm went off while warming up on the trailer before backing off trailer. Back to my mechanic. I stayed with him. He hooks boat up to a premix can. Installs clear line in "snorkel" fashion. Pressure gauge in fuel line to see pulses. Crank and set RPM to 1500 in gear. No Oil flowing. Alarm goes off.

Talked to BPR. Another one sent 2 day air. Installed Christmas eve.....yep, will not pump any oil.

We will have another soon, but what the heck. How can I trust it. Yes, my alarm is working, but that don't give me a warm feeling. Even if all seems well, I will be running my gas pre-mixed for God-knows-how-long until I continually see my level in my oil res dropping. I just don't know. My first pump lasted 8.5 years. Then one lasted a little over a year. Now these three were no good. I might plug the line and just mix my fuel. The jury is still out.

Dayton