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  1. #1
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    Question 97 Fast Strike 150

    Hello everyone, I've got a 97 Johnson Fast Strike Model: J150GLEUE Serial #G042193339 and I've got two questions.

    First Question: I've got two VRO pumps, both are used but one is newer than the other. They're both oem so no aftermarket. One VRO pump was leaking oil out of the "oil in" port of the VRO, and the VRO currently installed on the motor seems to be leaking fuel on the back side of the "fuel in" port. My question is can I remove the "oil in"/oil mixture chip and alarm wiring harness from one VRO and attach it to the other and it still function properly? I know it's probably best interest to just buy a new VRO pump but looking to make use of what works with these existing VRO Pumps. Essentially have the Oil side from one and Fuel side from another to have one fully functioning VRO pump with no leaks.

    Second Question: My second question may be answered by the fix to my first question, but I'm in the process of tracking down an additional fuel/air leak as the motor fires up first crank with the bulb primed, after about 30 min to an hour of fishing and it's time to go to the next spot, she struggles to turn over. The starter turns, the bulb becomes soft, but no fire. Even after re-priming the bulb she hesitates to fire until I work the throttle a couple times. If she does fire up, it sounds like it's struggling to maintain fuel pressure and sometimes it dies and sometimes it seems it pulls enough suction to get the flow of fuel going again and it runs like normal. After trouble shooting again today, I replaced the priming bulb as my previous one had a pin hole leak where air was getting into the system, and that leak is taken care of, but the bulb does not stay hard after about 5 min. I then began to notice fuel slowly running down the side of the midsection which I'm assuming is caused by a leaking carb bowl???

    Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I can follow up with some pictures if need be.

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    #2
    Since I have disassembled and reassembled VRO pumps I know I could mix and match parts to build a working pump. I recommend you watch this video before tackling the project. http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html
    its not hard since humans already assembled it.

    regarding the fuel problem, the primer bulb will go soft as soon as the fuel starts to flow from the pump and to / through the carbs. Question what have tried with the choke / primer solenoid? Have you been pushing in the key switch while the engine is cranking? You should be.. Manipulating the throttle via the control handle does nothing but open and close the throttle valve in the carburetor.

    what is the condition on the battery and starter motor? “Struggling to turn over” means the engine is turning over too slowly and cannot generate enough electrical power to fire the spark plugs.

  3. Sprint Boats Moderator Bassmeister's Avatar
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    #3
    +1

  4. Member
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    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Bighare2 View Post
    Since I have disassembled and reassembled VRO pumps I know I could mix and match parts to build a working pump. I recommend you watch this video before tackling the project. http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html
    its not hard since humans already assembled it.

    regarding the fuel problem, the primer bulb will go soft as soon as the fuel starts to flow from the pump and to / through the carbs. Question what have tried with the choke / primer solenoid? Have you been pushing in the key switch while the engine is cranking? You should be.. Manipulating the throttle via the control handle does nothing but open and close the throttle valve in the carburetor.

    what is the condition on the battery and starter motor? “Struggling to turn over” means the engine is turning over too slowly and cannot generate enough electrical power to fire the spark plugs.
    Bighare2,
    Was able to get the boat on the water and symptoms weren’t as bad as it was before but still not running 100%. Battery and starter are no more than a year old. Motor fires up the first crank of the day and seems like it’s not getting enough fuel (seems to be bogging down) then regain ls fuel pressure and is fine. Ran wide open throttle and was barely getting to 5500 rpms, was sitting at 5300-5400 running low to mid 50s with two people and a lab in the boat. Got to first spot and fished for about two hours and then we ran into the main issue again where the starter is turning but no fire. When i throw fast idle and working the throttle it’ll crank for a second then die. Went back to the bulb and it was flat, as I pumped it I noticed there was gas like sheen coming off the motor. Sat for a little longer and then it fired up after several attempts. Got back home and pulled the cowling and side plates off to expose everything and noticed there was some oil pooled under the airbox. All the carb bodies facing the airbox seem to have old oil residue coating them.

    My next steps are going to be remove the vro installed and rebuild the fuel side as it seems there’s not a consistent pull of fuel, while VRO is off I’m going to further investigate the carbs and look for additional leaks, and will make the decision on where or not to rebuild the carbs. Also looking at doing a decarb as I pulled the plugs and there was some carbon buildup.

    I ultimately believe this is a fuel issue right now, but could it be possible it’s a powerpack issue where it’s not throwing enough voltage to generate a spark and flooding the engine causing it to not start??

    Tonight’s project is to go back through the shop manual, but any outside advice is greatly appreciated.

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    #5
    Just posted but not showing up so if its doubled I apologize.

    Was able to get the boat out on the water today and still having some issues.

    Got a different priming bulb on there & new fuel filter. Battery, plugs, and starter are no more than a yearish old so not worried about voltage issues. Here's how the day went.

    Got to the ramp, primed the bulb and dropped it in. Fired right up like she normally does on first crank. Went to put in reverse and she was struggling to get fuel and died. Immediately started back up and seemed to regain fuel pressure. Let it warm up for 5-10 min waiting on my buddy and everything seemed normal. Got out of the hole fine and got on plane but seemed I wasn't getting my full top end speed and the motor sounded a little off. It was barely getting to 5500 rpm was mainly sitting around 5000-5400. Get to the first spot and fish for a bit. Start up the motor and idled a little bit farther into the creek and it once again seemed like it was struggling to get fuel running kinda funky until it"cleared out" and idled normally. Fish for another hour or so and then we start running into the original problem again where starter turns but no fire almost like it's flooded or has no gas. Go to the bulb, it's soft, and pump it back up. Still no fire but starter turns like it should. I'm using the choke while turning the key and pumping the throttle. When I've got the throttle close to 1/2 to 3/4 of the way down in fast idle, she'll fire for a sec and die. After sitting for a couple minutes and going back through the process it'll start up and start idling normally. So after that go to the next spot and fish for another 45 min or so and have the same issues starting again. Will prime the bulb, go to start the motor and all we get is starter turning. I go back to the bulb and re-prime and this time as I'm squeezing the bulb, I'm noticing a sheen starting to come off the motor like there's a fuel leak somewhere.
    Get the motor running again and we head back home.

    What I've deducted is that the VRO pump is having issues on the fuel side and losing vacuum due to a potential cracked diaphragm. My plan is to remove the current VRO and rebuild with my existing and while I've got the VRO off, I'll inspect the port side carbs as that was the side that had fuel running down the midsection yesterday.

    I pulled the plugs yesterday and noticed there was some carbon build up so a decarb may be in order as well to help clean everything out.

    The only other thing I can think of is a potential power pack issue as I have no idea when that was last gone through and how old those current plug wires are. There was some minor damage to the casing around the wires but nothing had penetrated to bare wire.

    Lastly when I got home today, I removed the cowling and side plates to expose the powerhead. Carb bodies and bowls seem to have old oil residue coating them, carbs had a little gas pooled up on the silencers.

    Tonight's project is to go back through the shop manual but any outside advice is greatly appreciated!

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    #6
    Did you try and push in the key primer when you feel the engine lagging? This will inject extra fuel in cast the fuel pump is weak.
    the bulb will always be soft after the engine starts and fuel starts to flow. Remember the primer bulb fills the carbs. The reason the bulb firms up is because the float valve in the carbs shut off fuel flow.
    A fuel sheen on the water indicates a carb is flooding over or is unburnt fuel due to poor ignition. Or fuel overflowing from the vapor separator.

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    #7
    Yep, tried pushing in the key primer and it did nothing. I understand the bulb becoming soft while engine is running and fuel is flowing, but the fact it becomes soft while motor is off, even after just priming the bulb, is leading me to believe there is either an air leak somewhere which probably is coming from a bad carb bowl. Now you did bring up a good point about poor ignition. Plugs definitely had some oil/carbon fouling. I'm assuming that is probably caused by the faulty VRO as well as additional air entering the system???

    Would you see fuel overflowing/leaking from the vapor separator or would that be an internal issue that would need rebuild/replacement??

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    #8
    Leakage come from the hose that pushes the vapor in to the crankcase. There is a float valve in there. Check out the parts catalog for the breakdown of parts.

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    #9
    Update: Today I removed the current VRO (1) and took the oil inlet side off and put that oil inlet on the other VRO (2) pump. Reinstalled the VRO (2) pump back on the boat and primed the fuel system. I was hoping I'd be back in business, but still have a leak coming off the fuel inlet side. Now here's where it gets frustrating, VRO (1) was a solid fuel inlet going into the body of the fuel portion of the pump and it was leaking, VRO (2) has a fuel inlet fitting with a o-ring and small gasket and a retainer fitting to press that fitting in and keep everything together. VRO (1) was leaking fuel and it seemed it was coming off the chamber, and VRO (2) is leaking fuel where the fuel inlet fitting goes in (picture below). Something to note is after removing the fuel inlet hose, the fuel that would drain out of the VRO (2) was milky.

    Three Questions here.

    First Question: Could this be a bad check valve in the fuel chamber of the pump?

    Second Question: Is it worth it to rebuild the VRO (2) pump with new diaphragms or just suck it up and spend the $500 on a new VRO pump and put all this behind me?

    Third Question: What would cause clean and clear gas going into the fuel chamber to turn milky as it natural drains out? (pictures below)
    Attached Files Attached Files

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    #10
    First guess on the milky fuel is water. And lots of it.
    Vro 1 is a really old version. VRO 2 was updated over 15 years maybe even 20 years ago to have a moveable outlet fitting.
    would not know about the check valve unless things get disassembled.
    A rebuild kit helps save money. Just follow instructions. But if you are not sure of your skills to make the repair then go for the complete assy.

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    #11
    Update:

    So the fuel pump rebuild kit came it and I knocked that out yesterday afternoon. Primed the system, got no leaks, everything looks good. Got out on the water today, and she definitely ran much better and there were no issues with starting even after stopping and fishing for a while. However, a new issue has arisen and not sure if I just need to rebuild the air plunger side of the VRO or if this is something like a power pack issue, but while increasing throttle she would accelerate fine until 5000 rpm where it would start surging and starting to bog down then catch back up with itself. Would run great at any other throttle speed, but as soon as you started to get close to 5000 rpm it would start to surge.

    Any thoughts?

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    #12
    Recommend going through the trouble shooting process for vacuum and pressure. See the trouble shooting chart. https://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=545608

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    #13
    Update 2: Received a new air motor diaphragm and rebuilt that portion of the VRO. Surging while under load continues to be a problem as well as now bogging down and dying. When I push in the choke as it's struggling the motor continues to bog down more and will die. I talked with a buddy who had a similar experience and mentioned there could be a hairline crack on the fuel filter causing air to be sucked in. Another possible theory is the Vacuum switch has a crack in the gel that seals the wires coming off the back. Could this allow for air to be seeping into the vacuum system? Last theory is I've realized I no longer have the clear rubber hose for the cam that opens the throttle valves, could that be throwing off the timing?

  14. SC Club Moderator ChampioNman's Avatar
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    #14
    If you apply the fuel enrichment circuit (push in key) and it bogs you have an electrical issue, if the motor had picked up then you would have a fuel delivery issue. Have you checked the float bowls for leaking? you may have some warped float bowls, they may be warped enough so that the emulsion tube gaskets aren't sealing completely.

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    #15
    Float bowls don't appear to be leaking. The fact that it bogs down while pushing in the key (only while under load) leads me to believe that power pack may need replacing. Fuel pump is rebuilt and should operate like new. Plug wires are showing some age and the insulation has some nicks, but none of the wires are exposed. Power pack is probably 10+ years old. Coils are probably the same age if not older. If you rode out the surging and got enough fuel flow she would pick up fuel pressure and run like a top and kick out 63mph at 5600rpm with a full load, however you could feel it surging 200-300 rpms while WOT.

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    #16
    So you have not made any of the fuel pressure and vacuum tests to verify the fuel system repairs?

  17. SC Club Moderator ChampioNman's Avatar
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    #17
    Not to step on Bighare2
    Is the clear sleeve still in place on the throttle roller? Does appear to be water in the fuel.

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    #18
    I unfortunately do not a have a gearcase pressure tester readily available, so I have not been able to pressure test. However, looking at the vro vacuum chart it seems that a majority of the issues you could be having would be cleared out by by the internal vro rebuild. I do see that I may need to replace the intermediate housing and I plan on using my spare vro2 housing after I rebuild the fuel inlet fitting.

    Clear tube is no longer on throttle roller. Had some clear vinyl hose but diameters were too big or too small so still no clear roller.. Fuel is clean just put fresh gas in it before the most recent test. This boat get used roughly 2-4 times a week if not more during the season.
    Last edited by bassonwylie; 03-13-2023 at 08:08 PM.

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    #19
    Here is the part for the roller
    0323326
    *ROLLER, Cam follower

    you can also get a service manual here.
    https://www.selffixer.com/outboard.m...ual.507268.htm

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    #20
    That roller is still there. I do not have the clear roller that operates the butterfly valves on the carbs. I’ve been using the Clymer service manual for all repairs.

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