# VRO PUMPS good/bad????



## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

in what year range were the VRO pumps known to be bad. ?? I,m looking at a boat that has a 110 johnson VRO system 1988. my grandson wants this boat but I don,t trust the motor.


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## 2120Tom (Jul 2, 2008)

Can't speak on behalf of a 110hp motor,, but we had 20 and 25 hp motors during the VRO era with it built into the 6 gallon portable tank. Of course they went bad after a couple years and instead of replacing the VRO, OMC sold a kit to replace the in-tank VRO then we just mixed the fuel @100 to 1 per OMC tech advisement. Worked great for many years.


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## Iowa Dave (Sep 27, 2009)

The one on my 98 Mariner 2.5L EFI 150 HP is doing just fine.


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

I know many of the Mariners from the early 90's to late 90's were in that same catergory. My VRO went out 3 years ago on my '94 Mariner 150 Mag III , so I just removed it & now mix my fuel with no worries whatsoever. On my motor it was an easy fix, I'm guessing it would be the same on the Johnson.


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## moondog5814 (Apr 8, 2007)

Bountyhunter,

Go on iboats.com and look for the Johnson/Evinrude section of the forums. There is a lot of info about the VRO's. Many people say to yank them off....others have no problem. I think the bad ones were in the early 80's. I haven't had any problems with my 1988 90 hp Johnson VRO. I have had the boat 3yrs. I just put a piece of tape on the oil tank as a visual to make sure the level is going down.


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## waterfox (Dec 27, 2014)

my 2 cents worth
I have a 1984 Johnson 115 that had a vro system 
it's setting on the junk pile it quit oiling for some reason and there was no alarm.
lots of oil in tank. you can remove them and run 50 to one but there is a lot involved
doing it.
bottom line it great when it works.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

bountyhunter said:


> in what year range were the VRO pumps known to be bad. ?? I,m looking at a boat that has a 110 johnson VRO system 1988. my grandson wants this boat but I don,t trust the motor.


Don't take this as gospel, but I think it is pre 1986 are bad, well, prone to fail.

If you take off the cover and look at the VRO pump, the old VRO pump has 3 wires coming from it, tan , black and grey, and the newer VRO 2 has a 4th wire that is purple. That purple wire goes to the alarm. That was one thing that made the old one bad. It would fail, and with no alarm, you didn't know until it was too late. 

The VRO 2 also had a tag saying it was, but it could be missing.

FWIW, I still use mine (VRO 2) and, knock on wood, have had no problems in hundreds of hours use.

Here's a good read on the subject:
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/VRO.html


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## lunker4141 (Apr 19, 2010)

I just replaced the one on my 1998 Johnson 115 last year. Still pumping a tad to much oil in but thats better then none.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

if the boy buys this boat I think we,ll pull the vro ,I,d rather mix by hand and know theres oil ,than chance a 25yr old system.


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

VROs were just too risky. Remove it and pre-mix...problem solved. Dave...as far as I know, Mariners did NOT have VROs. Merc/Mariner have a much more reliable system. VRO is A Johnson legacy oiling mixer system.


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Mariners did have a version of VRO, not sure what it was called but when it goes out, you're toast. The alarm warned me, so there was no damage. The oil pump has a stainless gear, but the gear that runs it off the flywheel is some sort of nylon that wears out first. That means you tear it down & it runs about $1500. I pulled the pump, sealed it off, removed the reservoir & lines, & was out nothing. Took about 1.5 hours total. Lots of info on line.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

VRO pumps: Good until they go bad. No way I'd trust one of the older ones without an alarm. I would also want to test the alarm if there were one to make sure it was working properly. I like the peace of mind I have knowing that my gas is mixed with plenty of oil.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

I had a 90 hp johnson in early 80's. The VRO was completely junk.Mine od'd on oil and kept fouling out plugs out of the wazoo.Burned 1 gallon of oil in a couple hrs.I could have tossed in some bug killer in the tank and killed every skeeter at lake cumberland that weekend!!

You'd be better off disconnecting it and mixing the oil straight into the tank.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

saugmon said:


> I had a 90 hp johnson in early 80's. The VRO was completely junk.Mine od'd on oil and kept fouling out plugs out of the wazoo.Burned 1 gallon of oil in a couple hrs.I could have tossed in some bug killer in the tank and killed every skeeter at lake cumberland that weekend!!
> 
> You'd be better off disconnecting it and mixing the oil straight into the tank.



Lol! That's pretty funny. Just cruising around smoking everyone out.. Thanks for sharing.


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## Iowa Dave (Sep 27, 2009)

Workdog said: VROs were just too risky. Remove it and pre-mix...problem solved. Dave...as far as I know, Mariners did NOT have VROs. Merc/Mariner have a much more reliable system. VRO is A Johnson legacy oiling mixer system.

Mariners and Mercury do have a VRO system, just not called the same VRO their onboard oiling system was much more reliable than the older sytems of the Johnson/Evinrude oiling systems. All of the automatic oiling systems do the same thing regardless of what they are called. 

T-180 said: Mariners did have a version of VRO, not sure what it was called but when it goes out, you're toast. The alarm warned me, so there was no damage. The oil pump has a stainless gear, but the gear that runs it off the flywheel is some sort of nylon that wears out first. That means you tear it down & it runs about $1500. I pulled the pump, sealed it off, removed the reservoir & lines, & was out nothing. Took about 1.5 hours total. Lots of info on line.

My system works well and yes my alarm is working. For now I do trust it but do carry a gallon of oil in the boat for an emergency if it comes up.

MassillionBuckeye said: VRO pumps: Good until they go bad. No way I'd trust one of the older ones without an alarm. I would also want to test the alarm if there were one to make sure it was working properly. I like the peace of mind I have knowing that my gas is mixed with plenty of oil.

I agree and that is why I've got the gallon of oil on the boat at all times... Just in case. 

The later model 2 strokes say mid 90's on have very reliable systems for oiling. Most times the part to go bad was the sensor in the bottom of the reserve delivery tanks. I had that go bad on a Mariner Magnum 40 that I owned. It was smoking like normal even though the alarm was going off. I went back to the launch and had it checked by a dealer and yes it was the sensor in the reserve tank. Sadly on that model you had to buy the complete tank to get the sensor. But, the system was delivering the correct amount of oil to the fuel system.

I'll also say that many blown engines were blamed on the "VRO" systems but in more cases than the VRO, their failure was actually a lean burn of fuel and not the actual VRO. 

So my opinion is if one of the later year "good" systems I'd have it fixed. But you can bypass it if you wish. Depending on what system you have some actually need parts to do this correctly. Before you go just removing it make sure you can do so, call your local dealer and ask.


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

Iowa Dave said:


> Workdog said: VROs were just too risky. Remove it and pre-mix...problem solved. Dave...as far as I know, Mariners did NOT have VROs. Merc/Mariner have a much more reliable system. VRO is A Johnson legacy oiling mixer system.
> 
> Mariners and Mercury do have a VRO system, just not called the same VRO their onboard oiling system was much more reliable than the older sytems of the Johnson/Evinrude oiling systems. All of the automatic oiling systems do the same thing regardless of what they are called.


Obviously, Merc and Mariner have oil mixing systems. But, Merc (and Mariner, at least when they started being made by Mercury) do not have "VRO." The Merc oiling system is MUCH more reliable. The name VRO, *and design*, is proprietary to older Johnsons (and older Evinrudes), and was not reliable. VRO was a legendary motor killer. The plastic worm gear was usually the culprit.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

I really haven't had any use of the vro but I have read so many posts that says get rid of the vro and mix your own gas. so if I had one the first thing I would do is get rid of the vro.

now a few yrs ago I had a 150 hp mercury that had a pre mix on it and it worked great until I had some friend that put something in my gas tank and blew my engine. but I guess I pi$$#d somebody off, LOL..
sherman


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## fishingmaniac (Apr 3, 2012)

My dad had an 89. It went out probably 2 or 3 times. He was lucky it didn't blow up the power head. I had a 97 it went out after 3 years. I pulled the tank and the hose. Unplugged the 2 wire harness and threw it away. I just used a mixture cup to make sure I had the right amount of oil to gas ratio. Never looked back. I know back then the pumps were about $480. I never did trust the things. I know on the Florida coast they removed those pumps when the motor was new and threw them away. Wasn't worth risking the motor when you were way out on the ocean and chance getting stranded. If it fails while your running wide open you just blew your motor up.


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

I had an 85 Johnson 70HP with VRO I ran the boat 2-3 times a week for 8 years without a single issue. And I used the main motor to troll so there were days it ran 10 hours or more.

The boat sat unused 3 seasons and I sold it to a preacher without him even floating it. He let me know the motor ran strong as I said and he trolls a couple inland lakes and takes it to Canada a couple week long trips or more for Skis. He's run the motor for 3 seasons now with no issues.

The 1985 Johnson model did have an alarm, but again mine never failed.


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