Disconnecting Oil Injection on Old Johnson 40?

P

Pat Anderson

New member
Crabby Lou has a 1991 Johnson 40 two stroke with automatic oil injection. I think it was Marc who suggested the automatic oil injection should be disconnected in favor of mixing in the tank (I know David has already done this on his 16, which also has an old Johnson 40) because the motor is toasted if the automatic oil injection should fail for some reason. Is this something I can do myself? How?
 
If you go to Iboats online forum for Johnson/Evinrude on page 13 there is a post by tmfd on 8/21/2009. He asks the same question. At the bottom of the page under "Similar Threads" "Cheesegrits" provides instructions.
There may be a yellow plug under the cover near the oil line on your motor which was supplied to cap the oil line.
I have a Seloc manual for 1971-1989 Johnson/Evinrude up to 60 horsepower. If you'd like it I will mail it to you.


JT :smiled
 
Pat,

Disconnecting the oil injection is simple. Just remove the the oil line from the hose barb where it enters the motor next to the fuel line and cap off the oil entry hose barb.

As posted above, under the cover there may be a yellow clip with a rubber cap on the fuel line. That rubber cap is to be used to cap off the oil entry barb. The yellow clip and cap may or may not be there, or the cap may be deteriorated due to heat and age.

If no cap is present or it is unusable, cut the oil hose 2 to 3 inches from the barb and plug the open end with a bolt or smooth rod. Use hose clamps to keep the bolt in the now cut off oil hose.

Then disconnect the oil level warning wires that go from the oil tank to the motor. The connector is located under the motor cover. Also disconnect the 'no oil' warning wires from the fuel pump, located under the cover.

There is a wiring diagram for your motor posted in the "Nancy H" photo album.

You then have a standard, non-oil-injected two stroke outboard and must mix the oil in the gas in the boat tank.

I do not recommend purchasing 'pre-mix' gas-oil at the fuel dock as you don't know what oil the fuel dock used or how carefully it was mixed into the gas.

We are traveling in BC and have an internet connection today and tomorrow, but may not have a connection later this week, so ask any questions now.

Larry H
Retired Johnson/Evinrude mechanic.
 
Pat-

Here's a LINK to the page described above.

There's a single post about disabling the VRO at the top of the page, then a listing of 5 more threads, including the one by Cheesegrits, in the middle of the page that describe the process in various details.

Good Luck! (and say "Hello" to David, if the situation requires!}

Joe. :teeth :thup

(On Edit: I see that Larry H has filled you in above while I let this post set on my computer to do a few minor errands! Thanks, Larry!)
 
OK, just another typical cluster... :(

There was a yellow clip with a black cap, disconnected the oil line and put the cap over it. Easy so far! Now just a couple of wires and I am done!

Then I tried to follow the wires from the oil tank to whatever I was supposed to disconnect them from. It was a lamp cord style wire that disappeared immediately under a bunch of other stuff. Well, I saw where a lamp cord emerged and went to a connector. I could not for the life of me see how the connector disconnected. Maybe it is easy for a retired Johnson mechanic, but it is a total mystery to a lawyer nearing retirement. So I pulled, pushed, twisted - that connector does not, so far as I can tell, disconnect any way no how. So I did the logical thing - I cut the wires.

Now I go to remove the lamp cord, start pulling on it from the end where it enters the motor. NOW I see that the lamp cord I am pulling on is a completely different lamp cord from the wire I just cut. I am guessing I cut the power tilt cord. I think I can reattach them, maybe just maybe.

Now I am supposed to disconnect the "no oil" wires that come from the fuel pump. I would not recognize a fuel pump if I tripped over it. Where is the fuel pump? What color are the wires? Are there other wires at the fuel pump that I could mix these up with?

HELP PLEASE (there is a desperation in this that may not come through in the typed words... :(
 
Pat,

Don't panic yet!!

To start with, put a small plastic cable tie around the black rubber cap you put on the oil inlet hose barb. That is to keep the cap on the hose barb.

Next, test the motor 'as is' by putting mixed gas-oil in the tank and run the motor on a flusher or in a tank. This test is to see if the 'no oil' alarm will work or not. The alarm is the horn that is located in the control box. The 'no oil' warning is a short beep every 1/2 second. This same horn sounds if the motor overheats. The overheat sound is a steady horn sound.

The other sound that the horn makes is a 'low oil in tank' warning which is a beep every 40 seconds. If you have removed the oil tank and wiring that warning will not sound.

I will check my shop manual and get back to you here after I find a better picture for disconnecting the 'no-oil' warning.
 
Thanks, Larry! You heard the panic in my typing, no doubt. I did disconnect the "low oil in tank" wires and removed the tank (spilling oil out the tank's hose all over the cockpit until I saw what was happening). I then connected the fuel line up to my kicker tank which is a 50:1 mixture, and started 'er up. There is no warning sounding, the engine has been running 5 or 10 minutes, and the only damage I have apparently done is to the power tilt wires. Got to figure out how to fix that. You weren't planning to go down to Coulon Park tomorrow for any reason, were you? :lol: I still would like to see what the fuel pump land the "no oil" wires I am supposed to disconnect look like!

Larry H":tw0s5xub said:
Pat,

Don't panic yet!!

To start with, put a small plastic cable tie around the black rubber cap you put on the oil inlet hose barb. That is to keep the cap on the hose barb.

Next, test the motor 'as is' by putting mixed gas-oil in the tank and run the motor on a flusher or in a tank. This test is to see if the 'no oil' alarm will work or not. The alarm is the horn that is located in the control box. The 'no oil' warning is a short beep every 1/2 second. This same horn sounds if the motor overheats. The overheat sound is a steady horn sound.

The other sound that the horn makes is a 'low oil in tank' warning which is a beep every 40 seconds. If you have removed the oil tank and wiring that warning will not sound.

I will check my shop manual and get back to you here after I find a better picture for disconnecting the 'no-oil' warning.
Click to expand...
 
Pat,

I cannot be exactly sure about your particular motor as different years may have different components and wiring.

The VRO fuel pump is a black plastic double housing located forward of the starter motor, and will have the incoming fuel hose going to the top of the plastic housing. If there is a 'no oil' warning circuit it should be on the forward side of the fuel pump and will have wires coming out of a housing. You may have to remove the air box from the carburetors to access the fuel pump.

The air box will have a cover and a base. The screws holding the base MUST be installed using Loctite or they could be sucked into the engine causing explosive failure!! If you are not sure about what you are doing, DON'T REMOVE THE AIR BOX WHICH IS ATTACHED TO THE CARBS.

Your motor may or may not have the 'no oil warning circuit'

The 'low oil warning' connector should be on a tan wire which is just inside the lower motor cover coming out of the harness.

The connector is a 'knife disconnect' which is covered by a rubber sleeve. Slide the rubber sleeve up the wire (either way) and pivot the two wire connectors to disconnect. You may have to lube the cover with a little WD40 and use a small screwdriver to loosen the rubber sleeve. Insulate the connector on the end of the tan wire. The other wire connected to this tan wire should be the 'lamp cord' wire which is black. One of the pair is connected to the tan wire and the other end should go to ground. (under a bolt or nut) Cutting the grounded wire close to its connector ring is OK.

I still recommend running the engine on the mix gas and see if you have any alarms or not. This is the easiest way to see if you need to disconnect any more wiring or not.

Let us know how it works out.

Larry H

ON EDIT: I see you have run the engine while I was typing and have no alarms. I would leave it at that. You should be able to splice the trim wires using wire connectors.
 
If you accidentally clipped the trim wires and plan on reconnecting them, now would be a good time to learn about soldering or crimp connectors and heat shrink. If there is enough slack, you can just strip the wires and solder/crimp them back together and then use heat shrink over the top. Heat shrink is a plastic insulator that comes in tubes. In shrinks on heating (hence the term "heat shrink"). It needs to be slipped over the wires prior to reconnecting and then repositioned over the solder or crimp joint after a good electrical connection is made. Then a heat gun (or Patty's blow drier or a bic lighter) can be used to warm the heat shrink to seal the insulation. There are also some paint on insulators that can be used.

PS - my original suggestion of "get David to do it" is sounding better all the time isn't it?
 
Yeah, the trim wires are fixed now, I used a paint on barrier, I did not have time to go get heat shrink butt connectors, I know I should use them (have used them before). The paint on dried well, then was tightly wrapped in electrical tape. We shall see. I would not be tragic to lose the power tilt for a short while, it can be manually tilted too, just a pain.

Motor is doing just fine on the gas/oil mix, ran on main tanks a few minutes ago BUT (Larry) now the alarm IS beeping, I need to know which wires to disconnect to disable the "no oil" alarm! Thanks! [Oops - will go out and look for a tan wire coming out of the harness! Thanks!
 
OK, Larry - no tan wire coming out of the harness. There is a white wire with a thin tan line and a black wire with a thin tan line. The only tan wire under the cowling was one of the wires I disconnected from the oil tank. Ideas? And Roger, I am pertty sure David would be having the same problem - he has a neighbor who is an outboard mechanic who disconnected his automatic oil injection stuff for him!
 
Adeline is still running her original VRO2 pump from '89.

I've considered removing it but never have.

I've got a 1975 Yamaha 400 Enduro that is running her Autolube pump without a problem. I've got a 1978 Yamaha 400 Enduro whose pump I removed. My snowmobile has a pump. My Yamaha IT 490 (a cross country racer) is a mixer.
For some reason this subject elicits intense opinions on sites such as I-Boats, Continuous Wave, and others. Sometimes it get's vicious. Almost like religion or politics.
People blame it for everything. I think the VRO System gets a bad rap. They updated it to the OMS(Oil Metering System) sometime in the early 90s. The OMS pumps don't vary the oil ratio as much as the VROs do/did. This is one reason I like it. She doesn't load up when trolling for hours on end.

There's a ton of info on the net about this but here is a dispassionate description that I find helpful.

VRO STORY—The Myth of the Mixer
 
Pat Anderson":1w44izwr said:
OK, Larry - no tan wire coming out of the harness. There is a white wire with a thin tan line and a black wire with a thin tan line. The only tan wire under the cowling was one of the wires I disconnected from the oil tank. Ideas? And Roger, I am pertty sure David would be having the same problem - he has a neighbor who is an outboard mechanic who disconnected his automatic oil injection stuff for him!
Click to expand...

Just teasing a bit. I will say that I'm proud of the things you are doing now that you wouldn't have considered doing yourself a few years ago. :thup
 
Yes, that is interesting but the fact is that IF the VRO system fails the engine is toast. Why take that risk? The basic two stroke engine with pre-mixed gas and oil can essentially go on forever...All I need to do is figure out how to disable the "no oil" alarm. Other wise it is very likely to drive us crazy!
 
Found this out the hard way, The VRO operates any time the engine is cranking. So if you run out of gas or have any other malfunction that requires you to crank on the engine a long time without getting it started, it will fill the carb float bowls with oil. Then you will have to pull the carbs.
Not good.
 
Pat,

Just got home and read your posts. Can you provide me with the model number of your engine. It should be on a tag located on the port side transom bracket. The number will start with E40 or J40 followed by some letters. There will also be a second number which is the serial number. I don't need that.

I may have to do some more research on this.

Did you find the VRO pump?
 
J40. Actually J40ELEI. The VRO pump is right at the front of the engine, if that is the part that the oil line goes into and has a plastic tag "VRO" hanging off it! It has no wires connected to it that I could see. Then again, maybe I was just misled by the tag...As soon as I have a little light, I will take some pictures so you can see what I am looking at. There IS one tan wire that goes into a doohinky at the rear of the engine but I don't really want to cut random wires.

Larry H":1kzyibw3 said:
Pat,

Just got home and read your posts. Can you provide me with the model number of your engine. It should be on a tag located on the port side transom bracket. The number will start with E40 or J40 followed by some letters. There will also be a second number which is the serial number. I don't need that.

I may have to do some more research on this.

Did you find the VRO pump?
Click to expand...
 
OK, a couple of pix. Hope this will help you identify it, Larry!

Here is the thingee with the VRO tag on it. It has no visible wires attached to it.

IMG_0344.sized.jpg

Here is the only tan wire that is not already disconnected. If I had to guess, this is the one that is the "no oil" alarm, but like I say, do NOT want to start cutting wires randomly until I find the one that silences the alarm!

IMG_0341.sized.jpg
 
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