1988 60 hp johnson alarm and vro

[Peter DeGroote]

I have new to me 1988 60 HP Johnson that i picked up at a very nice price because the previous owner couldn't get it started after sitting in his garage for a year. I'm very new to the boating world but through this awesome forum and using the internet I've already done quite a bit with it and can start it easily. When I first got it I figured it would start because the fuel pump was unplugged but I now know that this is actually part of the VRO system which has been removed. I have the three wire amphenol plug together right now with a tan grey and black wire in it. The only other thing I had to do was give the starter a slight twist with some channel locks and I could get the thing to fire up. Since that day I have replaced the water pump, greased the prop, and changed the gear oil and replaced the vent and drain screws and gaskets. Now when I try to take it out for a test run it will start up fine with a bit of choke on and rev right up. Then as I let the choke off it will drop down to a low idle and run fine, what happens after a minute or two is the alarm goes off on off on off. The weird part is the alarms frequency matches the engine RPMs a higher RPM means a more insistent alarm but if its a low idle there's a longer pause between beeps. The engine seems to be running fine while this is going on too. It did this the first time I took it out and since then I have read up on the VRO and today I tried taking it out again and same thing. This time though I figured it was because I still had that plug together so I pulled it apart and voila it started up and no alarm after a minute or two. So I tried pulling away from shore and it stalled, then when I tried starting it it was like it wasn't getting fuel. Then if I plug it back together choke it I can get it to start and I can make it to shore just in time for that alarm to start buzzing again. I feel like the plug should be undone because that's how every video or guide about disconnecting the VRO says it should be. I'm really lost and want to get out enjoying this boat can someone please help?