1988 Evinrude 90 VRO alarm at startup

[66maritime]

Hello! I recently acquired a 1988 Evinrude 90hp with VRO. I was able to get a good few weeks of use before the end of summer, and she's now winterized for the season. My question is... is it normal for the VRO alarm to sound (on-off rhythmic beeping) for 10-20 seconds every time I do a cold start? Once warmed up, I can stop and restart the engine and the alarm only beeps once or twice. I know everything is working well since I ran the engine for a few weeks straight and have encountered no issues. Once the alarm has turned off, it stays off for the remainder of the trip. Pumping the oil primer bulb before starting does not seem to make a difference.

What could be causing this? The alarm is very loud and definitely unpleasant for myself and my neighbors, especially when using the engine at night. I've even considered partially blocking the beeper to quiet it down, but I worry that when something does go wrong at WOT I won't be able to hear it. If anyone has insight as to whether or not this is normal behavior, I would greatly appreciate the input.

Thanks in advance!
Ben

 

[racerone]

Not normal.

 

[saltchuckmatt]

Definitely not normal, If I can remember right there's two alarms on your control box. One, which I think is constant, is an overheat and one that's intermittent, that's for low oil or low oil pressure. You need to determine which one it is. Definitely want to make sure you're getting oil.

An infrared gun on your head and block will tell you if you're overheating.

 

[racerone]

Just one alarm buzzer.------Solid beep is over heat.-----Intermittent beeps can be for low oil in tank or no oil from VRO unit.----Run engine with 50:1 mix in fuel tank until you correct this issue.

 

[66maritime]

Thank you, all! I'll be sure to look into it further once things warm up here.