Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

[midsized johnson]

On the advice of a couple of buddies, I disconnected the VRO on my 1998 115 Johnson. I took the boat out over the weekend and after running a few minutes, the buzzer sounds for 10-15 seconds and the no oil light comes on. I can live with the light coming on, but is there a way to keep the buzzer from going off? I assumed that by disconnecting the wiring to the VRO system, that the system check wouldn't pick it up.

 

[boobie]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

Did you disconnect the wires going to the oil tank ??

 

[midsized johnson]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

Did you disconnect the wires going to the oil tank ??

I'm assuming that the VRO system is completely disconnected. I pulled the wiring inside the cowling and plugged the oil line to the VRO pump. Is there anything else I may have missed?
In an earlier post, I mentioned that the main wiring harness from the motor to the remote appeared to have been rigged so as to use a non system check tach. Looked at a new wiring harness and it comes with the three leads to a non-system check tach, so maybe the previous owner just took the tape off where the butt connectors for these wires are. I'm still suspicious of the wiring harness because I don't know how the tach leads are supposed to be connected to their respective wires in the harness.
Regardless, the buzzer only works intermittently, but the no oil light comes on every time, but only after a few minutes of running. It also comes on after a few minutes of idling in the driveway.

 

[woody66912]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

You also might have a failing system check gauge, try backing out the TAN/YEL wire from the harness, and see what happens.



Here is a definition of wire colors.

Tan/yellow is for no oil. Origin is the VRO pump.
Tan/black is for low oil. Origin is the oil tank.
Tan/orange is for "check engine" and it's meaning is "high vacuum in incoming fuel line". Origin is the fuel vacuum switch on V6s.
Tan is overheat. Origin is temp sender in head(s).

Tan/purple up at the gauge/tach is the horn driver circuit.

 

[boobie]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

Woody, if you remember correctly, OMC had a bad bunch of system check gauges back in those days. Ran into a few myself.

 

[woody66912]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

Woody, if you remember correctly, OMC had a bad bunch of system check gauges back in those days. Ran into a few myself.

Yep 5 or 6 a week back then.
Don't know what kind of shops he lives around, but I let guys use my test gauge, he should just try asking, never hurts to ask.

 

[midsized johnson]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

Yep 5 or 6 a week back then.
Don't know what kind of shops he lives around, but I let guys use my test gauge, he should just try asking, never hurts to ask.

Thanks for the insight guys.
I just bought the system check gauge, new in the box, but only paid 19 bucks on ebay. That said, if I disconnected the no oil wire to the sytem check gauge, would it prevent the buzzer from going off? That's really all I'm trying to accomplish. I just want the buzzer for overheat warning.

 

[woody66912]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

As long as you have replaced the gauge you should be Ok, you have already done away with to VRO. But if you still get a no oil, back out the TAN/ YEL wire. All this does, is to not allow that wire to go to ground, the over heat will sound off if tripped. You can check the horn. Turn the key to ON and ground the (wire harness side) of the of the tan wire to the head, the horn should sound off.

 

[midsized johnson]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

As long as you have replaced the gauge you should be Ok, you have already done away with to VRO. But if you still get a no oil, back out the TAN/ YEL wire. All this does, is to not allow that wire to go to ground, the over heat will sound off if tripped. You can check the horn. Turn the key to ON and ground the (wire harness side) of the of the tan wire to the head, the horn should sound off.

Thanks, got a new buzzer as the old one proved faulty. The no oil light came on after a few minutes of idling along with approx. 15 seconds of buzzer. I'll try to back the pin out and see how that goes. Appreciate all the input guys!

 

[woody66912]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

Ok, be kind enough to post your results, for future use.
Thank you.

 

[midsized johnson]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

Ok, be kind enough to post your results, for future use.
Thank you.

The current situation is that it appears to be a bad system check gauge. I have continuity all the way to the gauge when the tan wire is grounded at the head, but the buzzer doesn't go off. I'm guessing this means one of the other circuits sets off the buzzer at start up. I'm going to look into paying full retail for the gauge. Hopefully, that's the fix.
The previous owner said the buzzer kept going off on him, so he replaced it. There was a three wire lead coming out of the systems check connector that went no where. I'm wondering if this thing wasn't causing issues with the old buzzer. Here's a couple of pics. I have no idea what it went to. Maybe a speedometer?

 

[midsized johnson]

Re: Disconnected VRO Unit No Oil Light and Buzzer Issues

A picture is worth a thousand words, I decided not to get a new gauge as all I really want is for the overheat buzzer to work. We went the bypass route, and wired from the white/blue that connect the buzzer to the system check and the tan wire that goes into the back of the system check connector. Now I can ground the connectors at the block and get the buzzer to go off.