Mid/Late 90s outboards - oil injection uncommon?

[AdamLotz]

Hey guys - I'm shopping for a smallish center console, and mostly looking in the 93-98 range, with 90-135 hp engines. What has struck me as odd is that VERY few of the boats I've looked like have had oil injection systems on them??? <br /><br />I've owned a couple older boats in the past, and have had 4 jetskis since then, and since even my old '88 kawasaki had an oil injection system, it just never occured to me that it would be unusual on a 1995 outboard.<br /><br />Am I just seeing the result of fisherman superstition (I know lots of jetski guys who took their pumps off and went premix, but I never had trouble) or is it just uncommon? What would it cost to add a system into an existing outboard, or is it really just a bad idea?<br /><br />Filling up with 50 gallons of gas and then having to dump in a gallon of oil just seems bizarro to me...

 

[Dhadley]

Re: Mid/Late 90s outboards - oil injection uncommon?

The majority of oil injection fears are totally unfounded. If the pump has the oil line plugged, then all you have to do is hook it back up and connect the harness for the alarms. If the oil tank was removed then obviously that needs to be installed too.

 

[dajohnson53]

Re: Mid/Late 90s outboards - oil injection uncommon?

Since you're posting in the Johnson/Evinrude forum, I'll assume you're looking at rigs with that kind of motor. OMC made a line of motors that were sort of plain jane - no oil injection, no power trim and tilt are the two features I can think of. I looked at a LOT of boats that had this sort of motor on them when I was in the used market a few years back. My theory is that they were usually sold in packages priced for the starter market - the kind of boats that people sell later for various reasons (need bigger or more power, not using it, etc). <br /><br />You might be able to add oil injection (I don't know for sure), but I think you'll find its a few hundred dollars for parts alone plus installation.<br /><br />I don't think there's anything wrong with modern oil injection systems. On the other hand, I happen to pre-mix on my big outboard and it's no big deal either. Just get yourself set up so it's as easy and efficient as possible. Find an easy to use measuring device and pour in the oil as you're pumping in the gas so that it gets mixed well.