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| Hello to all. Ok I’ll admit, I'm new to the boat ownership business and now have come across my first issue with my motor I do believe. The motor is a 99' Johnson 2-Stroke.
I purchased my boat just this past spring and have been putting a fair amount of time on the engine (40 hours running time so far probably). I was given some standard mfg Johnson 2-Stroke motor oil with the boat purchase and have been using that up as necessary (probably have burnt up a 2 gal of Johnson oil so far in probably 100gal of gas approximately). The boat has an oil reservoir tank outside of the motor and I typ am running W.O.T. at about 5200-5600 rpm.
I was using up what I thought was a normal amount of oil for how much running I was doing (actually I thought it was using very little oil compared to other boat motors I know). Anyway, once I used up my Johnson oil I thought it was a good idea to “clean” the system up by using better oil, along with running a can of Sea Foam through one full gas tank and I have now switched to strictly use ethanol-free premium gas….trying to get the most of the motor, ya know. I switched up to AMSoil HP Injector Oil. Bought a gal of it and poured it in the reservoir when she was just about low. Since then I’ve been out three times (motor running prob 3 hours total) and just last night my “low oil” alarm sounds off. I check the reservoir and sure sh@t... I was almost out of oil!!? I have no idea how it could of possible burnt it up that fast? Any thoughts.
To add to all of this and even more problem some and annoying is that my motor can no longer idle it seems. It will idle for a bit and then the rpms will drop and it will eventually sputter out? I’ve noticed too that it appears to be smoking bad compared to the stock oil (and I thought going to AMS HP Infector it would do just the opposite?) It seems as if it’s just eating the oil up and it’s running too rich or something? 
Can’t idle at low rpm/speed now and it used up a gal of high end oil in just a few hours of boating??? Help from anyone please?
Thanks |
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Posts: 1096
Location: Hayward, WI | Sounds like a bad VRO pump. This motor has a gas/oil pump that pumps both gas and oil and mixes them together. They are notorious for going bad. There is a test a dealer can do to check how much oil it is using compared to how many times the VRO pump cycles. |
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Posts: 333
Location: menasha wi 54952 | I would take it in and have it looked at before you cause some serious damage.
It sounds like you may have two issues. The first would be engine oil blow by caused by worn engine parts. A compression test is a good place to start. The second idle issue could have been caused by adding too much seafoam to your gas. Did you follow the recommended 2oz per gallon? If you put way more than that in you may have cleaned out the system too good or too fast. Varnish...gunk...deposits may have broken loose and clogged your gas ports leaning out your fuel / oil mixture. Good luck.
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Posts: 5874
| You're using the wrong oil. Use regular TC-W3 oil. If you want to use the full synthetic, use AmsOil or any other, but don't use the injector oil. That motor is carbed.
Also, using premium fuel is a waste of money. |
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Posts: 176
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Same thing happened to me with a 40hp evinrude, it ended up being the fuel line or primer ball leaking. Replaced the fuel line and primer bulb and it solved the problem. The evinrudes/johnsons oil pumps are high pressure, if the motor does not get enough fuel the oil pump start sucking more oil and thats why it burns more oil and smokes.
Mike |
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Posts: 540
| total agreement with Shep on this one, wrong oil it's too thin and going right threw, use the regular marine 2 stroke oil and personally I think the premuim gas is a waste too! |
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Posts: 176
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Sorry, i agree with Shep, i didnt see where you typed that you are using injection oil.
Mike |
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Posts: 177
Location: Cohasset, MN | Why is the Amsoil HP Injector the wrong oil ? From the Amsoil website: "Advanced outboard injector oil. Can also be used as a pre-mix oil up to 50:1. For use in TC-W3 applications."
I've used it for 10+ years with no problem (that I'm aware of). I have a 1999 Johnson carbed 115 with (I believe) the VRO2 system (not the original VRO system). The motor calls for a TC-W3 oil and that's what the Amsoil HP Injector oil is advertised as.
I'm not trying to challenge anyone, here, because I simply don't know enough about it. I'd just like a little detail when the info above seems to be contrary to the mfg's recommendation. |
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Posts: 177
Location: Cohasset, MN | I'd also like to know why the non-ethanol premium would necessarily be a waste of money ? Fuel economy is a bit better as ethanol does not contain as much energy (making up for at least a portion of the additional cost), and there is no chance of (alleged) damage caused by ethanol. That's just the way I think about it. Not trying to ruffle feathers... |
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Posts: 1096
Location: Hayward, WI | Injection oil does not mean fuel injected motor, it means oil injected, as in you do not premix the gas. Amsoil should be fine in that motor. It is either a failed VRO pump or fuel restrction. |
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Posts: 437
| Shep - 6/29/2011 11:27 AM
You're using the wrong oil. Use regular TC-W3 oil. If you want to use the full synthetic, use AmsOil or any other, but don't use the injector oil. That motor is carbed.
Also, using premium fuel is a waste of money. injector oil doesn't mean its for fuel injected engines it injection oil intended for use as he is doing. This is the cheapest amsoil product. The oil he's using has nothing to do with the problems. I've used that stuff for years in boats and snowmobiles.
Premium fuel isn't a waste of money for one simple reason. There is no ethanol in it. Mn puts ethanol in everything except for premium. For this reason alone its good to use. Your motor doesn't need the extra octane though so if you can get ethanol free lower octane get that. |
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| Hi everyone
First off, the hp injector oil is great for that engine. Ran it the entire time in my 99 50 hp Johnson without issue. I say stay with it. The oil burning that quickly, though does sound like an oil pump issue. My only question is this... On those 3 hours if running, how were you using it? Trolling, full speed, under more load? Reason I ask is that the pump adjusts the amount of oil needed as you use the engine... If it is under high load, more oil is used if memory serves me correctly.
The idle issue could also relate to excess oil if it smoked a bunch... Should only do that at start up cold... The other thing that comes to mind on the idle issue is timing. I had to adjust the timing on my motor in the first year of use. Mine had the same issue where at idle it would not stay running. After the adjustment to 0 tdc at 800 rpm, she started quickly and purred like a kitten.
Couple of things to check first... Plugs.. Are they the correct ones? Second, if you can find the omc decarbonizer in a can it will plug right into the back of the carb throat... It will look like a tire valve stem... Maybe a red cover on it.. Decarbonizer the engine, let it sut 20 minutes(like the directions on a sea foam can) take it out and open it up, then replace the plugs. Check timing and adjust..
I still think the oil pump should get checked, though...
Steve. |
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| So to wrap this up and to shed some daylight on my issue, I finally got my motor into a mechanic and to not much of a surprise, it was a bad VRO pump going out (as I kind of expected after doing some research). I could have dropped nearly $350 for a new pump (not including installation labor) to get it installed or I had the option of disconnecting it all together…. I opted for just disconnecting it and now have to pre-mix my gas instead. Not the biggest pain in the world but it was the most reasonable approach without dropping big bucks on my motor.
Had it completely checked out; compression test was great, had carbs cleaned (which were just oil drenched) and put new plugs in. Took here for a test run and she ran GREAT!... and very little smoke. I was told to pre-mix my gas to 40:1 instead of 50:1 as motor calls for so I will give that a try.
As kjgmh stated, I was told those VRO pumps are notorious for going out/problematic especially on older engines. Some pumps can last for ever with no issues others can go out yearly. I just chose the cheaper route.
As for the AMSoil I put in, I think it was pure coincidental when she started to go on me. However, I was told that you can run synthetics in your older two strokes if that is what you were always running but DO NOT switch it up from the standard TC-W3 oil to a high performance synthetic… you will be asking for issues/problem.
I appreciate everyone comments and hope others can learn from this. Back in action here, just a bummer that I missed almost 2.5 weeks of good fishing.
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