Thread: Disconnecting the VRO

I did on my '85 Evinrude 50HP 2 cyl - BUT - there were a number of reasons I did so.
Late '84 - '86 Evinrudes & Johnsons were considered to be VRO 1 though they were marked just "VRO". There were enough failures that in '87 they came out with VRO II to correct some of the shortcomings. The II model has safeguards to prevent cooking your motor when the oil pump quits. There is a temperature probe that sounds an alarm if the engine gets too hot where the 1 had none. The oil pump is piggy-backed on the fuel pump and while some just disconnect the oil pump section and mix the gas & oil it is recommended to replace the entire unit with a fuel pump only (what I did), as the combo unit is much more likely to fail than the fuel pump alone.

Interesting note: My mechanic said the high temp alarm is good for telling you that the upper end is on its way out and needs to be rebuilt.

The above is for Evinrudes and Johnsons only - if you have a different brand, then I have no idea.. Good Luck

My 70 Yamaha was disconnected when I bought the boat, and I like it that way. Got a mixing bottle from wally world for a coupla bucks. Takes about a minute to measure and pour then you know the motors' gonna get it.

I disconnected the VRO on a 1993 50 hp I used to have. I just disconnected the oil side and still used the VRO as a fuel pump. It worked fine that way but if it had ever failed I would have replaced it with a fuel only pump, it's much cheaper than a VRO pump.

I just did it to my 1990 150 hp Johnson. Took all of 10 minutes maybe. It runs so much better now.

If it is not broke, don't fix it. There are many thousands of older motors out there with VROs that are still working just fine.

I owned a 94 Johnson 115 for years, ran it hard and often and had absolutely no issues with the VRO system.

My grandson bought a 1996 basscat with a 225 Mariner that the original owner had disconnected it. The place my grandson bought it from wasn't aware of it so they didn't know to tell him and after 2 times in the water... Another $4500 had to be spent. If ya disconnect it make sure if you sell it the new owners know it.