Do you VRO? Outboard Oil Injection Discussion

[Papermouth]

I'm looking at purchasing an outboard that is oil injected so it uses a VRO pump instead of premixing fuel (still a 2-stroke), if any of you have this pump, has it been completely reliable?

Lots of guys swear by the VRO because it reduces oil injection at idle (~100:1) and increases it on the high end (~50:1), ultimately decreasing oil consumption, creating a cleaner burning outboard, and reducing human error in premixing fuel. Just keep the reservoir full, it seems so easy.

Particularly in the 40HP models I'm looking at but more so in the older generations, I have been reading some horror stories about leaning out cylinders upon pump failures, causing catastrophic outboard failure. I've had COF for 14 months and don't need that again. Many, many people recommend on boat forums to disconnect the VRO and get some piece of mind, pre-mix your own fuel 50:1, and so on. Also seems pretty easy but oil is expensive and the engine was engineered around ratio-based oil injection.

Whether or not I purchase the outboard, this topic is hopefully relevant to other users. And the disconnect or leave it be is not a decision I'm going to make right away. So please, share your experience with the VRO if your outboard has it. Thank you very much.

[Papermouth]

I've been reading a lot about this, but this thread had me back and forth more than any other!
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000814.html

[ArZFisher]

I would personally  disconnect. The only  way i whould use one if it had a alarm letting you know your almost out of oil. I know in the past that they would only have an alarm for oil pressure. I guees thou if you have no oil pressure and the alarm going off probably  means out of oil. I would just prefer mix my own oil knowing  it has oil and not going to run out and blow up motor. 

[freshwater]

Just a thought on the oil injectors. They have been around quite a while. I had a 75hp merc oil injected loved it but it was getting older and I opted out of breathing that dang oilly smell all the time and went to 4cycle. Also had oil injected snow mobiles, same checking every time.  BUT if you check the oil each time you go as we check everything else no problem. I hated mixing oil in my gas for the boat motor and weed whacker. extra cans around and messy measuring.  And thinking about it what cars are running around that aren't fuel injected. As you can see I'm not impressed with mixing anymore with the reliability of oil injecting being with us.

[Stevert]

I had a 1992 Mariner 40 HP with that type of system and it worked pretty well right up to the time Charlie Green (Green Marine, an old-school legendary outboard mechanic in Punkin Center) told me to get rid of it before I ruin a perfectly good old engine.  He felt that as long they worked properly they were great but when they went haywire there was no warning and then there would be a quick short-duration of RPM increase (maybe a few seconds) and then seizure. 

I took the VRO out and ran pre mixed fuel after that.     

[Fishless]

I have had VRO mercuries with no problems in fact most reports say mercury had little to no problem with their VRO systems, NOW with the Johnson/evinrude everyone I know and every mechanic I have talked to or had friends have their evinrude with VRO worked on has been told to disconnect the VRO and go with the 50-1 oiling right in the gas tank? Even envinrudes later Ficht motor had terrible problems in fact it bankrupted the company and they sold out and now the E-tek is made by a different company

[Papermouth]

Bought the outboard, even though the cowling says "Oil Injection" there is no evidence of the pump and the seller has been premixing. That was a relief! Thanks for sharing guys.