06 GTI - Engine trouble after riding in rough waters

[GimmeWake]

I have an 06 GTI bought used last year. Ran all last season and some this year with no problem. Same lake. This weekend we went out and the lake was extremely rough. 20mph winds plus Memorial day traffic. 6-12" white caps and the occasional 2' swells in busy areas.

Anyway, I had just fueled up and had been riding, off and on, for about an hour in this choppy water, when I noticed the ski sounded funny. It was like the sound you hear when you catch a little air and there's no drag on the impeller. Only, I was in the water, just hit a little wake, maybe a hard landing, but in the water. Then I noticed that the ski would not get power over 3200 RPM. It would rev higher, but seemed to spin free and shake with no additional power. I limped back to the beach and let it sit a while, before heading to the dock. After a 20 minute cool down, it ran fine for about 10 minutes, then started to do the same thing again, only this time my wife noticed smoke coming from the rear of the ski.

It is currently sitting on the jet dock at the lake. I will probably take it to the shop in the next week or 2, but wanted to check here to see if anyone had any ideas of what I might be in for.

Thanks for the great forum.

 

[Michael211_2000]

You might want to check the basics, engine oil level coolant level, replace the spark plugs (4TECS seem to be spark plug killers, don't know why!). Also pull your pump and inspect it for any foreign objects (like a rope wrapped up around the shaft or anything stuck between the impeller and wear ring)... it sounds like you were experiencing severe cavitation to me though that doesn't explain the smoke coming from the engine your wife saw. With the water so rough it'd be easy to not see something and run over it sucking it up into the jetpump.

- Michael

 

[chucked]

Are you sure it was smoke and not steam?

 

[GimmeWake]

That's a great point. I suppose it could have been steam. I didn't get a good look at it from my vantage point. I did not notice it being blue, as oil smoke would be, but there was a smell to it.

 

[GimmeWake]

Now that you mention it, my son lost his baseball cap and it went under the ski. We never found it. I assumed it wouldn't get through the intake grate, but I suppose that's a possibility.