1991 Seadoo SP wont turn over!

[WhiskeyD]

Starter rebuild on yellow 587 engine ?'s

Hi, I have a 1991 Seadoo Sp that I've owned for about 11 years and not had a single problem until now. We moved 2 years ago and its been sitting every since. Today, I decided I would like to get it back on the lake. I went out and bought a battery, added fresh oil and gas (was drained 2 years ago since i knew it would be sitting). It turned over a couple times then stopped. I pulled the spark plugs to see if it would turn over without any compression and it did a couple times then stopped again. Now the only thing it is does is "click" in the white box that sits above the battery... nothing else. When I pulled the rear plug the cylinder released some smoke and I noticed something gritty on the spark plug. Didn't really look or feel like metal but it could have been. I'm thinking the engine is totaled but I wanted to get some advice from someone who knows seadoos before I scrap it. I need to figure out what is wrong then see if its worth fixing. If its more than a couple hundred dollars its probably not even worth fixing. Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance! :hurray:

 

[WhiskeyD]

Any ideas? I would really like to start troubleshooting this. It would be great if its just a starter but I have no idea.

 

[LouDoo]

Battery

Are you sure that the battery was fully charged when you bought it.

I would leave the battery on trickle charge, until its fully charged and try again.

Lou

 

[LouDoo]

Compression

If you can get the motor to turn over, dribble a little oil down the sparkplug holes and do a compression check, that should give you a general idea of the condition of the motor, 150psi is ideal.

Lou

 

[WhiskeyD]

Are you sure that the battery was fully charged when you bought it.

I would leave the battery on trickle charge, until its fully charged and try again.

Lou

I was thinking that so I charged it overnight last night and just tried it again. Still just a clicking from the whitebox. Is there a way to turn the engine over by hand to see if its seized or not?

 

[LouDoo]

At the rear of the engine there is a plastic cover that covers the drive shaft and a flywheel, remove the cover (2 thumb screws). You will see the flywheel you can turn the engine over by turning the flywheel. I would remove the spark plugs, and dribble a little oil through the spark plug holes.

 

[WhiskeyD]

Alright making some progress... I pulled the cover over the driveshaft and the engine turns over effortlessly:hurray:. So now I'm guessing its the starter or starting solenoid? I found a starter rebuild kit on ebay for $30 but its not OEM http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/STAR...temZ360271125344QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f100 or would i be better off trying to find an OEM seadoo starter.... if thats even the problem. Thanks for all the help so far!

Oh and I'm going to go get a compression test guage tomorrow to see where I stand. This thing probably has bajillion hours on it.

edit - I connected the two positive poles on the solenoid and nothing happened. I then grounded the positive pole the battery connects to and it sparked so Im thinking the solenoid is ok and the starter is bad?

 

[LouDoo]

Progress

Hi,

I'm glad to hear that you are making progress. I think you are on the right track with the starter. I think the rebuild kit you found on EBay looks O.K. I have been told not to buy one of the $50.00 starters on EBay, they are made in China. The kit you found is made in USA.

For an OEM starter you're talking between $150 - $200.

Lou

 

[WhiskeyD]

I received the rebuild kit today. I started to take off the starter and it looks like I'm going to have to take off the exhaust manifold and the big side cover on the engine. Does this sound right? Anyone ever worked on the starter on the yellow 587 engine? I found individual and a complete gasket set on ebay but I think I would rather just make a gasket If possible. I have some of that blue RTV sealant around here.

 

[MissouriGirl]

I just replaced the starter in my 94 SPi and did not remove the exhaust. I am not going to lie, it was NOT a fun job at all but it is doable! You will need long extensions for your sockets and a LOT of patience!

Good Luck!

 

[WhiskeyD]

Does the 94 SPi have the yellow 587 engine? I started tearing mine apart this evening and I had to completely remove the exhaust to get access to the starter. It's so tight in there I couldn't get the old starter out and the new one in with the exhaust in place. I ran out of sunlight before I gotthe starter off. I couldn't figure out how to get access to the bottom screw. I got the top one and the bracket at the rear but there's no way i saw to get a socket or wrench on the bottom one. I really hope I don't have to pull the engine just for the starter! I'm going to work on it some more tomorrow evening and hopefully there is a way to get to that bottom bolt.

 

[WhiskeyD]

Also, when I got to the starter the - cable was loose. I was hoping it was just a loose cable causing it to not turn over. I tightened it up and reconnected the battery and the engine turned over weakly then stopped and went back to only clicking. So im guessing the starter is def shot.

 

[MissouriGirl]

My motor is white, not yellow. The space is very limited but there was enough room under the starter on mine to get to the bottom bolt with a long extension (there is about 2-3 inches of space under the starter on mine). You are basically working blind on the bottom bolt, and it definately takes a lot of patience. I wish I could offer an easy trick for you but there is none. The way I did it was reach under the starter (it will be a tight fit, I have bruises still from it...lol) and felt for the bolt. I tried using the long extension and just feeling for the bolt with the socket but couldn't so I ended up using just the socket and a small extension, used my finger to feel and guide the socket on the bolt and then attached the longer extension once it was on the bolt (if that makes any sense).

Again, there really isn't much room to work with at all, but with some patience it can be done. I don't know the difference in the yellow and white engines so if you don't have any room at all to get underneath the starter, you might have to pull the exhaust off.

It does sound like your starter is shot, the only other advice I can give you is to make sure you have a fully charged battery.

I had to put the starter in 2 times in the last 2 weeks due to getting it in the first time and my ski still not running. Ended up taking it to a mechanic who found a bolt in my rotary valve but for some reason removed the starter. Long story short, the mechanic tried to tell me my engine was toast and charged me an arm and a leg to literally take the inside apart and wanted to charge me another arm and a leg to just put it back together since I knew he was full of you know what. I got it home, put it all back together and guess what, she runs!!

I do wish you luck...don't give up! Patience is definately the key, even though it sometimes makes you want to throw things across the garage! LOL!

OH, one piece of advice when reinstalling the starter. If you don't remove the exhaust, put a piece of paper in your socket to hold your bolt in there.....trust me it is NO fun fishing for bolts!

Good luck!

 

[WhiskeyD]

Thanks for the help, I'm going to work on it some more this evening and I will post back

Btw - The starter rebuild kit I bought didnt come with the starter gasket so I'm going to have to order one of those before I can get this back together bah...

 

[WhiskeyD]

pulled the starter today and it was definitely worn out