1992 XP Water Box Problem?

[B_PWC]

I have a 92 XP that has all new fuel lines, rebuilt carbs, good compression, but a problem when left in the water.

When first riding for the day I can put it in the water and it fires right up and runs fine. If I shut it off for a few seconds it will fire back up just fine. But if I leave it for more than 20 minutes it is really hard to start or won't start at all. I have noticed that when I get it back on the trailer it will fire right up but will spit out a lot of water from the exhaust. I have also noticed if I beach it and the rear is barely in the water when I push it back it it will fire right up.

So my question is this.... I have read about the "water box" going bad. Is there a way to test, inspect and repair these?

Could this be the cause of the problems?

As always thanks for the info.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

maybe your carbs have a leaky leaky, that would be my guess, after it sits for about 20 min, they fill up and.

I would NOT think your waterbox has anything to do with this, actually based on your description of it spitting out water, thats a good thing and completely normal ! its a waterbox, it gets water in it, when you start up and brap on the trailer its spitting out excess water (well, 90% of it) some always remains. but that's completely expected and normal.

your re-starting problems begin with the carbs, ends with the carbs. (assuming a good starter and battery of course)

if it makes you feel better, mine did that also, if I sat for a long time on break it would be a very hard start, i have no choke but overpriming it actually helped me... One solution was to start it every few minutes, but for the most part I ignored the problem until I blew my top end, actually going thru my carbs now, i'm thinking I had a leaky needle/seat.

 

[B_PWC]

maybe your carbs have a leaky leaky, that would be my guess, after it sits for about 20 min, they fill up and.

I would NOT think your waterbox has anything to do with this, actually based on your description of it spitting out water, thats a good thing and completely normal !

Thanks for the reply. The carbs were rebuilt last year. If it sits for 20 minutes and won't start, if I take it out of the water right a way it fires right up. So the cause is sitting in the water for extended period of time. Last I checked compression it was 150 and 145.

If I pull the plugs while it is in the water they are wet but don't appear to be "too" wet. Yesterday I even put new plugs with it sitting in the water and it didn't fire. When it is difficult to start I can give it ~50% throttle and it will usually start after 10 seconds of cranking.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

perhaps having the prop in the water is making it a tad harder to crank/turn over, i've never considered that, but your right mine was always easier to start on the trailer. but its not the problem (water) its the carbs, and ya, i always worried that I was wearing out my starter/battery but both are still alive today

but when I've had that hard start, cranking and cranking and cranking, i found that priming the piss out of it seemed to do the trick but i've been stuck for 2 minutes trying to start when the rest of my ride group is heading down the river after a break, by the time somebody notices i'm not there and turns around i'm up and running

 

[B_PWC]

I think it is getting plenty of fuel as the plugs are wet when I pulled them to inspect it while it was in the water. I also checked spark, which it had.

Where/how would the carbs be leaking, in the needle seat? when the carbs were last rebuilt the needle and seat were not replaced.

Or could it be a weak starter? It sounds like it turns over strong enough.

 

[brock1]

if you choke it does it help???

 

[B_PWC]

if you choke it does it help???

No it does not appear to help. Usually I can give it 50% throttle and that helps but last trip out it turned over until the battery was dead. As soon as it was back on the trailer the battery had just enough juice and it fired up.

 

[Strizzo]

i've got a little leaky needle seat on mine, and have found that 1/4 throttle while cranking usually does the trick in about 5-10 seconds. wierd thing is that out of the water it held fine most of the time, every 5th or 6th popoff it would stick a bit and leak down to 17-18psi before stopping, then would hold up to normal popoff again.