• This site contains eBay affiliate links for which Sea-Doo Forum may be compensated.

1996 seadoo gtx electrical issue

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

joewatson97@yahoo.com

New Member
I just bought my first 2 skis. Got a 1996 GSX and GTX. GSX runs great but the gtx is kicking my butt. When lanyard is installed I get the gauge lights and a click. The beeper is bad but I have one ordered. I push the start button and the little black relay looking thing in the front grey box clicks but not rear solenoid. Checked rear solenoid wire and its not getting 12 volts to engage solenoid. When I jump across terminals it will turn over very strong. Swapped out the mpem with my working ski and got the same thing. Battery is good I guess my first question is what is the little black box in the grey box called? Googled it but cant seem to get a name. Been working on it all week and reading all I can but most peoples issues seem to be solenoid or starter and mines not. Another question would be whats the next thing I should look at and how can I test the stator cover to see if my issues are in that area? I have a wiring diagram I have tried to go through but it doesn't have what values to look for. Thanks for any help. I have had dealings with nick already and I must say alot of good guys on this forum . I used search also but not much actaully pulled up. Thanks for any help.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Check for spark while jumping solenoid, if no spark then Check the fuses in the mpem there should be 2 ..does this ski have a vts? If they go bad they'll cause the 15amp fuse keep blowing. If that's the case disconnect vts and replace fuse and you'll be good to go
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The front little black box is likely a power relay. The GTX has a relay that powers stuff up when you hit the start button. To work your way through it, the beeper helps but is not vital. You may try blowing some air in the beeper, or use a meter across the beeper terminals to see what is happening when you press the start button. You should get two beeps as I think you already know. jcleary93 is correct to make sure all the fuses are good. They are in both the front and rear boxes. The solenoids go bad on these often. It sounds like you tested that, but you may want to do it again just to be sure. The most likely issue is a bad connection. I would check all grounds and the connections to the DESS post. Also the connections at the rear electrical box and the plug on the motor. And really check the main ground to the motor. Jumping the solenoid should crank the motor over regardless of any MPEM/DESS issues. You may do that just to hear it crank. Just jump the two big solenoid terminals with a screwdriver. Also it is CRITICAL that you have a fully charged and good battery. Low voltage will keep things from firing. You can jump it from a NON RUNNING CAR. But do not use a jump box or crank it while on a charger. You do not have a VTS on that ski so don't worry about that.

So in a nut shell, you need good power and good connections. Then use your meter or a test light to see if the beeper is getting two pulses when you put the key on. Then post back and we can help from there. Good luck!
 
Well the 4 beeps means the MPEM is not seeing the CDI box. That would not effect the 12 volts going to the solenoid though, you just wont have spark.
 
Minnetonka4me said:
Well the 4 beeps means the MPEM is not seeing the CDI box. That would not effect the 12 volts going to the solenoid though, you just wont have spark.
Click to expand...

To clarify,,,
I agree with Minnetonka in that the 4 beeps means the key is not communicating (not programmed) with the MPEM. But unless I misunderstand how I read his post, you will NOT get 12 to the solenoid as far as it getting there from the start/stop switch, (the small plug on the solenoid). Your solenoid WILL have 12 volt hot to the one large lug no matter what as it comes directly from the battery...
 
No he got 2 shoot then 4 long beeps. Than means the mpem is accepting the key but not communicating with the cdi.
 
Yes im getting 2 short beeps then 4 long which from what I understand means its not communicating. I did take my key from my other ski and instead of one long beep I get the same 2 short 4 long beeps. What could that mean? I changed dess post and mpem with my working ski and got same results and I used the correct key for the mpem I swapped with. I also relocated main ground wire from starter to motor. Thanks for any help. Still no 12 volt to solenoid wire when hitting start switch but it tests ok.
 
What you need to do is open up the grey box and look and see if you have any corrosion on the weird 3 and 6 pin connectors. Most likely you need a new CDI, the one with no fuses.

the two beeps means its accepting the key, then the 4 beeps mean it cannot communicate to the CDI.
 
Can someone please tell me what wires would be responsible for the no communication with cdi? Maybe I have a broken wire but just cant see it. I have checked all wires from mpem to cdi.
 
Since you seem to have a complete second ski that works, I would move the entire electrical box over to the trouble ski (after making sure the good ski still works). You only have to plug in the harness from the beeper, post, motor and rear electrical box. You do not have to worry about the gauges if I recall correctly. Try that and see what happens. You can then move the complete harnesses and even rear electical box stuff one at a time to find the issue.

EDIT- I see that you are listing a GST (GTS???) as your other ski. That has a different electrical system so I'm not sure what all interchanges. [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] may know.
 
Your GTX is 787 and if you have a GTS its a 587 unless you have a GSX and that is 787 which you should be able to swap stuff around. If your electronics are the same clean everything and swap part by part until it works. There is not that much stuff to swap out. Best bet also to get the manual to double check the wiring.
 
The 96 GTX has a relay in the front grey box, Seadoo just calls it a relay assy, the GSX also has this relay, it is a small squarish looking black relay with an integral fuse holder and is held in with two screws, swap out the relay and report back.
 
Thanks guys they are both 787 skis. I'm gonna just swap piece by piece until I get this thing figured out. . I have changed the cdi, relay, mpem, dess post, start stop switch and battery so far. Gonna try swapping entire grey box and then complete rear box if that doesn't work. [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] has been an amazing asset what a great guy to deal with. Takes time on the phone to explain things and never gets aggravated I highly recommend him if anyone needs advice or parts. Hes basically the man lol.
 
Here's a few things to consider.
The manual call's that thing holder relay and it has one function
Power to the CDI unit.
which makes sense of the 4 beeps if that is where your fault is.

So the mpem is waking up and powering the gages. Check...
Cant crank engine. Doesn't seem to be the solenoid. Check...
Maybe the mpem not seeing the cdi is stopping it from allowing you to crank the engine.

Now to troubleshoot the CDI issue, first thing to do is check if you are getting voltage to and from the holder relay.

On the relay the Purple/blue is the control from the mpem to turn the thing on and off.
The black is the ground for the coil side of the relay.
The RED/BLU is the POWER IN to the relay and this comes from the 15 amp fuse in the back electrical box.
And the RED/PURPLE is the POWER out from the relay to the CDI.

Easy enough to check that out.
Also consider dirty connections or wires pulled out of those bullet connectors. Some are a pain to pull apart sometimes.


Also check all the grounds in that grey box. The CDI gets its ground in there and its a black wire.
Disconnect the connector going to CDI and measure that wire to the ground plate ( thinking if its not power that it could be a broken connection at the terminal lug.

Check the diagram for more info but the above should be a start.
Also there are resistance measurements in the manual for the CDI, I've found two that fail but work perfectly...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for that info very informative. I swapped my grey boxes this morning and she fired right up and ran like a champ. I then took the gre box and ohmed every wire and could not find anything out of the ordinary. Most were 3 ohms or less. What is an ohm measurement that would show to much resistance to stop cdi from comm with mpem?
 
Each wire should be almost a short or as low as your meter reads when connected together.
Lets say anything above 5-10 ohms is suspect.
Ideally all the wires in that box are short and should read 0 (if you can zero out your meter when the leads are connected together)

This does seem to point towards the holder relay so far if all the wires are good but since you already swapped it.. that's just weird.

Could it be that the box was miswired from the beginning ?

Are you connecting everything the way it was or going by the manual each time ?

Are there any pin's in the cdi connector that are being pushed back?

Are you getting power from the mpem to the purple/blue wire?

Are you getting power on the 6 pin CDI plug between the red/purple and black when waking up the mpem?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That holder your talking about was clicking but it wouldnt start. I took the one off my running ski and put it on and got same thing. Also swapped just cdi and got same thing. Im thinking maybe corrosion on pins causing resistance. I'm gonna contact clean all connections tom and re die electric grease everything and pray that works. Lol
 
Found the problem. All ground wires we're ohming fine. On a hunch I changed the cdi ground wire terminal on the plug from mpem. She fired right up. Not sure why it was ohming fine but that was the issue.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

E
1994 seadoo spi start button
Replies
0
Views
71
Ezrajohn
E
J
1996 GSX project with few questions
Replies
9
Views
257
mikidymac
mikidymac
F
Is it even worth fixing?
Replies
3
Views
163
burtshaver2021
burtshaver2021
L
Unknown electrical issue!? I’m going insane. Clicking noise when trying to start. Key sometimes worrks
Replies
7
Views
233
artr
artr
J
2000 717 GTI Parasitic Draw
Replies
14
Views
312
BrianMoore
B
Back
Top