jgranquist
New Member
Hey All,
I'm a newbee to the Forum but have lurked for a while and come up with a lot of good information, many thanks for your help.
So, onto the issue...
Last night the wife was riding the 96 GTX at just maybe 1/3 throttle when she says she felt/heard a clunk and the engine died. I towed it to the dock and started the usual checks to find the problem. Got to the point I was sure the engine was seized so I pulled the heads off to find a sliver of metal jammed against the aft piston. I hit the starter to see if it would move and it turned right over and dislodged the sliver and 2 larger pieces came out of the intake side. I was able to grab one of the large pieces but one got away down the exhaust port. Here are some pictures of the pieces:
The pistons look fine (form the top at least) and now it turns over smooth as silk. My question is: what broke? I'm thinking that somehow the bottom of the piston cracked off and then pieces somehow got in the intake side and then fell out on top of the piston? I'm assuming that a full rebuild is in order, but that will be a winter project so I figured I would see if anyone knew what the failure might have been?
I've had SeaDoos for more than 20 years but have always avoided an engine rebuild, but I have swapped engines to a new hull. I'm assuming that it is not that difficult for someone who has been wrenching on Seadoos since 1994.
I'm assuming that an SBT rebuilt engine is the way to go, but would be open to suggestions as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read and TIA for your replies.
I'm a newbee to the Forum but have lurked for a while and come up with a lot of good information, many thanks for your help.
So, onto the issue...
Last night the wife was riding the 96 GTX at just maybe 1/3 throttle when she says she felt/heard a clunk and the engine died. I towed it to the dock and started the usual checks to find the problem. Got to the point I was sure the engine was seized so I pulled the heads off to find a sliver of metal jammed against the aft piston. I hit the starter to see if it would move and it turned right over and dislodged the sliver and 2 larger pieces came out of the intake side. I was able to grab one of the large pieces but one got away down the exhaust port. Here are some pictures of the pieces:
The pistons look fine (form the top at least) and now it turns over smooth as silk. My question is: what broke? I'm thinking that somehow the bottom of the piston cracked off and then pieces somehow got in the intake side and then fell out on top of the piston? I'm assuming that a full rebuild is in order, but that will be a winter project so I figured I would see if anyone knew what the failure might have been?
I've had SeaDoos for more than 20 years but have always avoided an engine rebuild, but I have swapped engines to a new hull. I'm assuming that it is not that difficult for someone who has been wrenching on Seadoos since 1994.
I'm assuming that an SBT rebuilt engine is the way to go, but would be open to suggestions as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read and TIA for your replies.
