1996 speedster

[BigE]

I bought a 1996 speedster with I believe 717 motors the seller knows nothing about the history.
Both motors have oil in the crank case. I got one motor to fire up and oil came out the exhaust.
The other motor I believe has more oil in it.Could it have drained from the oil injection?
The tank was empty but the lines have oil in them.I did find out it sat for three years.
I would appreciate any information. Thank you

 

[Spider4real]

Likely came from the rotary valve. There are seals on both sides of the rotary valve. In order to change them you would have to pull the engine and split the case. There are two big oil lines that go from the oil tank to the engine. So if the engine still has good compression and If the leak is not too bad you could put a shut off valve on the line to prevent the crankcase from filling with oil when you are not using it. This will buy you some time until such time as a full rebuild is required.

But before you add a valve I would fill the tank with some oil and see how bad the leak is. Maybe the boat Sat longer than 3 years and the leak is super slow and not worth the trouble. Maybe the boat was parked with an empty oil tank. No way to know for sure so best to test it yourself.

 

[BigE]

Likely came from the rotary valve. There are seals on both sides of the rotary valve. In order to change them you would have to pull the engine and split the case. There are two big oil lines that go from the oil tank to the engine. So if the engine still has good compression and If the leak is not too bad you could put a shut off valve on the line to prevent the crankcase from filling with oil when you are not using it. This will buy you some time until such time as a full rebuild is required.

But before you add a valve I would fill the tank with some oil and see how bad the leak is. Maybe the boat Sat longer than 3 years and the leak is super slow and not worth the trouble. Maybe the boat was parked with an empty oil tank. No way to know for sure so best to test it yourself.

Thank you for the information, that explains the mystery. Should I pull the head and cylinders To get the oil out?

 

[Spider4real]

Quickest way to get the oil out is pull the sparkplugs, ground the wires on the grounding post and turn the engine over with the starter. The oil if any, will shoot out the plug holes. But this will be a messy.

If you are so inclined there are two drain plugs underneath the carbs at the lowest point on the engine for draining a flooded engine. But in order to access them you will probably have to pull the carbs off. Try to see if you can find them, they are just small Allen screws.

 

[BigE]

Quickest way to get the oil out is pull the sparkplugs, ground the wires on the grounding post and turn the engine over with the starter. The oil if any, will shoot out the plug holes. But this will be a messy.

If you are so inclined there are two drain plugs underneath the carbs at the lowest point on the engine for draining a flooded engine. But in order to access them you will probably have to pull the carbs off. Try to see if you can find them, they are just small Allen screws.

Thanks, I did the compression method already and got one of the engines running but the other one seems to have a lot more oil.
I will look for the plugs , after tuning it over it just coats plugs and won’t let them fire and way to much compression.
Thanks again.

 

[Sandman251]

Thanks, I did the compression method already and got one of the engines running but the other one seems to have a lot more oil.
I will look for the plugs , after tuning it over it just coats plugs and won’t let them fire and way to much compression.
Thanks again.

Just follow the procedure above. Pull the plugs and cover the holes with towels and start cranking. Don't be tempted to hold the towels down tight. Let it do its thing . You won't believe how much oil is going to come out. You don't need to be super concerned about stressing out the starter motor because there is no compression, but keep an eye on it. After about 30 minutes of swapping out towels, you might be to a point where you can squirt a little pre-mix into the cylinders and start the motors. It's going to smoke like hell at first. I've had to do this many times over the years on skis and boats. Many times, the problem never comes back for some reason.

 

[etemplet]

My plan regarding getting the oil out of the crankcase is to by a bolt the size of the spark plug threaded hole. Then drill and tap it for a 1/4" or 3/8" pipe fitting with a hose barb on the end. Again 3"8" or 1/2" on the barb. Scew that into the sparkplug hole, connect a hose to the barb and run it into a bucket or something. Less mess for sure.

I often wonder how much oil i takes to lock up the engine. I'm guessing 3 ounces but that is just a guess.

These are the valves I use. 3/8" from Amazon. Good Luck !!

 

[BigE]

I did crank a lot of oil out but every time I put the plugs In it would still lock up. So I put a new starter in and it fired right up.
all the residual oil is burned out, both motors run fine.l have been gone for 10 days so tomorrow I will put it in the water.
thanks for the help.

 

[Michael Hunt]

Another Speedster goes back in service.