1999 GTX won't run past 15 mph

[Goolie2]

A buddy lent me his 1999 GTX for the season. I'm new to PWC but I used to be a auto mechanic in the early 1980's.

The GTX has 79 hours on it, was recently tuned up and ran fine for the first 5 hours topping out at about 45MPH at WOT.

Today my wife and I were crusing in a local canal at idle for about 30 minutes going about 2 mph. Without warning, the engine stalled. I tried to start it, it cranked, but wouldn't start. I let it rest for a few minutes and it started but would barely rev.

As we drove out of the canal I had to keep it under 5mph but it seemed as I would lean on the throttle it would barely respond. Once out on the open water I tried to get it to plane, but at WOT it would barely go 15mph. The rpm's would get up to about 4500, if I backed off the throttle to 4100 it wouldn't slow all that much.

When I got the GTX back on the lift and ran fresh water through it, it started right up and seemed to rev fine.

Did I suck up something into the jet drive? How do I check to see if the drive/impeller is clear? Thanks.

 

[Goolie2]

199 GTX won't run past 15 mph

over the weekend I checked it again, this time with only one rider. It starts up without incident. The throttle response is poor and I could only get it up to about 20mph. I did plane, but just barely. I tried to turn hard left and right to see if it made any difference, it didn't. When I put in on the lift but mostly still in the water I couldn't get the revs much above 4500. When I took it out of the water but plugged in a fresh water hose it started and seem to rev freely. I didn't want to spin the motor too high without a load but it would blip to 4500.

Does this sound like a fuel starvation problem? What about RAVE valves? I spoke with the mechanic that serviced the unit over the last few years, he said they never touched the RAVE values as long as he had serviced it. The Jet Ski has about 79 hours now. Oddly, I called the local SeaDoo dealers looking for gaskets so I could service the RAVE vales. The parts department never heard of RAVE valves.

Thanks.

 

[Goolie2]

199 GTX won't run past 15 mph

A couple of weeks ago I had made arrangements to run the GTX to the Freeport ramp and trailer it over the Formula 1 Motorsports in Seaford for repair. When I attempted to start the GTX, it would crank but not start. This was the first time I had an issue with starting. A marine mechanic my father-in-law uses recommended I use Performance Watercraft also in Seaford. On Monday He and I towed the GTX over to Performance Watercraft . Steve the owner took care of me. My thoughts were that it was going to be a fuel issue, maybe clogged fuel injectors caused by corrosive ethanol gas. Steve called me up and told me he had to replace the voltage regulator. To provide some background, the owner of the GTX had been experiencing an electric draw and had to replace the battery the last few seasons. I didn't have any problem cranking with the new battery, but I had Steve replace the regulator as he suggested. He also replaced the plugs since they got pretty fouled from it not starting. It initially ran fine on the sea trial, but then started doing some funny things according to Steve. He suspected a collapsed fuel filter. After replacing the filter, it ran great. I picked it up this afternoon, and everything worked great. Throttle response was excellent, it got to about 45 MPH at WOT which is how it performed prior to engine problems. This was not the diagnosis I had expected, but results are what matter. I was trilled that I found Steve and Performance Watercraft.

 

[Goolie2]

Sorry to say, I'm back. The PWC ran great for about a hour. When I attempted to start it a week later, the battery was weak. I didn't get the normal beep when I plugged in the key. I charged the battery overnight and it started up fine. When driving, I noticed it began to bog down and miss at high RPM. From there it got worse, back to the original problem where it wouldn't go past 15-20 at full throttle. I brought it back into Performance Watercraft of Long Island. Steve said today he found that one injector was wide open and was flooding one cylinder. He's replacing the plugs and injector so it should be ready in the morning. I'll be back with a final update.

 

[timmyboy76]

b4 hit'n the water, fire the ski up, and hold at 5k-5500rpm, and test the battery for voltage...hihg/low-mid 13-14-ish volts, is what you want...12's and 15'z aint good.