As others have said, STOP! This is your first ski and we all want you to enjoy it. THe 1997 XP is very fun and you will like it but you need to address some issues before you ride it. These items are simple and we can walk you through it but if you go and ride it like many others have there is a good chance you will have major and expensive repairs. Those gray fuel lines rot from the inside and plug your carbs starving the engine from fuel. The problem on a 2 stroke is that the lubrication comes from oil mixed with the fuel so not enough fuel also causes not enough oil and the engine is toast.
1. Your carbs have an accelerator pump so it is like having a built in primer, just give the throttle a few pumps when the engine s cold to get some raw fuel in tohelp starting. I do not think the 1997 came with the accellerator pump carbs so they might have been switched but I could be wrong. This will allow you to inject some fuel in when the engine is cold to make starting easier since your choke has been removed.
2. Get rid of those air filters. THe stock engine does not need any more air than a stock air cleaner. Plus there is no dirt on the water so nothing to filter the big problem especially on this ski for a beginner is letting water into the engine when you tip the ski over. The stock filter is the best a keeping water out of the engine. Your engine will last much lomger without water in it. PM Minetonka4Me and he can get you the factory air cleaner and carb support bracket for cheap. THe other BIG issue is that with the filters you have the carb support bracket is missing and this WILL cause the intake manifold to crack and then the engine is toast.
3. Replace all gray fuel lines and the factory fuel/water separator. You can get the fuel line at any auto parts store and don't get fuel injection line as it is more expensive and not necessary. The fuel/water separator is about $22 for the entire assembly and is cheaper than buying the parts individualy.
4. It looks like your oil lines are blue. The only oil that you should be using in this engine is SeaDoo XPS Full Synthetic. I think that it has always been orange wut others will confirm. You will need to drain the oil tank and siphon the oil from all the hoses to the engine. This will remove all the oil that the last owner used so you will know it has the good stuff. At this time you need to replace the white oil filter in your picture on the oil hose and the small oil lines going from the oil pump on the front of the engine to the intake manifold. Those get old, hard, break and you will not know until your engine is toast. Yours are painted white so they are the origional ones from 1997.
5. The final step is to rebuild the carbs with only OEM Mikuni carb kits with new needle and seats, The needle and seats do not come in the kit. One option id DR. Honda here will rebuild them for you with only the parts you need at a reasonable cost. He is very fair and honest if you do not want to do it yourself.
6. Replace the jet pump oil.
That should be it. but you need to address these issues to have a trouble free ski. Everybody that gets a ski with the minor issues yours has and cant wait so they take it out we always hear back from them that it is in bad shape and more expense to repair. I would think if you do all the work yourself and get the correct air cleaner you are probably looking at about $200 in parts and a long weekend in work. After that you will have a better understanding of your first ski, find any unknown issues and have a long summer of a trouble free ski.
