2003 Seadoo GTX head gasket?

[Soumya]

Hello everyone
I am new here but have owned numerous 2 stroke seadoos and yamaha and Kawasaki. Recently i purchased a 2003 seadoo gtx 4 tec normally aspirated. I got the ski for only 1200 bucks with a trailer. The ski is running great and has a topspeed of 55mph has no issues starting acceleration is perfect to me. Recently i noticed white smoke from the rear of the craft while underway. I proceeded to the beach and checked the coolent level and to my suspension the bottel was near empty. When i checked the oil it seemed normal. My guess is i need to replace the headgasket. I also realize it will need work since it was so cheap and the ski has 680 hours on it! Yea i know thats pretty high. I figured i could do some work on it and keep it alive for a couple more seassons. Now here are the things i have noticed. It seemes that if i leave the ski on a beach and listen closely i can hear what sounds to be water dripping. It can almost be seen on the right side of the coolent line going into the ride plate. However does not seem like that is the source of the leak rather the water is falling onto this hose from above somewhere. When the ski is pulled from the lake and i release the drain plugs i get a pretty good amount of hot clear water. Cant tell if its mixed with coolent. Seemes odd and not sure what the first thing i should do is. Looking to find a cheap pressure tester or rent one. But not sure how the ski is still running so good even with burning all that coolent.

 

[MacSeaDoo]

First off. It is tough to diagnose white smoke from these machines as water injected into the hot exhaust. Depending on dew point and humidity, you can gets lots of water vapor from the exhaust.

If you have hot water coming out, you most likely have a leak in your exhaust.

Head gasket failure happens but from what I understand, it is rare.

Add coolant to your reservoir and monitor for coolant loss over time.

I would dry your machine out completely as best you can, then run it on the hose and pay attention to the exhaust components for a leak.

 

[Digdog]

You could take the plugs out and do a cooling system pressure test, have you looked at the spark plugs? Take them out keep them in order and send us a photo of them, you can read lots of info from them.

 

[Soumya]

I just replaced the spark plugs as soon as i got the machine along with an oil change and coolant flush. I was wondering if there is a specific area that tends to fail on this model ski. Like a hose that wears out on the exhaust system or a fitting that tends to crack? I will send some pictures of the spark plugs and i will keep an eye out on the coolant. When i did the coolant change i wonder if the ski never got hot enough afterwards and the system just appeared full. Maybe once the ski got hot the coolant filled some other passage way that was really empty and that's where the coolant went. I really was scared to keep riding the ski because i don't want to damage anything. This is my first 4 tec or 4 stroke ski of any kind. So this system is completely new to me.

 

[Soumya]

Hey guys, so i finally got a chance to take the ski out to the lake again and made some observations. The coolant was filled to above the cold line before starting. The ski ran for about 1 hour with a mix of idleing and some full throttle maneuvers. I did cruise for about 5 minutes just holding the ski at about 40 mph. After the ride i checked the coolant level again and found that the bottle had only lost about 1 inch from where i started. When i pulled the drain plugs the water was again hot and a moddest amount along with a rainbow appearance. But the oil level seemed to stay exactly where i started. The white smoke does not really seem like steam as it has a strong odor to it and is visible at all times other than absolute full throttle.

 

[MacSeaDoo]

Couple of thoughts..

Are you sure your water is actually making the rainbow. Think of how many boats come out of the ramp. If any of them have oily bilge it will often dry up in the sun quickly but leave the oil there. Next one who brings water, voila.

Pressure testing the cooling system is typically the most definitive but your oil and plugs may be able to give you clues.

If you just changed the coolant, you would need some time for it to settle. After a few runs it should not be moving level wise