2004 GTI LE RFI water-flooded engine cause & consequences

[den458]

A fan of SeaDoo PWCs, I bought 3 new, still have 2. My 2004 GTI LE RFI was unbelievably fuel & oil efficient, a dream to own. Here is background for it's issues now:

In 2012, the pump bearing failed. I removed the pump, bought a pump rebuild kit + wear ring, planned a spare time rebuild. Then I bought a new 2013 Wake 155 & really enjoy it, & sort of forgot about the old RFI.

3 years later, no free time, I took the pump, box of replacement parts to the dealership where I bought the Wake 155 & they agreed to rebuild my pump for an hour labor. Pump rebuilt, I took the SKI to the dealership & they reinstalled the pump in the SKI for another hour labor, that was 3 months ago.

This last weekend in my driveway, battery charged, garden hose connected, it started immediately & sounded eager to run, just like always, really amazing on 3 year old gas. I let it run 2-3 minutes, water discharging from the pump & the front-left spout as it should, then I shut it off, & thought it was ready for a run out on the river. Paranoid about damaging something, I didn't run it 10 minutes or carefully examine anything visually inside the hull while it was running. At a glance while idling, I saw nothing leaking or out of the ordinary. In my mind, the pump had been removed, rebuilt, reinstalled & nothing else had been disturbed.

Topped off the gas with 10 gal of premium, I took it to the river. It fired up immediately on the trailer, seemed fine at an idle for a couple minutes for my wife as I parked the car. I hopped on & we cruised up river maybe 2 miles at about 20-25 mph & it seemed fine... until the engine began to lose power. I steered towards shore at an idle & realized we'd lost some buoyancy. I NEVER HEARD OR NOTICED ANY ALARMS. The engine died, wouldn't restart & stay running & we lost more buoyancy. I jumped off & swam it the rest of the way to shore, with water in the foot-wells.

I pulled it up a little onto a private residential launch ramp nearby. Pulled off the seats, the water level inside the hull was the same as the river level. I felt around blindly for a loose cooling hose. I pulled the drain plugs & struggled to pull it up farther onto the ramp. Gradually, water drained out of the hull but I could not find anything visually wrong, except for the obvious. That resident graciously allowed me to trailer my ski out of the river. Home, I prepared to figure out the leak source. I assumed a cooling system leak into the SKI, or a leak associated with the PUMP re-installation.

Problem#1: I connected the garden hose, turned it on gently, before I could hit the engine start button, I noticed water trickling out where the water pressure regulator / control valve mounts on top of the exhaust muffler / water-box (see pics below). Removed the 2 hoses, then unscrewed the regulator off of the water-box. It looks like the bottom of that plastic housing, which should be threaded, for installing onto the threaded connection on the water-box, appeared to be melted, so it no longer sealed properly onto the water-box, the source of the leak, I assume. Obviously, it got too hot. Why, & what else might be wrong?

Problem#2: I tried to start it, wouldn't turn over. Read the shop manual, suspected a water-filled engine, pulled the plugs & hit the start button: lots of water spray & mist blew out of the holes. Sprayed XP-S lube into the cylinders (per the recovery procedure), hit the starter, more water mist; repeatedly operated starter many times until the water mist was minimal, eventually reinstalled dried plugs & the engine started (great relief).

Problem#3: Took a lunch break & 2 hours later connected the lanyard to try to briefly re-start the SKI, but the starter now makes a noise like its turning but it isn't engaging whatever needs to turn the motor over.

I'm thrilled the engine did briefly restart. I'm baffled why the water regulator got so hot (was never in less than 3 feet of water at the ramp). I did disassemble it, looked clean inside. I'll pick up another. I assumed that the floatation inside the hull would keep the air intake above water level, but maybe not, & that's why I had cylinders full of water. I'd like to winterize it immediately as it may get down to freezing tomorrow night, but suddenly the starter doesn't engage (I'll pull it into the garage for temperature safety).

Could be my 11 year old SKI was ready for a failing water regulator, causing a couple other consequences: water-filled engine, & now a starter that doesn't engage the engine.

I'd appreciate any advise from others who have experienced similar water regulator or starter issues & what the solutions were. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mike99]

Your engine may have flooded because you turned on the hose before starting the engine. The rule is turn on engine first, then hose. Shutting down, turn off hose first, then engine.

Mike

 

[den458]

Thanks for the reply. Good input, agreed. Yes, it's possible I flooded it, but I normally would turn the water pressure on low & start the engine immediately. It's occurred to me that I'm not sure I immediately turned the water off when I noticed the leak. It appears the engine has survived being water-filled. Any thoughts on the water pressure regulator meltdown or the issue with the starter motor now? Thanks again in advance.

 

[bigtexan99]

I normally would turn the water pressure on low & start the engine immediately.

Even if you only open the water faucet a little bit, the pressure is the same as if it was full open. Opening it a little bit reduces the flow, but not the pressure.

If your engine is cold when you start it, its not going to overheat in 60 seconds. Start the engine, then turn on the water.

I keep one of these shut off valves on the end of my garden hose so I can control the water on/off from the back of the boat, instead of walking to the main faucet control.

 

[Strizzo]

a trickle of water isn't going to flood your motor. the entire exhaust would have to fill up and pour in through the exhaust ports. your motor likely died when it got choked off from the water in the hull, then when it filled with more water it probably filled the case through the carb.

Re: problem #2 - when you're cranking with the plugs out, to get the last bit of water out of the motor and to get it to finally fire, you might have to crank with the throttle wide open. this gets the pumping action from the case up to the cylinders and out going at full effect. when i flooded my 97 xp, i thought i had all the water out but it would still kick over and then die because once the motor fired, it pulled more water out of the case. cranking with the plugs out and throttle open should get it clear enough to fire up and then the heat from running the motor will start working the rest of the water out. you'll want to run it hard for an hour on the water to be sure and evaporate the rest of the water out of the motor and especially the counterbalance shaft area. after you run it, fog the motor really well when you get back to protect the internals from any other residual moisture that might still be hanging around.

Problem #3: when the ski was flooded, it might have gotten water under the stator cover and into the starter bendix. a little rust on the shaft is probably keeping it from extending when the motor kicks on. you might have to pull it, but you might try tapping on it a couple times while kicking the starter over to see if you can free it.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Even if you only open the water faucet a little bit, the pressure is the same as if it was full open. Opening it a little bit reduces the flow, but not the pressure.

If your engine is cold when you start it, its not going to overheat in 60 seconds. Start the engine, then turn on the water.

I keep one of these shut off valves on the end of my garden hose so I can control the water on/off from the back of the boat, instead of walking to the main faucet control.

View attachment 33080

yes yes and yes... My salt-a-way adaptor has an on/off valve, but before I had that, I used the little adapter.

Side story, went ant looked at a ski 2 weeks ago about 45 minutes away, good price. After looking it over briefly I said "can we start it?"

he proceeded to begin dragging over the hose although I said that It wasn't necessary I just wanted to run it for a few seconds but he insisted that the water was important. So, he plugged in the hose, turned the water on a good 3/4ths... then shuffled over while I just stood there and proceeded to try and start the ski, took like 8-10 attempts before it turned over...easily a minute, maybe two worth of water pumping in.

I have no idea how long it takes for it to get to the engine but needless to say I didn't even make an offer, just said.. "thanks for your time and good luck"