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2004 GTX 185

Sammyaxe

New Member
Im sure everyone will be sick of answering these questions, but I have a few regarding the skis we picked up last year. Both are at 200 hours. I found right away that the superchargers are the weakest link on these engine. I pulled both of them and sent them in to GreenHulk and had them both rebuilt. Had them out twice so far this season and both are running well. I will try to keep this short. I recently found the heat exchanger hose fittings on both skis seem to be seeping coolant and I found and ordered aluminum replacements, when researching replacing these fittings I went down a rabbit hole and now I am worried about everything under the sun. Here are my questions.

Can those fittings be replaced with the ride plate / heat exchanger installed - looks tough to reach down in there but I think I can do it if so.
How worried do I need to be about the exhaust valves breaking?
How worried do I need to be about the timing chain breaking?
What major component failures are there, or is it just a few people on the internet making this seem like these engines are all doomed without constantly rebuilding the damn engines lol?
I don't have a ton of free time, but I can make the time available if needed. Didn't want to buy projects (its a watercraft, I know) just want to enjoy these things, not work on them all the time

I bought the skis from the original owner who I feel really did a good job maintaining them and he stated they were not run wide open throttle 24/7 and I tend to believe him, but who knows.
I understand if my wife and I drive them like we stole them all the time they wont last as long. I just want to know, at about 200 hours, what do I really need to worry about, and/or what maintenance I should do to these to keep them going for a few more years at least.

I am an automotive technician with almost every tool, other than seadoo specialty tools, at my disposal. I am not well versed in watercraft, but I am a skilled technician so I am confident I can fix most things.

Thank you in advance to all of you that take the time to read this and/or respond.

Sam
 
Change the hose fittings, do the regular maintenance outlined in the operators manual, and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
 
Thanks for the response, my thoughts exactly. Do you have any idea on replacing those fittings with the ride plate installed?
 
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