2004 SeaDoo GTI LE RFI problems

[Pritchard]

My 2004 GTI LE RFI died on the water Monday. It was difficult to start at first but ran fine for 10 minutes or so. Then after changing riders, no start. Ran the battery dead trying to start and had to be towed in. So SAD!

I have good compression on both cyls., 150 psi, fuel pressure is 55 psi, but the spark on cylinder one is intermittent. The engine will barely start and idles rough.

Am I looking at replacing the coil pack?

I bought this ski just a couple of weeks ago and don't know much of its history. It does have a replacement engine with only 61 hours on it.

Thanks for any input.

Pritchard

 

[Dr Honda]

Before buying anything new... I would pull the crank sensor out, and making sure it's clean. If it gets some metal filings on it... it won't properly read the crank position.

 

[Pritchard]

Thanks for the info. I will pull the crank sensor and look it over. BTW, could you tell me where it is on this model?

 

[mikidymac]

If the crank sensor is ok, try removing the sparkplug caps from the wire, trim 1/4" off the wire and reinstall the caps with new plugs and see if that helps before you replace the coils.

 

[Pritchard]

I checked the crank sensor and it had only a few metal filings on it. Cleaned it off and reinstalled. I also cleaned the RAVE valves. One was completely stuck. Both had the red cap screwed all the way down. I also trimmed 1/4 inch off the offending wire and reinstalled. Put in new plugs and restarted. Not much improvement.

As I was checking for spark, I found out something weird. When attempting to crank, push start button and no spark when engine is turning over. Try again within a couple of seconds, and I get spark. The spark goes away on that cylinder once engine is running, poorly I might add. It will idle but cyl. 1 is not firing (pulled wire off while running and no change).

I am almost positive that I need a new coil pack. Any of you guys think I need to check something else before ordering the new coil?

Any input to save me some $ would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Pritchard

 

[mikidymac]

On the RFI engines they idle on only one cylinder. It is the strangest thing and I forget why seadoo did that. Probably emissions at idle.

 

[Pritchard]

How strange. That explains one thing. Any ideas on why it doesn't spark until the second try?

 

[griz400]

2 things id like to see you do, first , recheck your compression, then, test your battery, this way, tell me what is voltage when you first check battery, then start it, and rev to 3500 rps and tell me voltage

 

[Pritchard]

Griz400-
Just rechecked the compression. OH NO!!! Cylinder 1 is now at 25 psi and cylinder 2 is still at 150 psi. I rechecked #1 three times just to be sure. What could cause this? I know that broken rings could be the cause. What else? I did remove and clean the RAVE valve. Could this be a cause?
I am familiar with 4-stroke engines but my 2-stroke knowledge is a bit less.

As far as the battery goes, it was at 12.67 volts before starting and at 10.5 when cranking. I couldn't keep the engine running long enough to get a measurement at 35000 rpm.

Looking forward to any more input from you fine folks.

Thanks

Pritchard

 

[griz400]

well, sorry to hear about motor, ive been through it with mine, you will have to figure out if your gonna want to overhaul it, or replace with a reman, but i believe, you either lost oil in that cylinder, or you have an injector problem, trust me, ive been threw it with mine this season, your gonna have to figure in your equation an oil pump, new or another good used one with a new filter, and 2 new oil injection lines, and i wouldnt do it without replacing both injectors then i believe it will be bullitproof, also, i dont use anything other than yellow jug full synthetic oil.. the rfi's, when well, are a real good ski... i will explain i belive why you say you didnt have spark, i stumbled across this condition when i was diagnosing mine

 

[Pritchard]

Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the info. This motor is a replacement motor with only 61 hours on it. I just bought this ski three weeks and only have about three hours on it.

How do I determine if I lost oil in that cylinder? I know I can pull the injector and check it, but I am clueless about how to check for oil getting to the cylinder. I haven't had to replace any oil in the ski yet as it was full with Amsoil. What is the yellow jug?

 

[griz400]

right now, what im sayin, is the motor under warranty ??? it will have to be torn down to determine anything, amsoil, i dont use at all, only brp yellow jug synthetic, its not worth foolin around with anything else i believe....

 

[Pritchard]

OK, I have the engine mostly apart. The culprit for the lost compression was a broken compression ring.. Luckily no damage to the cylinder. I'll just hone them and put in a top end kit. Which leads to this question...

The pistons are marked with 1.00 and are from SBT. Does this mean that they are 1 mm oversized? They measured 82.677 mm and the +1 mm kit is advertised as 83 mm.

Thanks for the feedback.

Pritchard