2005 RXT washer and exhaust valve problems

[travisgiven]

Hello,

I purchased a 2005 RXT 215 with 16 hours on it from a friend. It has not been on the water since 2007. I then found the posted information below, which concerns me. I spoke to both dealers within a couple hours of my location and none of the service techs are familiar with this old of a ski.

Can anyone suggest a plan of action to upgrade/fix this ski?

It appears I will need to tell the dealers exactly what I want done and what year parts to change to in order to avoid these problems.



From 2011 post:
Yes; I would be concerned about it. A low hour 2004-2006 RXT is not necessarily a good thing. These year skis had several inherent problems:
1. Ceramic washers in the supercharger clutch; they grenade and spit little pieces of ceramic into the oil pump. They must be changed ASAP.
2. Weak flywheel bolts (fixed in 2006)
3. Poor exhaust valve design. Had hollow shafts, and rust (mainly from sitting, hint, hint) on shafts cause the heads to pop off and destroy the engine. (fixed in very late 2006)

I would mainly be worried about #3 above. I would not own a 2004-2006 215 4-TEC without fixing those 3 items above.

 

[Tytan]

Those are unfortunatly the three weak areas of the early 4 tec models.

The first priority before anything else is to get the supercharger rebuilt with a genuine Seadoo kit not an aftermarket kit. This is a "must do right now" not a maybe or leave it for a few hours it's a grenade waiting to go off. It's recommended to rebuild the S/C every 100hrs or two years since yours probably has the ceramic washers and is over on time it needs doing. Next would be oil change, coolant flush and check the pump grease for water intrusion.

The flywheel bolts and exhaust valves were hit and miss lots of skis out there with high hours and no problems and some that had the flywheel bolts loosen and some had exhaust valve failures. With both of these problems the collateral damage is the expensive part. If you can do the work yourself it's a nice winter project if you have to pay someone it gets expensive. If you plan on keeping the machine for a long time it might be worth the money to fix these issues before they cause bigger problems. The other option is to ride it until you have a problem which may or may not happen.

This winter I did valves and flywheel bolts on my RXP and the flywheel bolts on my GTX as I plan on keeping both machines for a few years and where I ride they have to be reliable.

 

[travisgiven]

Unfortunately I will need a dealer to fix this for me.

Will all the supercharger kits come with the correct washers now or do I need to specify the washer type? How much should this cost from a dealer?

Should I look at upgrading to the 255 supercharger versus rebuilding the existing one?

Can you give me an estimated cost to have the dealer replace the exhaust valves and information on what year/part number I need them replaced with?

 

[Tytan]

If you get the latest S/C rebuild kit from the dealer it will have the correct updated washers no other parts are required. The rebuild kit is about $330 I have no idea what your dealer charges for labour if you bring in the Seadoo and they have to re and re then I would guess 2 to 3 hours labour if you bring just the charger about 1 hour labour.

If you upgrade to the 255 or X charger as they are refered to then you need to install larger 42lb fuel injectors at the same time.

72 is the prefix for the bad valves get a good magnifying glass and pull the valve cover to visually check, the number is stamped around the top of the stem right above the keeper.

The 215hp models are the most prone to exhaust valves breaking then the 185hp models then the 155hp models. I replaced them in my RXP this year and might do them in the 05 GTX next year just need to spread the cost out. I have the motor out of the GTX right now doing flywheel bolts which is more time consuming than costly.

When I did the valves and flywheel bolts etc on my RXP these are the approximate costs off the top of my head for just the valves. Add another $100 for misc stuff if you do the flywheel bolts. You can get the updated valves from Seadoo or use an aftermarket set like Supertech for less money. I can dig up the Supertech parts numbers if you're interested.
$370. New intake and exhaust valves.
$ 70. New valve seals.
$ 85. New head gasket.
$135. ARP head studs.
$ 36. New rocker shaft bolts.
$696. Total with me doing all the labour.

 

[travisgiven]

Great! Thanks for all the detailed information!

 

[Tytan]

The Supertech part numbers are:

SEAIVC-3860S
SEAEVI-3160S

I got mine from IPG parts on EBay.