2008 Sea Doo GTI Wont Power Up

[TerryBoone]

I bought 2 identical 2008 GTI 155's last year. This problem happened last year when there was under 30 hours on the machine and again now when getting ready to take them out 1,300 miles from home.

Problem is one of them won't power up. Does absolutely nothing. Put any one of the 6 keys I have and it won't do anything. No lights, no sounds, no beeps, NOTHING. When it happened last year I swapped every removable part I could from one machine to the other and nothing. The guy that was going with me suggested I disconnect the battery and see if somthing "Resets" itself. For some reason it started and I used it the whole summer.

Now the same thing has happened and I even swapped the battery from one to the other. NOTHING!

The battery has 12.81 volts and is surely good due to it starting the identical machine next to it just fine. It seems to me that the key sysyem is just not teling the computer it talks to that it's not getting a signal.

Any ideas? I have my entire family waiting to go out with no ideas and there is not a decent Sea Doo Dealer around that I know of.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Terry Boone

 

[seadoosnipe]

Plug?....

I bought 2 identical 2008 GTI 155's last year. This problem happened last year when there was under 30 hours on the machine and again now when getting ready to take them out 1,300 miles from home.

Problem is one of them won't power up. Does absolutely nothing. Put any one of the 6 keys I have and it won't do anything. No lights, no sounds, no beeps, NOTHING. When it happened last year I swapped every removable part I could from one machine to the other and nothing. The guy that was going with me suggested I disconnect the battery and see if somthing "Resets" itself. For some reason it started and I used it the whole summer.

Now the same thing has happened and I even swapped the battery from one to the other. NOTHING!

The battery has 12.81 volts and is surely good due to it starting the identical machine next to it just fine. It seems to me that the key sysyem is just not teling the computer it talks to that it's not getting a signal.

Any ideas? I have my entire family waiting to go out with no ideas and there is not a decent Sea Doo Dealer around that I know of.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Terry Boone

In the past, I've seen similar instances in the skis, where it was found to be the plug at the ECU. You have the right idea. The problem appears to be the DESS is not communicating with the ski.

Look at the top of the motor. I believe the ECU is plugged in on top of the air box, to the ECU. It's a rectangular plug. You need a tube of die-electric grease. If you ride the ski in chop and bounce around, it could have worked it's way loose. If you run across any of your electrical connections and they look dry, no protectant, or if they have the white DC corrosion, you'll need to go over all your main terminal block connections and use a dab of this grease. It provides a positive connection across the pins to plug.

Check that out because it does sound like a connection problem. Also, check your ground and power wires at the engine itself, not just the battery....:cheers:

 

[popasodatastie]

Well heres some suggestions

Did you buy the seadoos from a dealership becuase seadoo usually has a good warranty on their skis and the dealership will have to fix it for $50 so if its got a warrenty then you could go that route. but it deffently sould like a wire connection problem. Also check all the fuses in the electrical box maybe on blew and thats causing it.

 

[TerryBoone]

Thank you both for your input. It is quite valuable and I appreciate your
efforts. Unfortunately I put this question out because I waited until the
last 3 days of my family's vacation to go get them ready to go to the gulf
for a day or two of riding. That's when I found the problem. I tried
everything you said (seadoosnipe) with no success. Having said that; I brought them to a local dealer due to them only having 36 hours on them, only being used one season and hoping they could get them going for at least one day while the
kids were in town. After driving them a half an hour one way and leaving
them for the day, I called them back and found that they charged me $100 for
diagnosis and the machine cranked up normally and they didn't find any codes
or problems.

I was beside myself and told them not only had I tried them over 20 separate
times but even made an attempt after leaving them in their lot just before I
left. I went back to get them at 11:00pm only to find the same problem. I
called the next day (the day I was leaving town) to see if they had tested
them (it) again. The service manager did and said the problem occurred to
him and after rolling the key around the post a few times it started
working. I had tried that along with tapping on all the components,
connectors and key post several times. He seems to think it has something
to do with the key post (said something about a magnetic thing in there) and
is ordering a new post.

It sounds like you are quite knowledgeable about these machines and I'm only
elaborating because I am a past automotive technician for General Motors and
used to appreciate any information I could get with respect to the diagnosis
and/or the continuing education in my field with the possibility of helping
me in the future.

Again, thanks for your input and I'll reply in the near future as to what
was done to correct the problem.


Terry Boone

 

[1997 Z71]

I have the identical problem. I have not wiggled all the connectors. Sounds like a great idea. I have 2 Sea Doo's. I unpluged the 2 connectors, next to the battery, for the start switch and dess switch. I jumpered the not working Sea Doo to the DESS and start switch of the working Sea Doo. It works with the controls from the other Sea Doo. I think the DESS post is the problem. not sure if their is a way to clean it.

I originally took mine to the dealer. They SUCK. They told me the ECU was bad and charged me $200, just to diagnose it. So I went home and put the apparently bad ECU in the working Sea Doo and it started. I am very dissapointed with the service at the dealership.

 

[TerryBoone]

2008 SeaDoo GTI 155 Power Up Problem

I thank you all for your input. The last message from 1997 Z71 I believe is right on target. I finally got it to a dealer and the problem didn't occur. I went to pick it up the next day and same problem..........nothing at all. They finally determined the post was the problem and replaced it.

The machine works now however about 50% of the time when I put the DSS lanyard on the machine makes the loud single beep and the machine won't start. You have to wiggle the key a bit or take it off and do it again to power up.

I've since brought it back and the problem occurred to them but they couldn't find a problem with it. They said just to try to put the key on straight........whatever that means. I made sure they documented that so I can have it repaired on their dime should it crap out again.

Thanks again for all your input. This is a very valuable site.

 

[southbay12]

Salt water use?

Sounds like you might have a short at the terminal block. If you ever swamped the ski with salt water or broke a fuse, I've seen it do this. Very frustrating. Sea-doo's warranty doesn't cover any corrosion and they will try to sell you a main harness but a good marine electrical guy can re-pin a shorting fuse.

Cheers