2011- gti, does impeller have a clutch?

[jnylund]

This weekend I got a small branch wedged between the plastic impeller blade and the outer shell. The seadoo would idle fine and go 5-6mph, but when you tried to go faster it would rev and make a horrible noise but not go, so I pulled it out of the water asap and found the small twig. I wedged it out with a screw driver, put it back in water and it runs fine, no problems.

So my question, is do I have any hidden damage, my friend says they build them to slip when they have that much resistance and its no problem, but I want to be sure.

thanks
Joel

 

[Michael211_2000]

Yours has a plastic impeller? In the jetpump? That sounds... hokey. Is yours a 2011 GTI or a 1996 GTI I'm confused here! I don't think they ever came with plastic impellers in the jetpump however.

Jet pumps don't have clutches, they have to turn the impeller all the time or else there'd be no cooling water flowing thru the exhaust system and it would melt down. This would be bad!

Most likely what you were feeling was this small branch screwing up the water flow thru the pump as you gave it throttle, causing terrible cavitation (and surely some vibration and noises from the branch itself being spun round-n-round faster). The cavitation allowed the rpm's to surge and you went nowhere fast as a result. It probably idled around just fine though right?

If it runs just fine now Joel, you're probably good to go!

- Michael

 

[jnylund]

Thanks, I think its plastic, I crawled under my seadoo and looked up through the metal grate into where I think the impeller is, its whitish, looks plastic like... yeah sorry got to update my profile, now have 2011 gti.

Your explanation sounds exactly what was happening.. thanks.. if it aint broke dont fix it right

 

[JFizzleJR]

Did you check the wear ring for damage after removing the twig? If it's scraped up a little bit you can pull the pump, drop it into the freezer for an hour, pop the wear ring out, and flip it around for another use on the clean (unused) side before buying another. If there's any big gouges in it though I would suggest replacing the wear ring completely.

There's no way the propeller is plastic. Even aluminum has a hard time holding up. Maybe you're confusing the wear ring for the impeller? If the impeller looks like white plastic and your wear ring is white also, chances are the prop blades melted the wear ring and now some of the plastic is now fused to the prop blades.

This weekend I got a small branch wedged between the plastic impeller blade and the outer shell. The seadoo would idle fine and go 5-6mph, but when you tried to go faster it would rev and make a horrible noise but not go, so I pulled it out of the water asap and found the small twig. I wedged it out with a screw driver, put it back in water and it runs fine, no problems.

So my question, is do I have any hidden damage, my friend says they build them to slip when they have that much resistance and its no problem, but I want to be sure.

thanks
Joel

 

[jnylund]

Interesting, I will take a picture next time I am at the lake, maybe I am not looking at the impeller, I googled GTI 2011 impeller and http://www.amazon.com/2006-2011-Sea-Impeller-Concord-Series/dp/B006Z3GV2M - this looks nothing like what I was looking at through the grate.

 

[Michael211_2000]

Interesting, I will take a picture next time I am at the lake, maybe I am not looking at the impeller, I googled GTI 2011 impeller and http://www.amazon.com/2006-2011-Sea-Impeller-Concord-Series/dp/B006Z3GV2M - this looks nothing like what I was looking at through the grate.

Yours is probably OEM stainless steel, and they aren't polished they have an almost sandpaper like feel to them and look like light grey in color (not quite white). That Solas Concord impeller is aftermarket and has been highly polished to a luster (such that it almost looks like chrome). Both are stainless steel though, not plastic! It's just a matter of being polished out or not.

Rocks jammed in the impeller will cut grooves in the plastic wear ring that surrounds the impeller and cause loss of performance even after being cleared (lower top speeds, possible cavitation at lower rpm's, excessive water get's past the edges of the impeller due to the wear ring damage). Twigs or small branches, not so much they're not as hard as rocks.

You're fine, you're fine! Go have fun with it!

- Michael