4 TECH ENGINES LONGEVITY (truth)

[rcookr1]

Ok I'm wanting honest answers what is the longevity of the sea-doo 4 tech mine went threw a supercharger after 53 hrs. I'm looking at getting a Sea doo challenger 215H/P because I like how sea doo look..... I'm worried that all I see and read is sea-doo engines not lasting very long. I have found a lot with new engines in less than 120 hrs. I only seem to see rental places renting Yamaha and they seem to get a lot of hrs. 500 -1000 hrs. then they sell them. I don't really ever seeing a sea doo with 500 hrs. on the same engine

 

[chamilton89]

Seadoo GTX SC 185hp one SC rebuild 436 hours.

 

[rcookr1]

That sounds great standard maint

 

[chamilton89]

Yes sir. Yearly oil changes with plugs is pretty much it.

 

[rcookr1]

Ok that's one with over 400 hours have seen 20 with less than 100 blow..

 

[Coastiejoe]

Rebuilding the SC is important. But the 4-tec engine itself can easily get into the thousands of hours. Change the oil at the END of the season. That is the only real important thing that is needed. And winterizing if you live in a cold area.

 

[rcookr1]

Have you ever seen one with 1000 hours??

 

[Coastiejoe]

Have you ever seen one with 1000 hours??

Not literally in front of me, but many have posted their hours on this site. I have seen may in the 500-700 range here and in doing additional research I have seen posts outside of this site in excess of the 1000 hour mark...

The SC engines get more higher end use, so it is realistic to see them needing some service at a lower hour mark as compared to the 130 and the 155.

But I have seen MANY into the 400-600 range personally.

 

[xintersecty]

My RXT is 2007 120 Hours and I rebuilding a supercharger right now to replace the existing one. Bought it used three seasons ago.

 

[ryffish]

I have a Friend that rents jet skis he used to rent seadoo 2 strokes. But they got tired so he replaced them with all new yamaha 4 strokes . I am going jet skiing with him this weekend it will be interesting to see how my rxt x 300 stacks up against his yamahas

 

[Tytan]

I have a Friend that rents jet skis he used to rent seadoo 2 strokes. But they got tired so he replaced them with all new yamaha 4 strokes . I am going jet skiing with him this weekend it will be interesting to see how my rxt x 300 stacks up against his yamahas

Being a rental place he's probably got the lower hp Yamaha models so I don't think you on a 300 RXT-X have much to worry about.

 

[Rrm1387]

2003 gtx s/c 180 hrs second rebuilt of s/c and wear ring impellor . 07 rxt 215 140 hrs . and my skis are mostly riden by my 16 and 18 year old. Do the basic maintence and don't skimp on OIL

 

[tubshooter]

Of course maintenance is important but I'm sure there's lots of other factors. Do you have only two driving speeds? Zero and Max? Do you constantly jump wakes and re-enter the water at full throttle? Do you tow a lot of water toys and skiers? Are your kids using your ski?
Or if you're like me you might spend a lot of time cruising and touring at half throttle or less with only occasional full throttle runs. Are you always using fresh fuel of the correct octane?

Treat them like they're going to break and they won't. Treat em like they're bulletproof and, well, you know.

 

[Chilmonty]

Not trying to be Debby Downer but my RXT has a fried piston and valves at about 90 hours. I have only owned it about a year and had it serviced as soon as I bought it! Needs new engine. :banghead:

 

[pvamax]

Not trying to be Debby Downer but my RXT has a fried piston and valves at about 90 hours. I have only owned it about a year and had it serviced as soon as I bought it! Needs new engine. :banghead:

7 years of unknown maintenance and abuse could very well be the root cause of that....just never know with used stuff!

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Please keep in mind you'll hear/read about more failures than success stories because those that have had failures will bitch/moan more often and more loudly than those that have had no trouble, so your small sample size might be skewed.

195 hours, 202 hours, 140, all running on original engine, that's all I've had in my actual garage.

those that I know/ride with at least 3 are over 200 but most under 100. I'm discounting failures of heavily modded ski's but I'm only aware of two that crapped out under 200 out of maybe 15. Not sure if I consider that a success or not.

I have a big fear of catastrophic failure since the "fix" starts with a 3,000+invoice. <not something I want to deal with.

If you plan on holding onto a ski past 200 hours I think other things past battery/oil/plugs/SC that should be addressed as preventative medicine.

Carbon Seal
pump
intercooler

other likely problems, steering/reverse cables/throttle body/PTO bearing/injectors/motor mounts. Any or all of them can be an issue based on prior use, prior maintenance, salt water, storage, and bad luck. Ignore or over look a bad motor mount and a $25 fix can turn into $800+ <ask me how I know this

Ride it normal, flush, change oil, store indoors and it will last a dam long time.

Ride it like a race car with old gas, skip flushing, use cheap oil, store outside and its a time bomb.

 

[rcookr1]

Most jet skis are ridden hard and that goes for all brands

 

[rcookr1]

That seems to be the norm... I have been looking for a sea doo for a while and most with over 120 have new engines that I have seen for sale

 

[rcookr1]

That's what I was thinking until I started looking over at the Yamaha forums and most people are talking about mods are speakers very few about stuff breaking.... I love the design of sea-doo wish they would bring the boats back, I thing they need a larger engine that runs less RPM that would help for reliability

 

[XP 787]

324 hrs on my RXP and im not easy on it. Use good oil and rebuild supercharger every 100 hrs.

 

[rcookr1]

My RXT is 2007 120 Hours and I rebuilding a supercharger right now to replace the existing one. Bought it used three seasons ago.[/QUOTE

But yours engine blew up right?

 

[Spimothy Leary]

That's what I was thinking until I started looking over at the Yamaha forums and most people are talking about mods are speakers very few about stuff breaking.... I love the design of sea-doo wish they would bring the boats back, I thing they need a larger engine that runs less RPM that would help for reliability

It certainly could be argued, one of the ride groups that I belong to (150+ members) they frequently give the SD guys a hard time, and the general trend seems to be that as ski's get replaced/upgraded they migrate to Yamaha, duly noted the biggest complaint that I see is that they have to schedule the rides shorter to accomidate the fuel consumption issues that Kawi/SD have vs yamaha, the yami guys don't like having to turn around at the 30 mile mark when they have only burned 1/4 of a tank. With that said there are still a crap ton of SD's on the group rides, if anything the kawi's seem to get the biggest cold shoulder. And then there are the 3-4 loyal honda guys that swear by them.

 

[ryffish]

since we are on subject of seadoos reliability versus yamahas . I personally think superchargers are hard on engines But I also think that if you compare a supercharged seadoo with a supercharged yamaha they both are the same as far as reliability .

 

[ryffish]

Also you have to pay to play

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Also you have to pay to play

yip, just spent $400 replacing my intercooler.

Old one didn't leak, but it was the original, so frankly for an 08 it was about to be setting records for longevity, pretty filthy inside, might have been costing me some power, I did it strictly out of preventative measures.