8 friggin hours

[ohwhofarted]

bought my first ski last summer. 2015 gti se 130. simple ski for me and my girls. almost every time I took it out last year, something happened. I'd suck up a rock, sucked up a tow rope, clam shells... you name it. Well, I was pissed the last time and once I go the rock out from the impeller blades, I didn't take the machine out anymore. But I KNOW it started before I put it away for the winter.

I did NOT winterize it. (just a note here)

Havent had time to take it out this summer yet, and now I finally have a free weekend!!! Pulled it out of the garage today, took off the cover, washed it, hopped on to make sure it cranked... nothing. I get my start up beeps as it cycles through its digital stuff, then once I hit the start button again, I hear a small "thunk" and the read out tells me to "CHECK ENGINE."

There are no error codes...

I've read that this is caused by bad gas? sitting for just under a year? Please tell me that thats my problem. this thing has 8 friggin hours on it.

 

[bikerdib]

First, don't ride in water less than 3 feet deep, don't even start it in less than 3 feet of water. This is especially true of the machines with "neutral". So much thrust is directed down that it stirs up the water bringing rocks and such up.

You say you didn't winterize so I assume no oil change either. Have that done.

I also assume that you didn't maintain the battery. First thing, charge the battery with a low amperage charger. You say the instrument display comes up but when you hit the start button you hear a clunk but is the engine turning over? It sounds like you have a low charge on the battery.

 

[chamilton89]

Why wasn't it winterized? Also was the battery removed and put on a charger over the off season? Did you check battery voltage?

 

[ohwhofarted]

No, I didn't winterize... bad advice from a neighbor, I guess.

no, no oil change. Does it need one after 8 hours?

no, I didn't keep it connected to a charger. I'll go check the voltage now.

 

[bikerdib]

Yep, I'd bet you got a very low voltage remaining in the battery. I put my stuff on a battery maintainer if it will sitm more than a week or so.

Yes the oil needs changing. It should be changed before winter storage no matter the hours on the machine.

 

[ohwhofarted]

11.23VDC on the battery

 

[bikerdib]

If possible, put the meter on and try cranking to see what the load voltage is (may take 2 people). Are the battery connections clean and tight? You didn't answer, is the engine turning over at all or do you just hear a clunk but no spinning of the engine?

 

[ohwhofarted]

I'll have to check that tomorrow....

 

[Coastiejoe]

Low voltage is your issue.

Disregard anything on the dash until you get the proper volts to the ski. The battery shouldn't drop below 11.8 while cranking.

Once you have it charged, put the tester on it and try to start the ski. What are the colts while cranking.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

i'll go along with the peanut gallery and throw the battery under the bus.

Charge it up, repeat, check back. Lets be optimistic at this point.

One word of advice since it sounds like your frustrations when you parked it are resurfacing. Don't give up, just a couple of smooth outings will stabilize your negative feelings. It sounds like you just experienced a minor rash of noob mistakes and trust me, everyone posting here has at least one homer simpson moment or just plain experienced bad luck.

One thing I remember when I bought my first pwc years ago was the first 20ish hours were a massive comedy of errors, showing up with no life jacket, no gas, no key, running out of oil at the half way point, jack knifing the trailer 10X in a row with an audience, sank a ski at the ramp, been stranded on a sandbar, went through a 3 mile no wake zone at full throttle. I did it all, I look back at all the goof's with a smile.

If you are new to pwc's and start out immediately with family based adventures (towing, passengers + inexperience = challenges) they can quickly turn into misadventures until you get the hang of it, and it takes a bit, don't let them get you down, you are making memories.

Be patient, learn from minor mishaps, Laugh them off and look forward to more positive results this summer !

 

[ohwhofarted]

Aiight... popped out the cargo liner, detached the battery leads, pulled off the seat (because of fumes possibly igniting... blah blah blah), got distracted with trying to find the perfect goPro mounting surface, went upstairs to get my gopro to see what it looked like when mounted, saw a pile of laundry, tossed it in the washer and started a load, went back downstairs, realized I forgot the gopro, went back upstairs, got the camera, messed with the mount and came to the conclusion that I don't want to use adhesive mounts on the seadoo, cleaned up all the gopro attachments, started organizing the items I found in the cargo hull, realized my ADD was kicking in, connected a 12V 4A trickle charger and it didn't even register 25% of the the battery being charged.

busy evening. sh!t. now I have to go put a load in the dryer.

 

[bikerdib]

Hopefully the battery will take a charge. Sometimes when they get that low they sulfate pretty bad and go bad. Good luck.

Hopefully you didn't forget to put a dryer antistatic sheet in with the clothes. ;-)

 

[Bigmoss]

Dude no offence but you spent all that money on a new ski and don't even bother to do the basics to it before or after storage and you are wondering why you are having all these issue ? Seriously ?

 

[ohwhofarted]

Actually i DID forget the dryer sheet...

Bigmoss, DUDE, no offense but yes I spent all that money on a new ski and didn't even know about winterization or what was even wrong after storage. Hence, the reason I'm here with folks who KNOW what they're doing... so I can get better advice. Don't be a douche. You're from Canada. You're supposed to be polite. Seriously!

 

[ohwhofarted]

She lives!!!! Cranked up pretty quick. Lotta smoke though. Normal?

 

[Bigmoss]

Wasn't being rude and yes the smoke is normal. I just would not spend that kind of money and rely on a neighbor for advice. You should ask you dealer. He would have confirmed what winterizing is or if not familiar with the term told you what to do if your not going to use it for an extended period of time, if you didn't want to spend the $$ to have them do it ( I don't either ) you would have known what was involved and could do it yourself. Wintering aside ANYTHING with a battery, car, ski, lawn tractor, avt that is not going to be used for say 30 days or more should have the battery pulled and put on a tender.

 

[Shovelmike]

It appears that you're a single dad, good for you taking time to have fun with the girls, they grow up too quickly.
As others stated, batteries need to be charged when not being used for a while, especially the small ones as used in motorcycles, watercraft, etc.
Get a "smart charger", the AGM batteries in common use these days don't tolerate overcharging. The smart charger adjusts to a very low maintenance charge when the battery reaches full voltage. Tender was mentioned (brand name battery tender), but when my tender burned up (luckily I was in the shop) I changed to Schumacher Speed Charge, same function at half the cost, and no smoke (yet).

 

[seadoo aussie]

I found the best way to keep the battery charged I've got a 10 watt solar panel with regulator with a Anderson plug on the end running to my jetski and atv and ride on mower and it keeps them topped up while sitting around even with little sunshine and only cost about 40 bucks Aussie