95 seadoo sportster stall

[Sexeado]

Hi there,

I am struggling with a 1995 seadoo sportster that I recently acquired. It has the 657x engine. Amongst other issues I have encountered, here is the most recent:

I rebuilt the carbs and had it out on the lake and was running great. I was idling into shore and it stalled. Got it home and it would fire but died right away. I cranked it many times and finally got it to stay running but it threw a bunch of oil of of the exhaust. After that it ran great. I took it back out and ran it for another hour and it ran fine. I sat with it on the beach for awhile and when I went to start it, it was at a slow dying idle with no throttle response followed by stalling. I started it several times but it kept doing the same horrible idle then dying and never snapped out of it. I have had it on land now and tried starting it. It fires quickly without hesitation and quickly dies after about 2 seconds.

I have replaced the battery, coil, plug wires, plug boots, spark plugs and carb rebuild.

thanks for the help.

 

[POPPS]

It could be that your inner crank seals are leaking,,,a common occurence after a long time.,,,

 

[noviceskier]

Could be leaking needle and seats causing to flood after sitting hot

 

[POPPS]

Good call Novice, leaking needle/"O" rings, and seats,,,,and or leaking crank seals go together like peas in a pod,,,for those symptoms.

 

[Sexeado]

Thank you all for the words of wisdom. I am pretty new to these things so please pardon any ignorance.

a couple of questions to begin:
-Even though it is firing could it still be considered flooded?
-Would running with weeds on have any play? Seems whenever I have weeds on I stall and have to go through this process.
-Would the excessive cranking cause excess oil in the crank case?
-There is an oil regulator lever under the carb that is spring loaded. Is there a spec for how many turns on this before reconnecting linkage?

I will go the least expensive route first with a new mikuni carb rebuild. I originally rebuilt with an aftermarket and am not confident based off what I have read. I will also do proper pop off testing this time around.

Assuming the crank seals are very expensive to repair, is it best to do an entire engine swap at that point? Would you go with the same engine or is there something newer with higher performance that you would recommend?

thanks again guys

 

[Sexeado]

Sorry one more question: what would you recommend for pop off pressure on this ski?

 

[thelederfam]

I found mine in the shop manual. It listed a wide range but in another location I found a recommended value near the top of that range. I did this test using a pressure gauge that was "loaned" to me by the local auto parts store. I also performed the pressure tests of fuel and lubrication systems as outlined in the shop manual. I would recommend doing these at the same time. I would use only Mikuni carb parts unless you see a video from an actual PWC tech stating that he has had good luck with another supplier.

 

[POPPS]

You will need to prewind the spring, ,,,the spring has a small curve on that rests against a stopper that is exactly curved like the spring, so you will wind in the direction that causes the spring to build tension,,,to where the alignment mark on the arm and the alignment groove on the pump line up,,,the alignment mark is very small and hard to see, a small mirror will help.

 

[thelederfam]

I realize now that I have seen more pictures of the area that when I re-assembled the lever and spring that I put the spring in backwards. The curve of the spring should sit under the post with the alignment mark on it, not over. Apparently one can wind the lever both directions and then connect it to the cable.

Does anyone know if the control lever should be able to turn 360 degrees? I just tested my pump (I will post on that topic once I get the replacement oil pump) and the output was very low. I wonder now if it could be that the control lever has to be in a certain location to work. I don't see how I could have impacted anything as the lever can only fit on the shaft one way as it is keyed.

 

[POPPS]

Yes, I believe the arm has to rotate 360 to produce enough return pressure,,,just did one on a 951.

 

[Sexeado]

Hi there,

I wanted to give a quick update and reach out for some additional advice.

I rebuilt the carbs once again with genuine Mikuni including the needles and seats. Pop off pressure is 21 on both carbs.

I go to turn the engine over and I am getting the same outcome of a quick fire for about a second or 2 followed by dying.

The other thing that I wanted to mention which I thought was odd is that every time it dies I am needing to turn the key back to the off position and then back on to get it to fire. If this is not performed, the engine will do nothing.

I thought this was interesting as the gentleman at Seadoo had mentioned that I would be able to eliminate the ignition and just wire it so it is always on.

Any additional advice would be appreciated.