95 Seadoo XP 720 fix or part it out?

[kenmitch]

Before I stumbled upon this website which seems to be informative.

A couple of weeks ago my son picked up a 95 XP 720 after a river run with the brother in law on a impulse buy.

The ski is kinda dull and faded looking. The plastic is faded on the top side. The seat needs a new cover as it has damage from cats claws. The bottom of the ski has some scratches, chips but looks to be repairable to me. Looks to be 100% intact and original.

The ski cranks over with no unusual noises, has spark in both cylinders, the vts is functional, looks like the prop is ok but the wear ring looks to be scored from small gravel or sand, guages are functional.

The XP was purchased with a single trailer from my daughters friends father....Got it on the cheap and figure the trailer is worth half of the purchasing price.

He stated the lower end was rebuilt. He said that at one time the ski was run without the water hose hooked up by a bone head and fried a piston. He stated the upper end was also gone thru afterwards. He said last time he took it to the lake it ran great for 10 minutes or so and then it died out. He stated he couldn't get it running and it almost runs with starter fluid but won't kick over. He thought rotary valve timing was off.

I pulled the motor out of the ski as it's too tight to work on the rotary valve cover for me at least. Figured it would be a learning experience if nothing else anyways.

Two of the bolt holes for the rotary valve cover were stripped so I just heli-coiled them which worked out fine. Just put the cover on temp as need to get gaskets and new bolts....Held off on ordering parts as I found another issue.

Once the engine was out I noticed one of the head bolts on the pto side wasn't all the way down so I tried to tighten it up. It screwed down in but kept spinning. I tried to remove it but it came up a little bit and wound up haveing to pull it out with pliers as it was broken off. It looks like it was just coated with clear silicone and pushed back in place. I removed the cylinder head to get a better look at it. The mag side of the head is beat up pretty bad but cylinder and pistons looked newer and are marked 0.50 so I'm thinking that they have been replaced as stated.

The pto jug looks to be unsavable it looks like the bolt was either cross threaded back in or reinstalled without cleaning up the threads on the bolt and in the hole first. It's cracked along the protruding part the bolt threads into. I thought I'd try to get the bolt out to see but it's a no go on it. Drilled out center, soaked with liquid wrench, heated, tried easy out which snapped off after barely budging the bolt. Got easy out back out soaked and heated more then tried rotating the bolt with a punch but crack spread further so decided it's a waste of time to try any further.

Googled and found this website after a little bit of searching!

Looking around the site I stumbled onto the grey fuel line post which was informative. Figured I'd take a look at the carbs and fuel lines as I didn't smell any hint of gas when I was cranking the ski over before I yanked the motor out. I figured it was time as it's easy to get to the carbs with the ski apart. The mag side carb filter was pretty plugged up so I cleaned the screen and passages out with brake parts cleaner. The pto carb was plugged up really bad so did the same but had to use a small pick also to get the inside of the filter cleaned out. The carbs looked to have never been messed with as the paint was all intact so I just put back together with the original seals for now. I figure that the ski sat for a while the lines went bad and the last time the owner took it out the carbs got plugged up on him.

Currently I'm debating if it's worth putting money into it or just parting out the ski and keeping the trailer.

I figure I'd need the following items at least.

A new pto jug
Most likely an upper end rebuild.
Gaskets for intake, exhaust, head
Possible head as one dome is beat up pretty good it looks like.
Fuel lines
Spark plugs
Who knows beyond here.

Parts don't look to be too cheap for these and some of them look to go for more than I'm into the ski anyways.

Thanks in advance for any adise you may have!

 

[mike_dmt]

Those ski's are fairly desirable from what I understand. Since yours is already out, maybe save the time and just grab an engine from a builder like SBT. One year warranty, etc.

It sounds like you bought it for a decent price. Maybe search through Craigslist and see what similar machines are worth in your area, to give you an idea if it's a decent investment or not.

There are write-ups on this board about refreshing the exteriors, to make them look good again.

 

[Dr Honda]

A used jug isn't too expensive... and the cosmetic's aren't that bad either. Since you have spark, and it's complete... it's probably worth saving.

Post up a few pics, and we will help you out, with making a choice.


But one thing to think about... that ski, clean, and in good running order is worth about $1500. So... decide on parts prices.

 

[Matt Braley]

Kenmitch, for a Seadoo newb your mechanical ability and reasoning seems to be spot on. That's a fun little boat you have there and a workhorse of an engine when you get it right. Many of us have used engine parts we buy and sell and since you have the ability to go right to the problem then just finish what you started with members parts and advise. I think you would be at the $300 range going that direction.
Parting it out would bring you around $800 if your not greedy.

With the working gauges and whatnot it makes it a good candidate for both. I like to save them myself.

 

[kenmitch]

Those ski's are fairly desirable from what I understand. Since yours is already out, maybe save the time and just grab an engine from a builder like SBT. One year warranty, etc.

It sounds like you bought it for a decent price. Maybe search through Craigslist and see what similar machines are worth in your area, to give you an idea if it's a decent investment or not.

There are write-ups on this board about refreshing the exteriors, to make them look good again.

Not sure what my son wants to do at this point. Guess I'll have to talk it over with him tonight and see.

A used jug isn't too expensive... and the cosmetic's aren't that bad either. Since you have spark, and it's complete... it's probably worth saving.

Post up a few pics, and we will help you out, with making a choice.


But one thing to think about... that ski, clean, and in good running order is worth about $1500. So... decide on parts prices.

I was looking at prices on ebay to see what they go for. It looks like a decent deal pop up once in a while. Didn't investigate much into it yet tho.

I figured a decent running and looking one was worth about what you stated. At least in my general area anyways.

Kenmitch, for a Seadoo newb your mechanical ability and reasoning seems to be spot on. That's a fun little boat you have there and a workhorse of an engine when you get it right. Many of us have used engine parts we buy and sell and since you have the ability to go right to the problem then just finish what you started with members parts and advise. I think you would be at the $300 range going that direction.
Parting it out would bring you around $800 if your not greedy.

With the working gauges and whatnot it makes it a good candidate for both. I like to save them myself.

Thanks! And by the way this is my first experience with a Seadoo or any small personal water craft

Google is a powerful tool to increase ones knowledge it seems like.

Were into the ski and trailer for $400 plus a tow ball so far :coolgleam:

Figure the trailer is worth 1/2 the investment or close to it. Needs a little touch up and new wiring but seems solid otherwise.

The head looks pretty beat up to me. I know it's been stated some hits are fine but this is too many isn't it?

Mag piston and cylinder.

PTO piston and cylinder....This jug is a dead player I'm pretty sure. I doubt it could be saved now. Piston looks new to me still and like it was barely firing. Thinking maybe he took out after the upper end rebuild and the fuel lines plugged up then.

The pump....I thought this was suppost to be plastic but looks like bronze? Guess it is mostly plastic tho.

The impeller looks decent still. You can see some scaring on the wear ring tho. Not sure how much is fine. Thinking it's still ok at this time possibly tho.

Some of these chips look kinda deep on the hull but looks fixable. Looks like it spent some time bobbing up and down on rocks or something.

Thanks for the input so far and anymore after this post!

 

[Matt Braley]

Your sittin pretty. Clean those carbs, fuel selector replacement($20), fuel lines, used head(stock).....and try it out. I revise my $300 est to $150.

 

[manolocross]

Fix it up and go ridin!!!! I got the same model and love it!!!!

 

[kenmitch]

Your sittin pretty. Clean those carbs, fuel selector replacement($20), fuel lines, used head(stock).....and try it out. I revise my $300 est to $150.

Wouldn't I also need to replace the pto cylinder jug? Don't see any feasable way of getting the bolt hole fixed as I'm thinking it's cross threaded in anyways. I doubt it would be possible to drill it out and heli-coil it or something at this point. not sure if I could drill down the sides of the bolt and possible split in half.

Who has cheap parts? eBay sucks it looks like unless you find the good deals fast.

How do you check the lower end out? Split it? Turns freely and did the check crank thing with the pistons and seems like they move together at all times still.

 

[Matt Braley]

When I drop a situation like that off with the local machinist he gives it back like it never even happened for $40-$60 bucks. I don't think you need to pay over $80 for a good used one if you go that way. You're right though, I forgot about that little hang up.

 

[El Toro 33809]

Two members here sell used parts. Minnetonka4me is one of them. Send him a PM.