JMAN1
Member
Hello All,
Recently purchased a 96 GSX with a fresh engine rebuild. Everything had been gone through on it except for the carbs which had only been adjusted at the shop on a hose. Dont want to waste anyone's time so Im going to write it all out haha.
The ski started out of the water without even turning over for more than a second or two each time on and off the hose. Upon putting it in the water the first time it ran great at first and then started to bog or just flat quit upon deceleration (at the time I had no idea what this meant but after reading I believe that the pop off pressure/ low-end needle valve may not have been quite where they needed causing overly rich conditions after coming off high throttle; along with this the engine would only start back up if I gave it some gas right after it tried to start and then immediately jumping on the throttle once it did start to go as to get past the lower RPM range confirming; I believe that the mixture was too rich. Would you agree?) The above was the same case the next two times I took it out: started fine, ran awesome in the higher RPM ranges and had to be careful not to come down off the throttle too fast.
But as I stated above I had no idea what could be causing the issue at the time and simply guessed that maybe the idle wasn't quite adjusted properly or that maybe the valves weren't quite in sync. So I took the carbs off, leaving them linked together and fully assembled. I sprayed them down with carb cleaner in and out of the fuel line nipples and any ports that I could see but again; without actually taking them apart or unlinking them. I then reattached them and verified the valves moved in sync and came to rest in the exact same locations using a small mirror. I reattached all the fuel lines, but as a beginner at the time, I left the air intake/ spark arrestor assembly off and then put it on the hose and tried to start it DUHH. It did not start. Well I got online and figured out that leaving that off would change the mixture in the carbs and may have made it difficult to start... but I mean it didn't even try to start. So I put the air filter/ intake and tried again... Nothing only extremely brief bursts of the engine firing at a high RPM and then nothing for awhile and then again an extremely short burst and then nothing nothing nothing, playing with my throttle and choke to see if it made any difference; nothing. Then I checked all the things below and tried some of the things below as well; only more of the same half-second bursts of engine life with nothing following in between for random intervals of time.
Well to end the endeavor the ski stopped cranking over after the third night of trying these things and recharging the battery at night. Figured battery was dead; long story short, after taking so many steps I don't want to recount and reading everything I could possibly find on the internet about the subject I learned: I burned up my starter and have a new one on its way. In the meantime though I want to figure this problem out!!
So back to this issue with the ski not starting: Here is what I have eliminated from reading all the forums;
1. The fuel lines are not gray they have been replaced and I have verified clean filter and flow from the lines.
2. The fuel selector works in the ON position and I believe in the Res position as well as I had to use it the last time I went out Oops (the gas gauge doesn't work and I know I have to tear into it tank to get to the float/ circuit board to make it work, its either the magnet or the board, not my gauge which I have checked).
3. The carbs are moving fuel into the cylinders as I pulled the plugs and they were soaked after cranking for so long
Here is what Im looking to have answered:
1. The plugs were soaking but in a very dark substance as if maybe too much oil vs fuel. Or is that normal? I pulled the plugs after a lot of cranking so maybe it was just the engine was flooded?
2. I stupidly thought maybe it wasn't starting because the needles were out of adjustment and so I put them all back to factory settings without seeing where they were originally (kicking myself for that) and tried; same results as above. And now I don't know where they were before I started all this... But it's my understanding the ski should still run on the factory settings just not as well as it should as it will no longer be tuned.
3. I pulled the air intake off on a couple occasions and saw that there were little beads of fuel in the carbs but maybe I have it terribly rich somehow? Or maybe I have an air leak now that I didn't before and so Its terribly lean?
4. Even though I took nothing apart is it possible that when I blasted it with carb cleaner in the chambers and down the fuel hose connection nipples that I made something stick?
5. Did I possibly just make all the grime loosen up and plug some port that's making it either super rich or lean?
6. Should I just buy a carb rebuild kit?
Bonus question; I have a crack on the purple head pipe one of the round protrusions and it has a steady drip coming out of it while the hose is on and the cooling system indicator is shooting about a 4 foot long arc out the back of the ski hull. Is that crack an issue?
THANK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU HAVE READ ALL THIS and thank you greatly in advance if you choose to respond after reading all this. I really appreciate this community as I have learned an immense amount already reading past posts.
Regards,
Jasper
Recently purchased a 96 GSX with a fresh engine rebuild. Everything had been gone through on it except for the carbs which had only been adjusted at the shop on a hose. Dont want to waste anyone's time so Im going to write it all out haha.
The ski started out of the water without even turning over for more than a second or two each time on and off the hose. Upon putting it in the water the first time it ran great at first and then started to bog or just flat quit upon deceleration (at the time I had no idea what this meant but after reading I believe that the pop off pressure/ low-end needle valve may not have been quite where they needed causing overly rich conditions after coming off high throttle; along with this the engine would only start back up if I gave it some gas right after it tried to start and then immediately jumping on the throttle once it did start to go as to get past the lower RPM range confirming; I believe that the mixture was too rich. Would you agree?) The above was the same case the next two times I took it out: started fine, ran awesome in the higher RPM ranges and had to be careful not to come down off the throttle too fast.
But as I stated above I had no idea what could be causing the issue at the time and simply guessed that maybe the idle wasn't quite adjusted properly or that maybe the valves weren't quite in sync. So I took the carbs off, leaving them linked together and fully assembled. I sprayed them down with carb cleaner in and out of the fuel line nipples and any ports that I could see but again; without actually taking them apart or unlinking them. I then reattached them and verified the valves moved in sync and came to rest in the exact same locations using a small mirror. I reattached all the fuel lines, but as a beginner at the time, I left the air intake/ spark arrestor assembly off and then put it on the hose and tried to start it DUHH. It did not start. Well I got online and figured out that leaving that off would change the mixture in the carbs and may have made it difficult to start... but I mean it didn't even try to start. So I put the air filter/ intake and tried again... Nothing only extremely brief bursts of the engine firing at a high RPM and then nothing for awhile and then again an extremely short burst and then nothing nothing nothing, playing with my throttle and choke to see if it made any difference; nothing. Then I checked all the things below and tried some of the things below as well; only more of the same half-second bursts of engine life with nothing following in between for random intervals of time.
Well to end the endeavor the ski stopped cranking over after the third night of trying these things and recharging the battery at night. Figured battery was dead; long story short, after taking so many steps I don't want to recount and reading everything I could possibly find on the internet about the subject I learned: I burned up my starter and have a new one on its way. In the meantime though I want to figure this problem out!!
So back to this issue with the ski not starting: Here is what I have eliminated from reading all the forums;
1. The fuel lines are not gray they have been replaced and I have verified clean filter and flow from the lines.
2. The fuel selector works in the ON position and I believe in the Res position as well as I had to use it the last time I went out Oops (the gas gauge doesn't work and I know I have to tear into it tank to get to the float/ circuit board to make it work, its either the magnet or the board, not my gauge which I have checked).
3. The carbs are moving fuel into the cylinders as I pulled the plugs and they were soaked after cranking for so long
Here is what Im looking to have answered:
1. The plugs were soaking but in a very dark substance as if maybe too much oil vs fuel. Or is that normal? I pulled the plugs after a lot of cranking so maybe it was just the engine was flooded?
2. I stupidly thought maybe it wasn't starting because the needles were out of adjustment and so I put them all back to factory settings without seeing where they were originally (kicking myself for that) and tried; same results as above. And now I don't know where they were before I started all this... But it's my understanding the ski should still run on the factory settings just not as well as it should as it will no longer be tuned.
3. I pulled the air intake off on a couple occasions and saw that there were little beads of fuel in the carbs but maybe I have it terribly rich somehow? Or maybe I have an air leak now that I didn't before and so Its terribly lean?
4. Even though I took nothing apart is it possible that when I blasted it with carb cleaner in the chambers and down the fuel hose connection nipples that I made something stick?
5. Did I possibly just make all the grime loosen up and plug some port that's making it either super rich or lean?
6. Should I just buy a carb rebuild kit?
Bonus question; I have a crack on the purple head pipe one of the round protrusions and it has a steady drip coming out of it while the hose is on and the cooling system indicator is shooting about a 4 foot long arc out the back of the ski hull. Is that crack an issue?
THANK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU HAVE READ ALL THIS and thank you greatly in advance if you choose to respond after reading all this. I really appreciate this community as I have learned an immense amount already reading past posts.
Regards,
Jasper
