Update: So, if you've been following the thread, you know that I bought this boat at the beginning of last summer from my buddy who is a mechanic. He had rebuilt the top end and put a ton of brand new parts in it. It ran and ran all last summer, and I got it to the point I was very happy with how it ran. I just wanted to change the way it looked. I spent probably 100 hours redoing the aesthetics this winter.
My intention ever since getting all that done was to get the new solas impeller and new wear ring installed before I got it back out on the water. Welllllll lets just say I learned a lot about this boat this spring. The fact that I did not winterize properly came back to bite me in the ass. When my buddy and I went to fire the boat up a few weeks ago before we intended to take it to the lake it sounded locked up bad. It sounded like a signal was being sent through the electrical but nothing would turn.
Rewind a couple months back during the end of the winter, the boat was turning just fine. I could turn it by hand, everything was good. I know for a fact that the battery did not have much juice (I don't own a battery charger, big problem), we had it tested the battery later on and it was shot. The problem was, one day late winter, early spring, it was 70 out and we were going to take it to a local lake to run it around since it had not seen the light of day since the end of summer. We tried starting the boat many times without a battery that had enough juice to turn it over, even though I fogged the cylinders at the beginning of the winter, put gas stabilizer in the gas tank, I never ran the boat dry at the end of the summer and got the water out of the lines. The water was pulled through the lines into the cylinders and we never got the boat running. (HUGE problem, I just didn't know it yet)
So recently, we started to troubleshoot since something was definitely wrong. We replaced the solenoid thinking it was an electrical probelm, and those have been known to go bad on these seadoos, was not solenoid. We pulled the plugs and tried to turn it by hand but nothing. We wondered that since we had tried to start it so many times with a battery that didn't have full juice that the starter might have engaged and never disengaged, so we pulled exhaust and pulled starter. Was not starter. Thats when we knew we had a bad problem, could be either something stuck in the jet, or engine was locked up, took apart the top end, and sure enough, water had gotten in the top end and there was surface rust on the pistons and on the cylinder walls. Son of a bitch. On a rust scale of 1-10, 1 being none, 10 being all the way rusted up, the front was probably a 2 and the back was a 4. We shot fogging oil all over the pistons and a lot of it got eaten away pretty quick, we let it set overnight and tried to turn it by hand the next day and still nothing.
After all this mess, yesterday we finally pulled the motor, got it out on the ground, stuck the impeller tool in the back of the crank and shot more fogging oil on the pistons and turned and turned until we finally got it broken free. We fogged the shit out of it and turned and turned by hand until the pistons had scraped the cylinder walls free and it looked like I had a brand new machined top end. The thing turns as easy as a ball bearing now. We got it all put back together, reconnected all the lines and electrical, starter, exhaust, air box, everything else, and battery was dead when we tried to start it. LOL. What a mess, good news is, we got it unlocked.
I'm still praying to the lord in heaven that water did not get in the bottom end. Like I said it turns real easy now, and the largest amount of water that could have gotten in the bottom end was just some of what was in the lines. Hopefully it will run. Moral of the story is I guess pay the money to get your boat winterized by someone who knows what they are doing. I did not do near enough investigation of how to winterize this boat. The beginning of last summer I had a brand new top end and many brand new parts and now I'm crossing my fingers that my bottom end is not shot and I have to break down and get a new $750 motor.
Even though water came through the lines into the motor during the winter when we tried to start it, water still should not have gotten in the cylinders. So I replaced all the rings in the top end, while I was at it I got a new gasket for the exhaust as well.
Like I said, all I did to winterize this boat this season is, the last time I was out with it I pulled the plugs and drove it all the way around the lake. Put the plugs back in, put gas stabilizer in the tank and sprayed some fogging oil in the holes where the spark plugs were. I know for a fact I should have ran it dry for 10-15 seconds to pull the water through the lines, but if you take it to a powersports shop or something what else is done? There is not much to this 2-stroke engine... Is it worth paying $115 to have a shop winterize it? Other than running it dry for a short bit what else did I miss? I'd appreciate the feedback. This is the first time I've ever owned a boat and I'm at the point where I'm hoping I don't have to break down and get a new motor. Ah the horror stories.
