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96 XP Wont Start... Kills itself as soon as it cranks over?

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FultonD33

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Okay so I took my freshly restored 96 XP out today for a little break in after new rings and gaskets and the like. Ran fine then somehow popped a cooling line and overheated and filled the ski with water. No big deal just drained the water and tightened the clamp down and waited for it to cool off. After all that it started right up idled fine and ran fine. After a few more minutes of riding I decided to go down to idle speed for a while to give it a rest and as soon as I hit idle it died. Was a pain to get back started but I eventually got it. It has always started up first try so this concerned me especially since it happened again and I was completely unable to get it started back again. I now have it home and realize the plugs fouled so I took them off and cleaned them up and tried to start again. It is still hard to get to fire but as soon as it fires like its about to run I let go of the start button and it just dies? Repeated this process several times and it still kills itself as soon as it cranks over? Sounds like an electronics issue *facepalm*

(The whole time I was riding the low end throttle response just wasn't there until a certain point when it just jumps up and takes off, assuming its a carb tuning issue (both were cleaned and rebuilt by me using genuine mikuni kits with needle and seat but I left the fuel/air screw where it was when I got it)

Here we go again....

Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
Do you get 2 beeps when you put the lanyard on?
Have you tried disconnecting the red wire on the rectifier?
 
It used to give me the two beeps sometimes but not all the time because the battery is really weak, it hasn't given me two beeps since it quit running even after charging battery. I looked up the rectifier thing and I will try it tomorrow morning and will let you know if that fixes it.
 
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Do you get 2 beeps when you put the lanyard on?
Have you tried disconnecting the red wire on the rectifier?

Still not getting the two beeps, I can hear a click when I plug the DESS lanyard in though. Unplugged the rectifier today and it did not change anything. I am planning on getting a new battery soon but I don't think there's any way its stopping it from running when it turns over fine but slow at first.

I am out of ideas now so I am really relying on y'all lol...

I am assuming it is an electronics issue, though I have not ruled out low compression because I did overheat the motor, its just such a pain to test this motor the way the cylinders are angled.
 
You said your battery was weak so I would definitely get it load tested. All your issues could be as simple as a bad battery. These skis love perfect batteries. For starting the battery has to turn the motor and have enough voltage for spark. Get a multimeter and check the voltage while cranking, should be 11.6 volts minimum
 
Water will not "get in" the carbs unless it comes from the engine or fuel.
IF it only got up to the cases you are fine.

I would still chase the low battery and no beep.
 
Water will not "get in" the carbs unless it comes from the engine or fuel.
IF it only got up to the cases you are fine.

I would still chase the low battery and no beep.
Okay thanks, I ordered a new battery it should be here in a day or so. I don’t get any beeps but I can hear a click when I put the dess key on.
 
You really should get the beeper fixed. It is used for diagnostics and is your overheating alarm.
 
You really should get the beeper fixed. It is used for diagnostics and is your overheating alarm.
Well it usually worked if the bad battery I had in there was fully charged and it even worked after I overheated the engine but since later that day it hasn't worked. Will see if the new battery fixes that.
 
Everything starts at the battery, a weak battery will definitely cause a "no beep beep" scenario.
 
Okay so I got the new battery in today, BEEP BEEP then fired right up. ran for a second then died, put lanyard back on no beeps again. I checked all my connections and found that one wire that hooked to the negative terminal on the battery (it ran to the black e box by the battery) was a little on the loose side so I replaced the ring terminal and now it beep beeps me every time!

Now, it still does not run right. It won't even start unless the throttle is given and held at least halfway sometimes. and it smokes A LOT. It will not just sit there and idle forever it dies after about 3 seconds ish.

I tried to adjust the carb settings back to stock but was a little difficult to do they are in a pretty tight spot on these skis! Still did not help. I have a video of what it does, just trying to figure out how to post it here.
 
If you have to give it half throttle to get it to start something is wrong with your fuel system.

If your starter is weak and is an ORM one I would put new brushes in it.
 
If you have to give it half throttle to get it to start something is wrong with your fuel system.

If your starter is weak and is an ORM one I would put new brushes in it.
Not sure what the brushes are. I did rebuild the starter with new seals and commutator as well as terminal.

will start investigating the fuel system later tonight.
 
Yeah that sounds like a fuel related issue, when you hit the throttle i could here it bog, did you use genuine kits for the carbs? Did you put new needle and seats in the carbs? And are all the fuel lines replaced and is the fuel selector new or atleast clean?
 
Yeah that sounds like a fuel related issue, when you hit the throttle i could here it bog, did you use genuine kits for the carbs? Did you put new needle and seats in the carbs? And are all the fuel lines replaced and is the fuel selector new or atleast clean?
Yes, oem mikuni. Needle and seat also. Fuel lines and filter. Also blew out fuel selector valve but never took it out and cleaned it. The one thing I didn’t do was check the pop off pressure.
 

here is a video of it running. I think I have bad crank seals because my oil tank was half empty after just a week and a half of sitting. All this oil came out when I got it to run.
 
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