96 XP wont stay running

[KyleB]

Hello all, I recently posted a thread involving my 96 XP having a weak spark. After much troubleshooting I have determined that it was not a weak spark at all that was causing my problem. The boat will start and run, at idle, for about 10 seconds and then just die for no good reason. When I start her and apply a bit of throttle she dies immediately. I have cleaned the RAVE valves per instructions in this forum, BTW that was a great write up and pictorial. Changed and re-gapped plugs. made sure I was getting fuel by taking off the return line and turning her over, she is pumping fine. For the life of me I can't figure out why she wont stay running. I have about a gallon of gas in the tank. keep in mind that I am starting her up with out the water hose turned on because I don't want to flush water back into the cylinders. What could possibly be the problem? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Kyle

 

[KyleB]

I did discover that after I cleaned the RAVE's she ran better and for longer but still pretty much the same thing. When I applied throttle she dies. Thanks.

Kyle

 

[LouDoo]

Hi,

Two things, with only a gallon of gas you could be sucking crap (water, dirt) for the bottom of the tank, I would empty the tank, swab the tank, and add at least 3 gal. of fresh gas.

Also never start the engine with the hose attached and on, connect the hose, start the engine and turn on the water.

You might want to take it to the lake and see how she runs, it's hard to tell on the trailer.

Lou

 

[KyleB]

So Lou your thinking that cleaning the tank and adding fresh gas and putting her in the water will be the solution to the problem? Why does she die when idling on the trailer? I'll try your suggestion but honestly I'm thinking there are other issues that I'm just not thinking about. BTW, thanks for the reply.

Kyle

 

[Phildoo]

Sounds like your due for a carb rebuild.

 

[LouDoo]

That's pretty much it. You can't really tell much by running it on the trailer. One thing you might want to do is set the idle at about 3000 rpm while on the trailer, it should run about 1500 rpm in the water. You could also check the compression while on the trailer, 150 psi is perfect, not less than 120 psi and no more than 10% difference between cylinders.

Unless its a big hassle I would take it to the lake and see how she runs. We'll go from there.

How fast does your 57 Arkansas run?

Lou

 

[KyleB]

LOL. The 57 Arkansas Traveler runs fast if the trolling motor battery is charged or If I'm feeling especially strong that day and want to yank on the oars hard! It's a great little boat that my kids use to fish with. I bought it when they kept wanting to fish out of the Caravelle and all I could see is a hook getting snagged in the upholstery. I bought them a small 50lb thrust MinnKota and they have a blast with it. One time they tried knee boarding behind it with a fully charged battery. Believe it or not they actually got up and putted across the lake at 5MPH. It was truly a sight to behold!

So Phildoo you think i should get the carbs rebuilt? I have rebuilt carbs on a cars but never on Mikunis. Is this something I could tackle? Any tricks? Thanks for the replies guys.

Kyle

 

[KyleB]

BTW I should say the ski was running perfectly one day and then as we were going to put her on the trailer she just died in the lake. No water in the bilge or anything. Just died and has not started right since. That has been two weeks ago. Would the carbs going bad happen that suddenly? Thanks.

Kyle

 

[Phildoo]

Do as Lou says, fresh gas, compression check first but not knowing the maintenance on the craft or how long it's sat it's probably gonna need a carb rebuild.
You can do it yourself. There's an excellent tutorial on here to do it.

 

[Phildoo]

If it was running fine then start with the simple things.
Fresh plugs is your first step.

 

[KyleB]

Ok. I cleaned the fuel water separator and while doing this I noticed some small pieces of gunk in the filter. I added fresh gas and tried her. She idles so much better to the point to where I could apply some throttle slowly before quitting. In fact, I had to actually use the stop button to turn her off before she heated up too much. I found out from the previous owner, who is a major gear head with 5 PWC's who does his own maint., thathe rebuilt the carbs with OEM parts including needles and seats last year. I'm thinking about running some fuel injector additive through the gas before I year into the carbs. What do y'all think? Good idea or not? Any other ideas? Thanks. Kyle

 

[purple_people_eater]

do not put any fuel additive in that is not 2 stoke aproved. it displaces the oil on the jug walls so your motor is not getting proper lubercation. i would just take it out and run it. fill-her-up with some permium fuel. also make sure your carb screws are set corretly.

 

[KyleB]

Good point PPE. Glad I asked the question before I did that. In fact, I was thinking about putting a couple of capfuls of xylene in the gas. My next step will be to remove the fuel selector valve and clean. After that I'm just gonna take her back to the lake and work on her from there. Thanks again for the help.

Kyle