96 XP working intermittent

[Saludadoo]

Still new to me but today it was working fine then it would bog down to about 20mph
It feels like its only one cylinder
But if i keep playing with the throttle let it idle then gun it sometimes it would work and talk off.
Very intermittent.
What does a fouled plug sound like?
This ski is running premix because the oil pump cable was disconnect.
Pulled the plugs they had black oil on the rim and the tab was black
May be premixed a little heavy on the oil.
Any thoughts?

 

[emspjay]

The oil pump defaults to full oil if the cable fails. So if it still has the pump and the oil tank is full and you are running premix you are running way too much oil. But also sounds like normal carb problems if you do some searches on this site.

 

[POPPS]

I always start at the battery, a weak battery, get it load tested, is the charging system working?, ,a weak battery will cause a plug to foul,what does your spark look like?,,yellow, or bright blue/white? how's the compression,,,eliminate the simple things that don't cost a ton of time, or money...

 

[Saludadoo]

Yea the oil pump is there
The cable was just hanging out past the carbs
There is oil in the oil tank
So is there a way to make the pump slow down
Should I just try to clamp off the 2 little oil lines?

 

[Saludadoo]

Spark was blue last week
Compression was 150 on both cylinders.
The plug was oily today
It started up fine but ill check the voltage when running

 

[Saludadoo]

So is it normal for a ski to rev fine out of the water but bog down in the water?
when I pulled it out and started it revved up fine.

 

[Mraw]

No load out of water so it dosnt tell you much. I would recommend reataching the oil pump, they are bulletproof, also you will use way less oil. Make sure you are using a full synthetic API TC rated oil.

 

[Saludadoo]

I just bought a carb bracket for the oil cable mine was missing.
What does to much oil do to the ski?

 

[Mraw]

Runs very rich and fouls plugs

 

[JJinSC]

And smokes a lot

 

[etemplet]

I know people that used both oil injected and premix at the same time. I'd think they'd foul a lot of spark plugs but they said they didn't foul that often. I know from my chain saw days, too much oil and the engine will not perform its best. I believe in mixing the correct amount and no more but that is up to the individual owner. The real engine killer is... if you are not getting the proper amount of fuel and it's lean..... you are doing much more damage more quickly and the engine will fail no matter how much oil you are giving it. Check everything and give these machines a lot of love and they will reward you with years of good reliable service. Touchdowns everyone !!

 

[Saludadoo]

Update looks like a fuel problem saw it has a few crapy old grey lines left on about half are new black lines
I put an external fule filter on the line to the carbs
And saw its full when i start but goes empty fast.
Ill do some more digging.

 

[POPPS]

I would stick with the stock water separator/fuel filter,,,it is always full, and has no air in it after it has been running.

 

[etemplet]

Totally agree with Popps. Throw the inline fliter away immediately and stick with the water separator. You'll have nothing but trouble with an inline filter. I could write a few pages on the experience and then some. These skis do not like inline fuel filters.

 

[Saludadoo]

Ok will do. I just wanted visual on what the gas was doing plus extra protection.
Can I just splice the line with a barb or do I need to replace the line?

 

[eatpez]

Idle should be 3k RPM out of water and 1.5k RPM. you can get cheap induction tachometers on Amazon for 10 bucks and they're definitely worth it.

 

[Saludadoo]

Got one
What about water injection?
I see on the purple tank toward the back it has a little water under the valve
The machine works good on first start up then it bogs down wont rev past 4k

 

[Saludadoo]

Sounds like im hitting the rev limiter af a low rpm

 

[Saludadoo]

I think i figured it maybe
With the seat off and my volt meter hooked to the ski runs fine until about 14 volts then it keeps climbing up to 17 volts
And at 14 volts and up it starts missing the tach was doing weird things also
So i guess is a bad regulator?

 

[Saludadoo]

Ok stuck my old spare grey box in and works now
But voltage at WOT is 14.75v
And at idle 13.85v
Is that normal?

 

[Lothsahn]

Ok stuck my old spare grey box in and works now
But voltage at WOT is 14.75v
And at idle 13.85v
Is that normal?

14.75 seems high to me. >15V is definitely bad, so your old regulator is definitely shot. And yes, if you have high voltages, you will have the behavior you described. See:

I'm using an aftermarket regulator in my 96 GTX, which produced around 13.5 V at 5500 RPM with a fully charged battery.

 

[POPPS]

Shouldn't that 13.5 volts be just above idle, and not at 5500 rpm?

 

[Lothsahn]

Shouldn't that 13.5 volts be just above idle, and not at 5500 rpm?

I just went out to my garage to check. My aftermarket rectifier goes up to 13.8v at 5500 RPM, but no higher. It idles around 13.5v, and the battery at rest (with the engine off) is at 13.3v (I top it off with an external maintainer).

I don't have a working stock rectifier. My stock rectifier was fried and outputting 15.5+ volts at 5500 RPM. However, the video attached to my post was using a stock rectifier and at 3:30 he showed 13-13.5V even when he revved the engine.

 

[Saludadoo]

I am going to wire up a volt gouge I think both were OEM one bad the other going bad.
I got a few new ones coming

 

[POPPS]

That battery should hover around 12.7 volts or so,,,charging in the 13's is fine.