97 Challenger slow...

[Hollymax0428]

crisso.. thanks for the info, I'm in Victoria, but thanks for the info.

seadoosnipe.. thanks for your info. There were 3 main reasons why I didn't use a dealership/mechanic to get the boat going again.

1. I had bought the boat mid season and was under a bit of pressure to get it going to use by my family and anyone I had spoken to said they wouldn't have time to look at it (I think mainly because it takes up the room of 4-6 Jetboats in their workshops).

2. Some of the info I was getting from the Mechanic/2nd previous owner, who did the rebuild, just wasn't right and didn't add up to me or add up to what Dr. Honda & others were saying. I would be pretty certain had I taken it back to the place where it was rebuilt I would not have known anything about the cylinder water journals being full of sand and the wrong pistons in it, and probably would have gotten a huge repair bill.

3. I was getting pretty good info & help from the forum. Without that daily contact I was getting I wouldn't have attempted the repairs. Dr Honda was probably hitting his head thinking "just pull the motor apart, there is something wrong with it" while I'm was thinking "I have been assured that the motor is good & 115 psi is OK on a rebuilt motor"

I'm happy that I pulled the motor apart, becasue with the new wear ring & new impeller the boat may have gone a bit better and I may have either had total failure or I would have been constantly looking to see why the boat wasn't going better.

It wasn't just a financial thing I did the work, but I'm happy to have paid less of course. The new top end kit I bought from Jet Sports in QLD who is the http://www.jetskiparts.com.au/ you mentioned. The only thing at this stage is the guy who did the rebuild says he sends his cylinders there to get bored out and uses their parts, I'm not sure he is trying to shift the blame to them or not. I got my parts from them but got the cylinders bored out locally.

The difference in the revvs now to before and the performance wasn't just an improvement it is a totally different boat now.

Dr. Honda.. I do have proof of the sale and the quote that it has "done 10 hours since it was rebuilt", the for sale notice is still on ebay now. Not sure what will be done about all this yet.
The 1st previous owner (who I bought from) has 2 Jetskis and did approx 4 hours on this boat, so I don't see any excuse that he wouldn't have known the boat wasn't going properly, both the motor or the 50 thou clearance on the wear ring/impeller.
The 2nd previous owner (Jet ski Mechanic that did the rebuild) must also have known the boat wasn't going properly (assuming the wrong pistons were in the boat when he did the rebuild).

I guess my mistake was to not take the boat for a test run 1st, but to take the word of the 2 previous owners that it was a good boat in good condition. Obviously I don't know who put the wrong cylinders in (at this stage anyway) but I'm going to pursue this.

Again I can't thank everyone enough.
My son now has a smile on his face. Neither of us were looking too happy the 1st time we took out the boat, and considering my son wanted a ski/fishing boat for inland waters & my daughter wanted a Jetski for the coast, I thought a compromise between the two and get a Jet boat, so I was starting to think I had made a huge mistake.

Robert.

 

[seadoosnipe]

Not to sure about that one....

Yeah, you go ahead and hire all the "non-techs" for your "motorsports" facility, to do your services. Atleast, the ones w/ the certs, have a reason for the schooling, they have passion for what they do.

I'm not to sure about that one. I think, if you look at the money side of it, anyone who realizes the market is wide open for anyone to go to a school to get a certificate to work on marine engines. You look at the hourly wage of marine verses automotive mechanics and anyone who is in it for the money, is going to jump on the cert out of greed.

You look at you and me (Dr. Honda has certs), we do this because we truly love it. We don't have any special schooling or certifications. I have certifications in other parts of the mechanical industry but not marine. But, I do pretty good on the side.

So, in that regard, I think if you have someone who truly loves this kind of work, especially on the Rotax motors, you'll probably find the ones without the certs are the ones that will treat you fair and do what's in your best interest.

Greed is rampant in this industry, especially in the repair facilities of a dealership. You may find a dealership that will treat you right but I bet they are few and far between. The sad part is the way those who are good have to fight the stigma of bad reps because of these greedy ones.......:cheers:

 

[seadoosnipe]

Legal action..

crisso.. thanks for the info, I'm in Victoria, but thanks for the info.

seadoosnipe.. thanks for your info. There were 3 main reasons why I didn't use a dealership/mechanic to get the boat going again.

1. I had bought the boat mid season and was under a bit of pressure to get it going to use by my family and anyone I had spoken to said they wouldn't have time to look at it (I think mainly because it takes up the room of 4-6 Jetboats in their workshops).

2. Some of the info I was getting from the Mechanic/2nd previous owner, who did the rebuild, just wasn't right and didn't add up to me or add up to what Dr. Honda & others were saying. I would be pretty certain had I taken it back to the place where it was rebuilt I would not have known anything about the cylinder water journals being full of sand and the wrong pistons in it, and probably would have gotten a huge repair bill.

3. I was getting pretty good info & help from the forum. Without that daily contact I was getting I wouldn't have attempted the repairs. Dr Honda was probably hitting his head thinking "just pull the motor apart, there is something wrong with it" while I'm was thinking "I have been assured that the motor is good & 115 psi is OK on a rebuilt motor"

I'm happy that I pulled the motor apart, becasue with the new wear ring & new impeller the boat may have gone a bit better and I may have either had total failure or I would have been constantly looking to see why the boat wasn't going better.

It wasn't just a financial thing I did the work, but I'm happy to have paid less of course. The new top end kit I bought from Jet Sports in QLD who is the http://www.jetskiparts.com.au/ you mentioned. The only thing at this stage is the guy who did the rebuild says he sends his cylinders there to get bored out and uses their parts, I'm not sure he is trying to shift the blame to them or not. I got my parts from them but got the cylinders bored out locally.

The difference in the revvs now to before and the performance wasn't just an improvement it is a totally different boat now.

Dr. Honda.. I do have proof of the sale and the quote that it has "done 10 hours since it was rebuilt", the for sale notice is still on ebay now. Not sure what will be done about all this yet.
The 1st previous owner (who I bought from) has 2 Jetskis and did approx 4 hours on this boat, so I don't see any excuse that he wouldn't have known the boat wasn't going properly, both the motor or the 50 thou clearance on the wear ring/impeller.
The 2nd previous owner (Jet ski Mechanic that did the rebuild) must also have known the boat wasn't going properly (assuming the wrong pistons were in the boat when he did the rebuild).

I guess my mistake was to not take the boat for a test run 1st, but to take the word of the 2 previous owners that it was a good boat in good condition. Obviously I don't know who put the wrong cylinders in (at this stage anyway) but I'm going to pursue this.

Again I can't thank everyone enough.
My son now has a smile on his face. Neither of us were looking too happy the 1st time we took out the boat.

Robert.

I'm not going to say don't take legal action because that should be something that an owner decide on their own. But, I will say the cost of what your going to pay in legal fees, chasing down and proving which one put the wrong pistons in, is going to probably cost way more than it's worth. You might get a judgment but if the one being held responsible is any kind of crook that knows the justice system, he'll use a loophole to hid his assests and keep you from getting anything tangible.

I'd consider the total cost, chances of a judgment with positive proof of responsibility and what your actually going to recoup be considered before taking this up in a court of law.

In Australia, the laws may be similar to ours, I don't know. But, it would be tough to proove here.:cheers:

 

[seadooya]

I'm not to sure about that one. I think, if you look at the money side of it, anyone who realizes the market is wide open for anyone to go to a school to get a certificate to work on marine engines. You look at the hourly wage of marine verses automotive mechanics and anyone who is in it for the money, is going to jump on the cert out of greed.

You look at you and me (Dr. Honda has certs), we do this because we truly love it. We don't have any special schooling or certifications. I have certifications in other parts of the mechanical industry but not marine. But, I do pretty good on the side.

So, in that regard, I think if you have someone who truly loves this kind of work, especially on the Rotax motors, you'll probably find the ones without the certs are the ones that will treat you fair and do what's in your best interest.

Greed is rampant in this industry, especially in the repair facilities of a dealership. You may find a dealership that will treat you right but I bet they are few and far between. The sad part is the way those who are good have to fight the stigma of bad reps because of these greedy ones.......:cheers:

I understand the "point" to it all, it was more on the line of judging people with certs. Speaking from experience, i know a few people that are qualified, that doo care about what they do.

So, from the looks at where he stands, you have a better chance of getting hired at his facility with a background of bushing a broom, rather than knowledge of turning a wrench...LMAO.

 

[Hollymax0428]

Quite right Seadoosnipe, I doubt I would go through the cost etc of going throught the court system, probably more bring it over their heads that this is what could happen.
I think morally I will get a better result from the previous 2 owners, that through one or both of their faults I got a bad deal.
I still have to ring the previous owner who was to ring the mechanic to see what he sorted out.
At least I have the proof that the boat does go properly and that the motor was mostly to blame.

 

[seadooya]

Quite right Seadoosnipe, I doubt I would go through the cost etc of going throught the court system, probably more bring it over their heads that this is what could happen.
I think morally I will get a better result from the previous 2 owners, that through one or both of their faults I got a bad deal.
I still have to ring the previous owner who was to ring the mechanic to see what he sorted out.
At least I have the proof that the boat does go properly and that the motor was mostly to blame.

Hey bud, besides the little sword fight that transpired, i'm stoked you got yuor boat ripping again, and family enjoying it, hopefully for a long time...:cheers:

 

[Hollymax0428]

Yes I'm a lot happier for a number of reasons. That I will be vindicated that I made a good choice in buying something cross between a Ski Boat & a Jetski, now that it goes, probably the satisfaction of getting a good result for the time I have spent fixing the motor & jetpump, and the knowledge I know have about Jetskis/boats and 2 stroke motors. Neither of which I had before.

 

[Dr Honda]

Seadooya...

I can't tell if I offended you or not from your comments. If I did... I'm sorry. It was never my intentions to make people mad. I was simply stating my opinion of what I have noticed over the years. I'm not defending what I've said... I'm simply apologizing to you personally.

Just an FYI. At my shop, I don't do regular maintenance, or mechanical work. I do custom, and "one-off" stuff. I also manufacture motorcycle parts for both A&L Motorsports and Cycle Control. (and a few others who I'm not allowed to disclose)

Hollymax... I'm glad you are happy with the outcome of the project, and it's all about making the kids happy. My little girl loves our boat. Also, Snipe is right. It probably isn't worth chasing legal action. I just get mad when someone who says they are a professional does work and it's totally wrong, and someone else gets stuck with their crap work. If it was just some guy in his garage... it would still suck that you got stuck with a bad motor... but I wouldn't be as pissed off.

 

[hypo069]

im not going to say what i would have done with the previous owners:boxing_smiley:

 

[Hollymax0428]

Yes Hypo069 especially when I confronted both the previous owner & the Jetski shop owner in Melbourne who did the rebuild.

Jetski shop owner said he couldn't believe he was sent the wrong Pistons. I don't know maybe these people just slap the parts back together and if it starts, all's good. Don't worry about if it's put together properly and with the correct parts.

On the upside I have just had the bottom end checked and it is a new Crankshaft, Con Rods bearings etc. Still going to check the seals though.