97 Seadoo Gtx 800 Rave Valve Not Functioning Even After Cleaning

[Mvasile20]

Hey, been using the forums for a long time but have never posted. Hoping for some tips as I'm kind of stuck on what to do. Any opinion would be greatly appreciated. 97 Gtx good compression. Good fuel lines for a long time now. Use quicksilver pwc fully synthetic. Starts perfect idles perfect runs perfect. Tested rectifier had good voltage on battery at 5500rpm. Had a problem with my mpem so replaced it with a used one from parts dealer then it ran perfect.

Started to have a problem jumping over 5400 rpms. It gets there and no matter how long you hold the throttle won't jump up and slowly bogs down lower. I can feather the throttle until it jumps up and then will run forever at 6800rpm until I come to a stop and then goes back up to only 5400rpm.
So I cleaned my rave valves with new o-rings, gaskets, bellows. No luck on fixing problem. Water regulator showed stains from leaking so I took that apart cleaned and put back together with pipe dope on fitting no more leaks but still experiencing problems. Spent a long time on the water adjusting all three valves and testing but no luck.
The best I could get it to run is water reg. flush(there were 3 existing washers under the spring I left in it) - both rave valves screwed in all the way. Still takes a lot of feathering of throttle to jump over 5400rpm.
Do you think the springs on the rave valves are weak and need replacing?
Do you think adding a couple washers under the spring like the water regulator valve had on it would allow me to test for weak springs before ordering new ones?
Also valve pistons are the slotted kind and are clean now. But the chambers around them is very gunky. Should I try cleaning them? Concerns with this are dropping the deposits down into chamber, and also creating too much slop or wiggle room around the valve piston.
Thank you very much for any recommendations.

 

[Mvasile20]

Also worth adding that on the bellows for the rave valves, they are tied down to both the lower and upper and have not popped off leaking air and oil. Also that when doing the valves I meticulously cleaned everything including the pin holes in the valve

 

[GGuillot]

I don't think the RAVEs are your problem, a weak spring or no spring they'd still open up, you'd have lower power on the bottom below 5K. Waterbox RAVE is the very top end, say over 6300- 6400.

How long ago have the carbs been cracked open? Good spark plugs? I'd check compression and go from there.

 

[Mvasile20]

Carbs were apperently rebuilt when I bought the ski 6 months ago. Just like everyone says when they sell a ski. Compression is at 140 each Cylinder. I just want to make sure to eliminate all the simple causes before I do the carbs as this will leave me out of the water for atleast a couple weeks in the prime time of summer. The problem is specifically happening at 5400rpm. And while feathering the throttle you can feel it jump up and back down like it is trying to jump into higher rpms but can't until I feather it just right. My understanding was that the RAVE valves normally open around 54-5500rpm. Is this wrong?
Also haven't done carbs on this motor but from the little understanding I have on them, isn't there a third stage that opens up at high rpm dumping more fuel in? If so, what rpm is that at?
The reason I don't want to point at the carbs is because it starts up without choke immediately, idles perfect, and runs without bogging up to the problem point. Does something happen inside the carberator such as what I mentioned above at 5500rpm?

 

[Mvasile20]

Also spark plugs are are good

 

[GGuillot]

Carbs were apperently rebuilt when I bought the ski 6 months ago. Just like everyone says when they sell a ski. Compression is at 140 each Cylinder. I just want to make sure to eliminate all the simple causes before I do the carbs as this will leave me out of the water for atleast a couple weeks in the prime time of summer. The problem is specifically happening at 5400rpm. And while feathering the throttle you can feel it jump up and back down like it is trying to jump into higher rpms but can't until I feather it just right. My understanding was that the RAVE valves normally open around 54-5500rpm. Is this wrong?
Also haven't done carbs on this motor but from the little understanding I have on them, isn't there a third stage that opens up at high rpm dumping more fuel in? If so, what rpm is that at?
The reason I don't want to point at the carbs is because it starts up without choke immediately, idles perfect, and runs without bogging up to the problem point. Does something happen inside the carberator such as what I mentioned above at 5500rpm?

Your choice, but if you haven't been through the carbs and trust it was done right by the PO and don't want to do it, then press on and keep looking at other areas. The functionality of the carbs and RAVEs is meaningless at this point.

The fuel system on these skis is finicky, I wouldn't purchase a ski and get on the water afterward without doing the following first: replacing fuel and oil lines, new fuel selector, new o ring in the fuel strainer, rebuild the carbs with OEM kits including needles/seats, verify carb pop off/pressure test, ck and clean fuel vents, fresh NGK plugs gapped properly, and inspect the jet pump, bailers, and carbon ring.

 

[Mvasile20]

Thanks if Noone has any other advice on what to do first, I will be diving into the carbs here soon everything else has been replaced by me

 

[mikidymac]

Carbs, carbs and finally carbs.