97 SPX Impeller issues

[fury23]

I have a 1997 SPX that I was riding and all was well, then all of the sudden, it started acting up, like something go sucked up the impeller.
I did a visual inspection of the bottom of the watercraft and I didnt see anything sucked up. Anyone have any idea of what it could be?

 

[kustomkarl]

Check real close as it could be a small stick in the jet pump. You didn't really give us much of a description to go on.

Karl

 

[fury23]

It acts like it wants to take off, then you hear the engine rev up and it just doesnt do anything.. Maybe 3 or 4 thousand RPM's
Not quite sure.

 

[SRUSH]

Sounds like you stripPed your drive shaft or impeller or impeller got Messed up:ack:

 

[fury23]

The impeller is fully intact from what I can tell. It doesnt appear that the shaft is stripped either. This is frustrating..

 

[brockb541]

check your wear ring

Check your wear ring around the impeller. there should only be a millimeter or two of clearance from the blades to the ring. The factory wear ring has a black plastic coating that get tore up. If you see white through the black then you need to replace.

 

[SRUSH]

Does it move at all when you gas it? If it doesn't and the impeller is good then it should be the shaft the wear ring will have a bit impact on the performance but it will move without wear ring. And the gap should only be half the thickness of a dime between the impeller and wear ring

 

[kustomkarl]

The wear ring clearance is .014" or 1 mm between the center of the blade and the wear ring on the impeller. Measure it from the nozzle end. You will need a 12' Guage to reach it.

 

[fury23]

The shaft turns but with friction when trying to turn the impeller shaft by hand from under the ski. Anybody ever experienced this?

 

[fury23]

Does it move at all when you gas it? If it doesn't and the impeller is good then it should be the shaft the wear ring will have a bit impact on the performance but it will move without wear ring. And the gap should only be half the thickness of a dime between the impeller and wear ring

It will run and idle like normal, its just when you put some torque on it..
The impeller shaft doesnt seem to move freely, not sure if it is supposed to or not, but it does have friction when trying to turn it by hand.

Im lost on whats up with it.:ack:

 

[SRUSH]

if you gas it does the ski move?

 

[timmyboy76]

The shaft turns but with friction when trying to turn the impeller shaft by hand from under the ski. Anybody ever experienced this?

friction, because of the compression the pistons are creating. Pull the pump, its a 97, will take you 5minutes, undo the steering cable from nozzle, reverse cable if applicable and vts cable if applicable, then remove the 4-17mm nuts against the hull, and pull pump.

 

[fury23]

We are going to do that, anything specific we should be looking for??

 

[timmyboy76]

with pump removed, then remove grey shield from behind motor, push the "steel" collar toward back of ski, to expose the snap-ring, then pop that off, to remove the driveshaft. Roll driveshaft on floor, to inspect for bends and inspect the splines, also, then inspect the splines inside the pto..