Air bubbles in fuel lines

[JeremyD615]

Well the three wire tachs have two wires for power, which are probably good if you’re getting movement, and then the signal wire is just a pulse from one of the stator wires. It’s hard to see that pulse with a cheap meter, so I’d just do a continuity test on that wire to the stator. If it tests clean then you’ve probably got a bad gauge...

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

What I saw in the video was water coming from the tell-tale? It looked like it was coming from the pump area?

Anyway, yes you should be fine as long as the exhaust system isn't filling up with water, which it will do if the engine isn't running while the water is on. If the water was turned off before the engine, this will expel remaining water before shutting off the engine.

IOW, shut the water off first. turn on water AFTER the engine is running. You can not run for long periods this way if the ski has a carbon drive shaft seal, it will overheat unless you spray water on it.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Normally tan wire on tach is ignition signal, violet is power, ground is black.

 

[mejim707]

Normally tan wire on tach is ignition signal, violet is power, ground is black.

So this is what I see. The first picture of 3 wires is for the tach. Power is working. The grayish tan wire with green stripe goes back to the electric box. This rings out with continuity to the box.

In the second picture of the electric birds nest.. You can see the grey wire connecting to the yellow wire from the stator. A third wire connects to some component under the solenoid. When I check continuity from the grey to yellow wire connector there is none. It reads open. You can see a black section of electrical tape. When I pull this back I see a 20k ohm resistor.

Finally, the yellow wire to the connector that plugs into the mag cover has continuity to the connection shown in the third picture.

Could the resistor be bad? Shouldn’t I at least see a resistance value on the meter?

Thanks!

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

The meter should read 20K Ohms, if meter has a 200K Ohm scale use that or if it's an autoscaling meter, the meter will go up scale automatically and resistor should read 20K Ohms.

Unless you see something wrong with the resistor, it's probably fine but 20K resistors are a dime a dozen.

I don't have the schematic for that ski in front of me, but does the resistor look like factory or has someone installed it attempting to modify the harness? Often there will be a capacitor nearby whenever a resistor is used, this circuit is called a tach filter (the caps are always suspect) but boat tachs have the tach filter built into the tach, usually.

SO I'm surprised to see a resistor.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Ugh, I wrote tan, meant grey.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

In the case of an outboard, you have minimum 5V AC signal on the grey tach wire while the engine is running.

 

[JeremyD615]

I didn’t think the three wire tachs required a resistor, but I may be wrong on that, as I’ve never looked at a wiring diagram for that boat... If you have a schematic, check to see if it’s supposed to be there.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

On the 1996 GSX ski schematic, the tach signal comes from the electronic module and there's no resistor shown.

 

[mejim707]

On the 1996 GSX ski schematic, the tach signal comes from the electronic module and there's no resistor shown.

Oh interesting! I’m going to look up the schematic and check for the resistor. I don’t know why it would be there. I’ll verify!

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[mejim707]

I didn’t think the three wire tachs required a resistor, but I may be wrong on that, as I’ve never looked at a wiring diagram for that boat... If you have a schematic, check to see if it’s supposed to be there.

Thanks again Jeremy, I’m going to look up the schematic and check for the resistor.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Okay then since the tach signal is coming from the stator, I can believe there might be a dropping resistor. It just doesn't agree with the ski schematic, not sure why.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Perhaps there's a multi-position pole switch on the rear of tach? Usually marine tachs have a rotary switch for compatibility for all frequencies generated by the stator. In the case of an outboard before fuel injection there was a tach terminal on the voltage regulator and that went straight to the tach.

 

[mejim707]

Perhaps there's a multi-position pole switch on the rear of tach? Usually marine tachs have a rotary switch for compatibility for all frequencies generated by the stator. In the case of an outboard before fuel injection there was a tach terminal on the voltage regulator and that went straight to the tach.

I’m going to pull the tach and check the back. I don’t think I saw a switch when I had it out. But I’ll verify.

I’m going to try and pull up the schematic. It’s for a 96 challenger boat but I don’t think it should be that different.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Okay then since the tach signal is coming from the stator, I can believe there might be a dropping resistor. It just doesn't agree with the ski schematic, not sure why.

The stator voltage can be quite high, so some sort of dropping resistor makes sense. It's kind of unusual to see the tach signal tied directly to the stator, I'm not used to seeing that.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I’m going to pull the tach and check the back. I don’t think I saw a switch when I had it out. But I’ll verify.

I’m going to try and pull up the schematic. It’s for a 96 challenger boat but I don’t think it should be that different.

I'd love to know if there's a real boat schematic and for which years, I've heard rumors there were some while others have said they were never published. The 2001 ski schematic is nearly identical to my boat with just a few obvious differences, I've always used the ski schematic for my boat, could never find boat schematics and I really don't need to..

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I’m going to pull the tach and check the back. I don’t think I saw a switch when I had it out. But I’ll verify.

I’m going to try and pull up the schematic. It’s for a 96 challenger boat but I don’t think it should be that different.

The reason I asked about the switch is I see a lot of boat tachs with a bad switch. Of course I replace the tach but jiggling the switch can get them working for a while. If the tach already works, jiggling the switch can be a bad idea, the switches are rather hokey considering what a tach costs.

 

[mejim707]

The reason I asked about the switch is I see a lot of boat tachs with a bad switch. Of course I replace the tach but jiggling the switch can get them working for a while. If the tach already works, jiggling the switch can be a bad idea, the switches are rather hokey considering what a tach costs.

Check this out if you have time. @Chadwicksracing posted this on my manual request post. It's been a huge help.

This should have the manuals for the challenger, speedster and sportster I believe. The doc "1996_Seadoo_Supplement_Speedster-Sportster-Challenger" has the schematic for the challengers wiring. I'm looking this over now.

1996_Seadoo_ShopManual&ServiceBulletins&Supplement_Speedster-Sportster-Challenger – Google Drive

 

[mejim707]

I haven't looked at what the "tachometre circuit" involves yet. But I don't see a resistor on this schematic for the tach. The plot thickens..

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

I'll have a look. If the 20K Ohm resistor is open, it's defective for sure unless it's not actually a 20K resistor?

FWIW, A 20K resistor would dissipate maximum of 1/4 Watt at 70V AC

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Sure enough, there's a 20K resistor on that schematic, signal for tach off the stator winding. Specifies 1/4 Watt but I would've spent another $.000001 for 1/2 Watt, lol. Thanks for the schematic, BTW!

 

[mejim707]

Sure enough, there's a 20K resistor on that schematic, signal for tach off the stator winding. Specifies 1/4 Watt but I would've spent another $.000001 for 1/2 Watt, lol. Thanks for the schematic, BTW!View attachment 41643

Great thanks for the confirmation that the resistor is supposed to be there. I don't think my meter is good enough to read 20k. I'm going to have to find another to test the resistor. If I can verify it's good then the sad truth is like Jeremy said it's a bad gauge or the pulse sensor is no good. If that's the case I'd have to get back into the mag :/

 

[JeremyD615]

There is no pulse sensor. The gauge itself actually picks up the pulse coming off of that wire. If the resistor is good, then your gauge is bad. It’s not super common, but it happens fairly often...

 

[mejim707]

There is no pulse sensor. The gauge itself actually picks up the pulse coming off of that wire. If the resistor is good, then your gauge is bad. It’s not super common, but it happens fairly often...

Thanks Jeremy, I was actually referring to part #9 from this diagram
1996 Sea-Doo Challenger, 5896 Magneto And Oil Pump | Fox Powersports Sea-Doo Partshouse

Isn't this what picks up the pulse from rotation? I do have continuity accross the board other than being able to verify the resistor. I'm going to see if perhaps autozone has a better meter so I can check the resistor. If that checks out I'llbe in the markey for a new tach. Any recommendations on a good one? Maybe a better one than stock with some added features to better monitor the systems?

This is the final thing and this boat is 100%. Over the winter I may pull the engine and do a full rebuild or send it off. Just for the peace of mind. I would also love to give it a fresh coat of paint with a totally different color scheme. Something a bit more aggressive looking. I'm not too much of a fan of the white / green / purple scheme. And I hate the decals lol I need to remove those.

 

[JeremyD615]

That’s your pickup. If it we’re bad, the boat wouldn’t run, so I don’t think it’s your problem... I’d replace the gauge and you should be back in business.

As far as changing colors, it’s quite a process... I did quite a bit aesthetic work on my Speedster, but it took a lot of elbow grease, and I didn’t even paint the hull... This photo still has the purple Bombardier decals on it, but those have since been switched.