Another "won't start" post, sorry...... my 97 GTI

[bpishnery]

Hello all. I am unable to start my 97 GTI after about 12months storage. Oil good and not mily. Stored PWC with half tank fuel (a no-no). I charged the battery overnight and woke up to the "fully charged" light on. Checking it with a multimeter, it read approx 12.25. Installed battery and lanyard intiially i heard the 2 beeps but did not start. It sounded sluggish and it stopped, followed by 1 longer beep.

I pulled the plugs and they looked alittle nasty. Installed new NGKs right out of the box but it did not help. pulled plugs again and tried to start with no plugs and it cranked much better. no clicking i think. Now I am not hearing the loud beeps, but I hear soft beeps from the rear electrical box (MEP?). Thinking that it may be my battery (even though I got a full charge on it), I tried starting with the charger conencted to my battery while installed and hooked up......would not start, nor does it try to start consitiently.

I checked the 5a and 15a fuses and they are ok. I cleaned the lanyards with hot soapy water, but didnt work.

I used a screw driver and touched terminals on solenoid and heard it try to crank, but similar to before.

Eeven though my battery appears to be fully charged, could it still be bad? Autozone couldnt load tets it because its not a normal auto battery. The battery is very old, but I dont want to buy a new one until i know thats what the issue is.

I tried placing the battery back on the charger on 10a (fast charge) and heard bubbling/boiling in the cells and smelled nasty. what does this mean? Normal? is their water or acid in their? The cells are each not full, but no where near empty.

Thank you everyone!

Brendan

 

[Seadoobuddy]

I would say that the battery basically deader than a doornail. Buy a new one or borrow a good one to test it. if it still doesn't crank (but will by jumping the solenoid) then I would look at the starter.
Also Does the ski have the gray tempo fuels lines? If so change them to black auto lines and add an in-line fuel filter
Since it sat for a year I would at least clean the carbs and carb filter(s) and put NEW FRESH gas in it.

What oil do you use?
How old is the oil filter?
Pump oil look good? ...not milkly??

 

[Michael211_2000]

The 4TEC engine takes a lot of juice to turn over fast enough to start, even though your battery came up to full charge on charger that doesn't mean it has the amps anymore to start a 4TEC engine. Take the battery to your local auto parts or Walmart Automotive and let them test it for you to be sure it's actually got the amps it needs.

Regards.

- Michael

 

[LouDoo]

You really need to post this in the correct section, the 2-stroke PWC.

Try load testing the battery, attach a voltmeter across the battery and try starting if the voltage drops below 11 volts you need a new battery.

Lou