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Bringing it back to life.

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Pmcmasters

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I tried doing a search already but didn't have much luck. So here's the story in a nutshell. I bought a well used 95 SPX from a friend who bought it from some guy on Craigslist. My friend bought it for cheap so he could use it for a week at the lake and then sell it. Well, it didn't run when he bought it and it needed quite a bit of work. He told me he did get it started using some starter fluid but that was it. He took it to a dealer and they did some work on it but never did get it running. The ski looked like it had been sitting for a long time and was not stored correctly. The carbs were gummed up and corroded. The bolts holding the carbs to the intake manifold were seized and/or broken. My friend was in over his head and just wanted to sell it for parts or just walk away. I bought it from him for next to nothing. He sold it to me with the carbs partially torn apart and numerous nuts, bolts and pieces in little baggies. Needless to say, I had a project ahead of me. I've been a Mercedes-Benz technician for over 17 years now but I've never worked on a PWC in my entire life. I managed to drill out the seized bolts and seperate the carbs from the intake manifold. I tore both carbs apart, cleaned everything, bought a couple rebuild kits and rebuilt both of them. I reassembled everything, put some oil and some fresh gas in it and tried starting it. It cranks over fine, I can see fuel in the fuel lines, both spark plugs are firing but it won't start. It doesn't even sound like it wants to start. I don't think it's getting fuel into the engine. I pulled the flame arrester off and looked inside the carbs as the engine was cranked, I was hitting the throttle and never saw any fuel squirting out. I pulled the plugs after a few starting attempts. Cylinder #1 spark plug was more wet than cylinder #2. It looks like it was wet with oil, not fuel. I did check for spark, both spark plugs have a good, strong spark.

It doesn't have the grey fuel lines, it looks like they've already been replaced. I pulled the fuel filter and checked it out. The filter bowl was full of fuel and was slightly dirty. I cleaned both the filter and the bowl and tried it again. It still won't start.

So...what am I missing? I forgot to bring my compression tester home from work so I don't know what the compression is but it sounds good as it's cranking and it's difficult to turn over by hand so without a compression tester I have to assume the compression is ok. I think it's a fuel problem. I just need a little direction from those of you that actually know what your doing on these things. Where do I go from here?
 
You won't see any fuel squirting in, since those carbs don't have an accelerator pump.


Sounds like the top end is roasted. you are looking for 150 psi. cold, open throttle, both plugs out, and NO EXTRA OIL IN THE CYL'S !!
 
One other thing.... verify that the rotary valve is spinning. And, if the manifold was off... make sure the valve is timed properly.
 
Remove the fuel supply line, put a short clear line on the carb nipple, it should drink pre-mix fuel out of a small shot glass.
Never use "starter Fluid" only pre-mix. A spoon of pre-mix in *plug holes, then down carb venturi's, it should fire.
Seadoo's only run on good fuel.
 
Just a side-note as long as you are mixing up a batch of pre-mix ...
40:1 mixture
insure you use the proper PWC/SeaDoo oil, NOT regular outboard/TCW-3 oil. A lot of threads out here on various acceptable brands.

Rod
 
Well, I finally did a compression test on it. Cylinder #1 measures exactly 150psi, #2 measures 148-149psi. I will try pouring a little pre-mix in the spark plug holes and carbs as per Bills86e's suggestion. If it still doesn't fire, I'll pull the intake off and check the rotor timing. I'm using fresh fuel and I have Seadoo specific 2-stroke oil.

I haven't had to deal with pre-mix in ages! Not since my old motocross days, definitely brings back memories.

I'll report back in a day or two on the outcome. Thanks again for all the pointers and advice everyone.

Paul
 
Well, here's the scoop as of 5 minutes ago. I haven't done anything to it since I did a compression test a few days ago other than stare at it for a while. I did however, put a trickle charger on the battery because it was getting weak. After reading a few threads here on seadoo forum, somebody mentioned they put their hand on the carb to check for air getting sucked in during cranking. I thought to myself, I never checked that. So I tried it and both carbs were sucking air like they should. So just before I was going to pull the carbs and intake off I thought I would try one more time start it. BAM!! It barely cranked over for half a second before it started! Albeit it ran at almost full throttle but it started. It only ran for a few seconds before I shut it off because I didn't have any water attached to it. So now I have to drag it out of my garage and hook the hose up to it and try it all over again. Hopefully I can fix the run away throttle.

Paul
 
make sure you check the throttle for the run away. Also make sure you start the engine first before turning on the hose.

My throttle was adjusted too tight and cause what we thought was an air leak.
 
I adjusted the throttle as per the manual. I think it might be an air leak coming from the base gaskets between the carbs and the intake manifold. I had to reuse them because the dealer was out of stock and I was a little too anxious to try to get it running before. I'm going to get some new gaskets somewhere else and try it again. Hopefully that's all it is. It does sound great when it's running though!

Paul
 
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