Carbon Seal

[jjsinaz]

Is it possible that the carbon seal on the driveshaft can not leak water into the hull but still cause bad cavitation coming out of the hole? I rebuilt my pump during the off season while the engine was being rebuilt and put a new wear ring in. I did this because the ski always had a little bit of a cavitation problem before, but it is much much worse now. Could anything else be causing this? The carbon seal looked to be in good shape when I had everything apart.

 

[Dr Honda]

Is it possible that the carbon seal on the driveshaft can not leak water into the hull but still cause bad cavitation coming out of the hole? ....................

Absolutely. That's exactly why Seadoo went to this type of seal. It will cause issues, before allowing a catastrophic failure, resulting in your ski sinking.

As far as... "The Carbon seal looked to be in good shape".... well... it could be. But the Boot is the spring, and it can become hard, and lose it's tension. But the reality is... unless you take it apart... it's hard to tell sometimes. I've seen a bunch of seals go off center, and then internally, it wears to one side. Once apart... it's clear to see a "Short" to one side.

Also... some of the early seals, used a rubber o-ring to hold the stainless ring into the carbon ring. That o-ring will fail, and the stainless ring pushes back... in turn... reducing tension. OR... the seal O-rings in the stainless ring fail... and you simply have a spot to suck air under extreme conditions.

So... as you can see... it's hard to judge it's condition until you take it apart.

 

[jjsinaz]

Thanks Doc. I'll just replace it. I think it is all that is left to replace on this thing LOL

 

[jjsinaz]

So, does this look bad? Bellows measures 2 3/4 inches long Kind of hard to tell in pic

 

[mikidymac]

Looks pretty worn on the faces.

 

[jjsinaz]

Good. So hopefully that will solve the cavitation issue, then I can focus on the other issue. I have a new driveline rebuild kit coming on Friday. Thanks Miki!

 

[Johnnie J]

I just did mine. This video, though not thorough will help when your trying to get the c clip in

 

[Johnnie J]

Sorry wrong one. Let me try again

 

[Johnnie J]

Here it is

 

[racerxxx]

Don't even mess around with the OEM carbon seal. OSD has a killer HD unit which is thicker and puts a little more pressure on the accordion boot. But I would replace the boot too with an OEM one. That should get you back in action. I also like to seal the ride shoe to the hull along the seams, zero chances for disturbing the flow and creating turbulence.

OSD Sea Doo Carbon Seal Kit - Heavy Duty (2 STROKE) [OSD2004] - $54.99


HD vs.. Stocker

 

[Ryan727]

I also like to seal the ride shoe to the hull along the seams, zero chances for disturbing the flow and creating turbulence.

Can you explain this? I'm curious.

 

[jjsinaz]

Just FYI, I had already ordered the kit from Bay Area Powersports before Racerxxx mentioned about the OSD having the thicker "top hat" like the one on the left in the pic above. Much to my delight, I received the kit today and it too has the thicker top hat part. Box says WSM on it, so they must be the ones who are making the thicker part

 

[mikidymac]

PWC Muscle here can also supply all WSM parts.

 

[jjsinaz]

Can you explain this? I'm curious.

Yes. If you look into the intake tunnel you will see a gap where the ride plate meets up to the hull. You fill that gap in with black RTV on both side. Any kind of an edge like that is an invitation for cavitation. I sealed that up on mine too per Racerxxx recommendation. Got the new carbon seal today and just finished installing that. Now the carbs are coming back off to see what the he11 is causing the performance problem between 1/3 and 1/2 throttle

 

[racerxxx]

Look where the black meets the pink. Seal around the gap where your ride shoe meets the hull inside the tunnel

 

[jjsinaz]

New carbon seal fixed the cavitation problem