Difficult cold start 96, Spi 587

[Mike R]

Good afternoon,newbie, having problems on cold starts on my 96, Spi, bought last august, had carbs rebuilt, mikuni kit by sea doo mechanic, I replaced fuel lines and selector switch, ran great end of summer, always started right up, winterized, started on hose a few weeks ago, after winter, started right up, took to river, and would not start on ramp. Got it started last weekend on hose, lot of black muck came out ran it about 5 minutes to clear out from winterizing.
went to cold start yesterday would not start, took plugs out, dried and it started, decided to replace plugs, started up instantly.
took it out this morning and it was difficult to cold start, once started cleared out more blackish water?, took to ramp, started right up, ran it for over an hour, ran awesome, plenty of stop and restarts, with no issues, just finished flushing and cleaning ski, I will try to cold start tomorrow, and see how it goes, I’m not to confident it will, .
I checked all fuel hoses for looseness, all seem tight, IMO it seems to have issues getting fuel on cold start, what should my troubleshooting process be?
Thank you in advance, Mike

 

[POPPS]

Is the battery up to snuff,,,a weak battery will give you a weak spark,,have it load tested,
Pull a plug wire and check the colour of your spark, should not be a dull yellow.
If you pour some premix into the cylinders dies it want start up right away?
The black muck indicates at least poor spark, weak battery, poor compression, fouled plugs.
Let us know.

 

[POPPS]

Of course check every connection for corrosion.

 

[Mike R]

Battery was fully charged when I removed for winterizing, and then fully charged before installing, it cranks fine, but I will get a load test on it and check spark again,
I’m thinking weak spark, when it did this the first time I was in parking lot, spark was tough to see, I will check with tester.
I will also check compression.
I have read about removing plug wires from boot and cutting 1/4” off on another post, should I do that?
thank you for the advice and help, skis are all new to me, I truly appreciate it, will get back after I get down shop and work on it tomorrow.

 

[Mike R]

Update.
came home for lunch today, so I figured I’d give it a try, pulled choke out, pushed start button, it sounded like it wanted to start, but didn’t, released choke, hit start, and it fired right up!
I’m guessing from running it on river for over an hour on Sunday cleaned out whatever was the issue? I’m going to still check battery, spark and compression. Hopefully all good, then move onto the pump oil, and look for grease fitting in pto?
I’m trying to go over everything during the week and run them on weekends.

 

[POPPS]

Never hurts to cut the wires back.