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First weekend on the water, now ive got questions...

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MonteC

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Well my brother and I took my skis out this past weekend. We had a blast! Both skis run great, very strong too.

Ive just got one annoying problem with my GSX. After you run it for a while and shut it off, it becomes very hard to start. When its cold, or hot on the trailer, it will start up with out a fight. But if i shut the ski off and then try and start it again its a 1 or 2 minute ordeal. I hit the starter button and the motor turns over, but nothing else, so I give it gas and it fires off and stutters and bogs out. After doing this 4 to 6 times the ski will stay running and run great. Any idea on that one?

The GS has no starting problems, even though the guy I bought it from said the ski was a bear to start, it fired up every single time, even when cold. The only issue we had was toward the end of the day it would cut out at full throttle, my brother would slow down then go again once up to speed it would cut out. I think it was low on gas and moving fuel away from the pick up. Does that sound plausible?

I filled the skis up with 93 octane methanol free. Both skis are oil injected but someone told me I should mix the fuel as well in case the oil injection failed. They scared me so I did. Could I be causing problems by over oiling the fuel? Should I just trust the oil injection or bypass it?

On another note im doing wheel bearings on the trailer that came with the GSX, brand new tires but the wheel bearings were badly neglected.

Any advise or pointers would be appreciated. My wife is back in town and is eager to get on her ski this weekend. Im an auto mechanic by trade, but ive never worked on two stroke or small engines
 
Oh yeah, and I almost sunk both of the skis on sunday.... Forgot to put the drain plugs back in. :conehead: Yeah, I looked really stupid when i jumped off my ski, yelling at my brother to do the same so we could get the plugs back in, this was at the ramp WITH other people around.
 
not sure what could be causing your starting problem, i would say needles and seats but it is not a carb motor, you should not be mixing the oil since you are not on premix, if you switch to premix then you will mix it, but you could be getting to much oil i dont think that is good on the rfi models, it will just smoke like hell on the other haha, but if they are working you have nothing to worry about, i would try them again without adding oil and since it was there first run of the season give them another chance out there on the starting sometimes it may just need awakend for the lake season, have fun and good luckl
 
I think you are using way too much oil, pull the spark plugs, see if they aren't oil fouled. What type oil are you using? Is it api-tc?

The 717 carbed is probably O.K. with the extra oil (except the smoke), the 787 RFI (like Brandon said) may have clogged injectors, you should never use premix with fuel injection. You need to empty the fuel tank and put in fresh gas only.

Lou
 
Couple questions; did you drain the old gas? [if there was any] have you pulled the plugs?? If you are having fouling issues you could get some NGK iridium spark plugs which almost never foul. What oil are you using? Check the plug and see if they are burnt, or have built up oil, or a white greasy substance which could be water in the cylinder.
 
My train of thought was going the same way, but I wasnt sure why both skis would act different. But i guess the fuel injection makes a difference. Im using sea doo oil, thats what the PO's used, or said they used.

I ran probably 10 gallons of fresh gas through both skis this weekend. Ill check the plugs out and probably change them. What can I do to make sure my oil injections is working. I think it is actually leaking on my GSX, I seem to get a little oil in side the hull.
 
To start (787RFI), I would check the plugs and change if necessary (I would use stock spark plugs), drain the fuel tank, put in fresh gas, and see if the injectors clear themselves. You can use marine stabil in the gas.

Lou
 
I recommend keeping the oil injection. They are very reliable... but I recommend servicing it. Replace any hose that looks hard or overly soft. Also, change the filter.

as far as over oiling... it could be. there is a cable going from the carbs to the oil pump. make sure it's hooked up, and that the pump arm is moving with the throttle. It's a common rookie mistake to allow the pump arm to spin around to "full" during a carb rebuild.

The hard starting is coming from a leaking carb. Either your needle and seat are bad... or (more likely) someone installed an aftermarket rebuild kit... and the diaphragm is junk. basically, when you shut the engine off, the carbs leak down, and flood the engine.
 
RFI's .....do not like water or moisture in the system. Pull the module from tank, clean or replace its filter on the bottom, swab the tank.

Carbed engines will also run lean and fail, Even a brand new engine, from water in the gas tank. 1-2 oz of injection oil in gas tank with stabil & an alcohol water inhibitor. Even a brand new engine. Check your separator/filter prior to every ride for contaminates and water. Swab tank if found. Thirsty Seadoo's only drink clean fuel. Replace lines if you find crap in the carb filters.

Do not continue to ride if performance issues occur, or $$$$$$$$$$$ to fix it.
 
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Thanks. Looks like ive got a few things to check out.

BTW Dr. Honda, the one that is hard to start is fuel injected. The carb'd ski seems to have no starting issues.
 
The wife and I have both been out on the skis twice together now. Now ive got some "LOL! You bought 12 year old skis!" problems.

I have not premixed either skis and have run a full tank of fresh non oiled 93 no ethanol gas through both skis. The GSX still has the starting problem. The GS DOES NOT cut out any more, it was just low on fuel that one time. The spark plugs looked "normal" when I pulled them out after my first post. I didnt dig too far into the starting problem due to lack of time.

But I have new problems.

1999 GSX: Took it out today, ran for a little bit then beached it, I noticed the "12 volt low" light flashing during my ride. So I just left it beached for the rest of the day. Tried to start it back up to load the ski back on to the trailer and it wouldnt even turn over. Just click, click from the solenoid. Tapped the solenoid, tapped the starter, nothing. Towed it back over with the GS. Got it home and checked voltage across the solenoid. 6 VOLTS. That cant be right, btw nothing happened when we jumped the solenoid either. Forgot to mention that we swapped batteries from the GSX and the GS, batteries are fine (and brand new).

So I either have a bad starter, bad solenoid or bigger electrical problem. ??? Anything else I should check for?

1999 GS: Ok this ski starts great, runs great. EXCEPT.... its got a good bit of cavatation we discovered today. I tried pulling my wife around on a tube due to my ski being INOP, and out of the hole it would barely get out of its own way, once it got up to speed we were in business. Same thing when we both got on the ski. Me at 210 and her at 120, plus wet, with wet pfds.

AND! I pulled the cover off of the starter solenoid housing to test it against the readings I got from the GSX for comparison. MAJOR corrosion and found a small amount of nasty dirty water inside. So Im going to need to take all of that apart and clean it and reseal the box.

So the GS, needs some electrical cleaning and a new wear ring/pump rebuild/etc. ???? What else?

Im taking both skis down to the shop tomorrow, the shop will be closed, so ill spend the day working on these skis instead of working on my project car. :(

Where should I get parts? Any vendors on this site? I would love to help out a contributing member of a site that I have been getting such great info from. Money has to be spent anyway.
 
(GSX) You said that you have 6v... do you get that at the battery too? Where exactly did you check the voltage?


GS:

That happens. Check the clearance in the pump. 0.040" clearance is max. If your clearance is OK... then replace the carbon seal on the drive shaft.

Check that out, and let us know what you find.
 
GSX: I get 6v across the starter solenoid, (the solenoid in the water tight box that the positive battery cable goes to), one terminal reads 12v (battery side), the other terminal reads 6v when you press and hold the starter button. When I took the same reading on the GS for comparison I get about 12v on the battery side then about 11v on the other terminal when the starter button is pushed.

GS: I looked at the impellers on both skis and the GSX looks good minimal clearance, but the GS looks like there isnt even a wear ring in there gotta be well over .100 clearance.
 
Well i swapped starter solenoids and the GSX still wont start, just clicks.

I believe that carbon seal you mentioned dr. honda, is bad. I grabbed the boot on the drive shaft and the front part moves around a good bit.
 
Got the pump assembly off of the GS all that is left of the wear ring is the fiberglass core. All of the rubber/plastic is gone except for some chunks.

Cone had water and black gear lube in it. I want to put new bearings in as well as all of the rubber components, wear ring, carbon ring ect. What all do I need to buy and is there a kit? Also how does the driveshaft come out?

On the GS what is the thing that the spark plug wires go into near the starter solenoid? A coil pack? Were can I get a new one and how does it come apart? The one in the GS is corroded bad.
 
Got the GSX to turn over. Something was locked up. I jerked hard on the balancer on the back of the motor and I heard something click. Motor then turned over by hand, i hooked up power and the ski turned over fine. I read some where about a return spring for the bendix, could it be falling apart. Maybe its catching hell from the starting problem the engine has.
 
Couple pics from the GS. Im getting a list together on SEADOOWAREHOUSE.COM, any help would be appreciated, id like to get everything I need in one order.


108.jpg


109.jpg
 
ya man you will need a wear ring for sure and i am not sure you will need a coil pack if you are getting spark..... The driveshaft will just pull straight out you may have to cut the clip on that little boot from the pto and the driveshaft. I would order either from sbt or the onlyseadoo.com


Good luck and keep on posting pics to help anyone out that may be doing the same thing as you good luck
 
try: 1.877.330.0231 Short Block Technologies Superstore or bring them to Florida
 
Still waiting for parts to arrive for the GS. Pulled the oil tank out of the GSX today, getting new grommets, and going to replace all of the oil soaked line. I made a new friend at a power sports place, so Im going to try and get some parts from them and see how hard they hit me.
 
check your oil pump alignment there should be a line on the lever with the cable that goes to the carb and a line on the pump it's self. use a mirror to make sure they're lined up.
 
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