bjrbuddies
New Member
Long story short; my 2001 LRV got flooded with saltwater. Within hours, I first flushed fresh water through open carbs & in spark-plug holes then sprayed lots of LPS#3 through carbs/sparkplug holes....and after lots of work, finally got it running; idled several hours on flush hose, then back in water for several hours of up & down full throttle running.
Seadoo starts easy, runs smooth at idle & appears to run smooth at high end. However it bogs at midrange. Additionally, at wide open throttle it will only hit about 39 MPH @ 6600 RPM, whereas a few days before, it peaked out a 54 MPH (unfortunately I did not note the RPM at that time).
Question is - what has changed?
More background: when I first put Seadoo in water a week ago, it had lots of pep when throttle initially snapped open but in a few seconds power sharply fell off, and stayed off, unless I let it idle for a bit then it would repeat the cycle. I suspected blockage of the tiny filters inside carbs so went through the tedious, knuckle-busting process of pulling and disassembling the carbs - sure enough, both filters were heavily restricted with what was likely particles shredded from the “gray-hose” problem. (I had rebuilt another set of carbs with same problem)
Anyway I cleaned filters & carbs, reinstalled assembles, adjusted low-end & high end mixtures, set idle speed and took for a test run. Unit ran better that ever, in-fact peaked out at some 55 MPH. Unfortunately I did not note the RPM for the 55 MPH case – does anyone know what RPM is expected at 55mph ?
The above carb rebuild occurred a few days before July 4th so I left it set in water for 2 days, as done many times before. Sadly in interim, Seadoo evidently developed a small through-hull leak, sufficient to allow enough water to seep into hull to flood down into the carbs & lower crankcase.
When I first noted the Seadoo riding slightly lower in the water, I mistakenly assumed the water level remained below the carbs, hence engine remained water free. Unfortunately wave action evidently had “rolled” the craft sufficiently such that water did flood into the engine. Anyway when I bumped the starter I knew instantly that I should have first pulled the sparkplugs…….obviously water doesn’t compress much.
At that point I pulled the sparkplugs, pushed starter, blasting out water for lots of revs. As noted at very beginning, eventually I got things flushed out, and “dry-enough” to run and that is when I discovered the significant drop in peak speed.
Soooo the Question is; did this oversight of cranking a water flooded engine cause engine damage? The engine appears to be mechanically OK but for example could the abrupt stoppage of a water blocked piston cause slipping of flywheel clocking such as to change engine timing with resulting reduced power?
I am sure that I am not the first to experience this so I am hoping someone can give me some help based on real experience. Also what RPM would one expect a 55MPH: doing a linear relationship from the 39 MPH & 6600 RPM suggest some 9000 RPM at 55 – Is there a “RPM limiter” to prevent such an occurrence.
Also both speed gauges (the analog & the digital) both showed 39 MPH; do these both have the same pickup, and if so, could that sensor have become damaged when I tilted the trailer to drain the hull, and is now reading low, meaning Seadoo is actually still going 55?
Spending years of doing rocket science and failure analysis teaches one to ask lots of questions.
Thanks for your time!!
Seadoo starts easy, runs smooth at idle & appears to run smooth at high end. However it bogs at midrange. Additionally, at wide open throttle it will only hit about 39 MPH @ 6600 RPM, whereas a few days before, it peaked out a 54 MPH (unfortunately I did not note the RPM at that time).
Question is - what has changed?
More background: when I first put Seadoo in water a week ago, it had lots of pep when throttle initially snapped open but in a few seconds power sharply fell off, and stayed off, unless I let it idle for a bit then it would repeat the cycle. I suspected blockage of the tiny filters inside carbs so went through the tedious, knuckle-busting process of pulling and disassembling the carbs - sure enough, both filters were heavily restricted with what was likely particles shredded from the “gray-hose” problem. (I had rebuilt another set of carbs with same problem)
Anyway I cleaned filters & carbs, reinstalled assembles, adjusted low-end & high end mixtures, set idle speed and took for a test run. Unit ran better that ever, in-fact peaked out at some 55 MPH. Unfortunately I did not note the RPM for the 55 MPH case – does anyone know what RPM is expected at 55mph ?
The above carb rebuild occurred a few days before July 4th so I left it set in water for 2 days, as done many times before. Sadly in interim, Seadoo evidently developed a small through-hull leak, sufficient to allow enough water to seep into hull to flood down into the carbs & lower crankcase.
When I first noted the Seadoo riding slightly lower in the water, I mistakenly assumed the water level remained below the carbs, hence engine remained water free. Unfortunately wave action evidently had “rolled” the craft sufficiently such that water did flood into the engine. Anyway when I bumped the starter I knew instantly that I should have first pulled the sparkplugs…….obviously water doesn’t compress much.
At that point I pulled the sparkplugs, pushed starter, blasting out water for lots of revs. As noted at very beginning, eventually I got things flushed out, and “dry-enough” to run and that is when I discovered the significant drop in peak speed.
Soooo the Question is; did this oversight of cranking a water flooded engine cause engine damage? The engine appears to be mechanically OK but for example could the abrupt stoppage of a water blocked piston cause slipping of flywheel clocking such as to change engine timing with resulting reduced power?
I am sure that I am not the first to experience this so I am hoping someone can give me some help based on real experience. Also what RPM would one expect a 55MPH: doing a linear relationship from the 39 MPH & 6600 RPM suggest some 9000 RPM at 55 – Is there a “RPM limiter” to prevent such an occurrence.
Also both speed gauges (the analog & the digital) both showed 39 MPH; do these both have the same pickup, and if so, could that sensor have become damaged when I tilted the trailer to drain the hull, and is now reading low, meaning Seadoo is actually still going 55?
Spending years of doing rocket science and failure analysis teaches one to ask lots of questions.
Thanks for your time!!
