Give me your input....

[Gary pope]

Ok.. here’s the deal... a few weeks ago I picked up a 97 sea doo gts... the guy told me that they switched it over to pre mix after the oil tank sprung a leak... upon getting it home... I pulled the motor out to inspect it and found out that the rotary valve that is on the crank actually walked a tad bit so in doing this, it chewed up the bronze gear on the rotary valve part itself... I then noticed that pretty much one inner bearing and all outer bearings need to be replaced... I know you can’t replace the inner bearings do I proceeded to hunt down another 717 motor and found one 2 and a half hours away... I got it back here and can see on the tag it says it’s a 717, and he told me it was out of s 95 hx... is it normal for the hx to have 2 Carburetors? And will it be ok for me to use this on My 97?
I do plan on tearing it all down and give it a good cleaning... I just want to check to see what everyone else thinks....
Oh yeah... one other thing is he told me it was getting way to much oil and was fouling the spark plugs out but it also had supposedly 140 psi in each cylinder.... is it possible for it to foul out the plugs with oil even with having good compression????

 

[jts32]

Different models used different carb setups. I'm assuming your GTS only has one carb? You will have to swap the intakes to make your single carb work. I hope you got a great deal, because I personally wouldn't buy a used motor without performing my own compression test. As far as fouling plugs, if it was getting too much oil and you're putzing around, they can foul. Check to see if there is oil in the cylinders. If there is, the crank seals may be leaking. If that's the case, you might as well have just replaced the crank in your original motor.

 

[mikidymac]

So a few issues.

Yours ate the rotary gear because they ran it without oil which is supplied by the oil tank.

Second the HX uses the same base engine but with a dual carb manifold. So you could just swap manifolds to your single carb one. But, and this is a big butt! LOL, if it was fouling plugs the inner crank seals are bad and it too will need a new crank as you can’t replace the inner seals. So... I would just rebuild the rotary gear and it’s bearings if your original crank is ok.

 

[Gary pope]

Well.... I did do my own test when I got there and they were the 136 psi.... you have got to be kidding me.... there’s no way of replacing the seals....so now I have 2 motors I know nothing about and you’re telling me I’m pretty much screwed....
Isn’t there a place I can send my crank out and have new inner seals & bearings installed?

 

[mikidymac]

The crank has to be rebuilt to replace the inner seals.

I prefer the OEM seadoo ones.
SBT sells them but with shipping they are almost the same price for me in California.

FYI 136psi isn’t great compression. Perfect is 150 and 120 is time for rebuild.

 

[Gary pope]

I just found out both cylinders would foul out. Does it matter if one does or both?

 

[jts32]

That means both seals are probably leaking. The motor can still be run. It's when the ski hasn't been used for a long period that oil will leak past the seals and cause issues. Some people have installed a valve on the oil line and shut it off when the ski isn't being used. Just need to make sure it gets turned on when running or you will end up with the same issue as your original motor.

 

[mikidymac]

But once they are too far gone it will leak enough to constantly foul plugs. Installing the valve will only buy you some time and not actually fix the problem.

 

[Gary pope]

Ok.... here’s the deal.... I have a line on a yet another 717 motor.... in the pictures it looks absolutely pristine condition... the guy knows nothing about it because his son is the one who purchased it.... I have one question... on the stator housing tgere is a few numbers stamped on it... am I correct to think that this is the production date?
It is 12/00....

 

[mikidymac]

Honestly save your money and just buy a rebuilt crank and be done with it. Stop buying someone else’s problems.

 

[racerxxx]

Ok, This may sound harsh but you REALLY need to start listening to the advice given here and before you make deals you should post the questions here. Stop buying someone else's problems and just spend the money and do it right and do it once if you're keeping it. If this is a ski you're planning to flip you're already in too far to make money. Make a date with the sawzall and scrap this thing.

 

[Gary pope]

Ok excuse me but did I even say that I’ve spend any money on this thing... first off.... I do plan on just flipping it, I’m probably not going to keep it. Secondly... I have been wheeling and dealing by trading certain things for the past few motors and I do plan on parting out what I don’t need.... I don’t have the money to just drop another $400 on a crankshaft.... hell... i didn’t even pay that much for the ski... I got that in on trade too....
I do appreciate the advice I get here most of the time...

 

[racerxxx]

Best of luck with your flip.

 

[Gary pope]

Well man.... I did ask a question before I picked it up. All I did was ask the question on the marking on the side of the stator housing... sheesh...

 

[jts32]

I've never seen a number stamped on the side of the housing, just a Bombardier tag on the top side. SBT stamps the head, so maybe a number from another builder?

 

[jts32]

If it's a good motor and you're able to pick it up cheap, go for it. I have about 6 good 717s laying around that I picked up for pennies. If it was me, I'd install the motor with the leaking seals, put in a valve and make sure the oil pump is adjusted correctly. I purchased an XP that had a valve and rode it for an entire season without issues. I made the new owner aware of the valve and the reasons for it's installation of course. My integrity isn't worth a couple extra bucks.

 

[Gary pope]

Hmmm... Well the numbers are stamped on top of the stater housing right next to the manufactures tag it says 12/00

 

[Gary pope]

Is there a way of testing to see if the inner seals are good or not without running it

 

[jts32]

Yes, you pressurize the RV cavity to around 5psi. Pull one of the spark plugs. If pressure drops, that seal is leaking. Repeat to test other seal

 

[jts32]

Also, if pressure drops before removing plugs, you probably have a leaking seal on the RV shaft

 

[Gary pope]

Hey you said you have about six good ones right? Where are you located and how much would you want for one?

 

[jts32]

Sorry, I'm not in the parts selling business. I keep them for my own personal skis or to repair skis for selling.

 

[NickCawks]

Ok.... here’s the deal.... I have a line on a yet another 717 motor.... in the pictures, it looks absolutely pristine condition... the guy knows nothing about it because his son is the one who purchased it.... I have one question... on the stator housing there are a few numbers stamped on it... am I correct to think that this is the production date?
It is 12/00....

It seems to me that you have a couple options here. None of these options are going to be "cost-effective", but it appears you might have already gotten the rough end of the stick.

Cheapest route / most work. Head over to Harbor Freight and purchase yourself a press. This is the only tool needed to rebuild your crank. HOWEVER, depending on the conditions the crank has seen through its life it might take a MIGHTY powerful press to break any cold welding. I know that I have had a similar situation where my 3-ton press was unable to do it and I had to take it to a machine shop where their 30-ton press was just about topped out before breaking the cold weld.

In addition to potentially requiring more force than you will be able to provide, this is not an easy job. For someone who has spent little to no time working on things like this, it is more than likely an undertaking that should be passed up. THAT IS unless you're looking to educate yourself through experience, in that case, you have nothing to lose (but time and money ).

More costly / Less work / quicker to get to the fun part. Pull the engine if it is not already, package the engine for shipping, contact one of the companies that sell rebuilt motors, ship them your core, wait for your new motor, drop it in the ski, and move on!

Here are a couple of places that you can get this service from.
http://www.rynopowersports.com
http://www.seadooengineshop.com/

*I cannot speak for the quality of work, turn around time, or any further details on these businesses as I have not personally used them. Perhaps someone else here can chime in*

Depending on the condition of the rest of the motor you could potentially just send in your crank and get a new one. In my opinion, you would be better off getting a whole new motor. the prices for a new motor and a new crank are not that far off from each other, so why not get the whole thing?


Words of advice:
Stay calm and stop freaking out. As with any motor vehicle land or water, you WILL encounter challenges and roadblocks. If your going to get anywhere with them you must take a few deep breaths, calm down, and think critically/analytically rather than emotionally.

Being bitten by the PWC bug is a pretty powerful thing, and it's hard not to just jump on the first thing you see. You must squelch this and maintain a realistic outlook on the potential any ski you're looking at has. Do not jump into anything uninformed! POST POST POST; people on here are very nice and willing to help you, use this to you ADVANTAGE! There is no need to become defensive the people on here are trying to help and they have experienced a lot of issues with these things and know what they are talking about. It may sound like they are being rough, but the reality of these skis are often very rough.

Remember that decades-old saying BOAT - bust out another thousand. WELL you now own a mini boat, you won't be needing to bust out thousands, but you will probably be busting out multiple hundreds. This is a reality you need to be prepared for and if it is out of your budget's range then maybe you should cut your losses.

I am sorry if this comes across harsh, but I am currently working on my first jet ski project - I initially dropped 400 and am now up to 1500 before the thing has even seen water. I too jumped into something before really knowing about it, but I don't regret this because now I know so much more about these things. This could be especially beneficial for someone who wants to flip PWCs. The more you know the more you can keep your head up for the next time around.

In a nut shell, you can approach this in two ways - As an inconvenience that is in your way to having fun.
Or as a learning experience that will not only teach you about PWC's and 2-strokes but will also be a valuable lesson in patients.

 

[Gary pope]

Well I do have a 20 ton shop press I was thinking about trying to utilize that to press out that part through the crankshaft journal. Anyway I ended up picking up another 717, one thing I’m not quite sure of is this one is a silver in color and the motor number that’s on the play is m5422122. Can anybody shed some light as to what this motor came out of?

 

[jts32]

I can't tell you what it was in originally, but a stock 717 is the same motor no matter where it came from. Only differences are color, carb setups, or placement of the pulse nipple for the fuel pump.