Happy 4th! 96 XP died and stranded me at sea.

[JoeStrange]

Long story short,
4th of July I go out on Lake Huron for a 40 mile ride, I only make it 27 miles. At one point while riding I heard a loud abrupt noise that sounded like I hit something floating in the water, I never identified the sound but I kept riding for 8 miles before I stopped and was idling checking my GPS and the ski literally just turned off leaving me stranded at the mouth of Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron (About 10 miles away from where Brock had his experience, for you vet members).

I tell you what, even having all my goodies, I got a phone,spare battery,proprietary GPS, water, beer, nuts, clothes.....THIS is a sobering experience. Im stranded on a 96 XP, in Lake Huron, holy shit! This is BAD! I pulled the seat and saw the plug thats supposed to go from the MPEM to the stator cover sitting in the water at the bottom of the hull. I also noticed that the entire plug assembly itself was hanging out of the stator cover and one of the wires had pulled out of the back end (See pic). After cranking a few times I knew there was no spark as I could smell the fuel. At one point I thought I was sinking because of how small the XP is and when its not running it just sags in the water.

Luckily my phone handled the dilemma with ease, two phone calls and a few texts later and I had boats and jet skis coming from both sides, who both found me kicked back, drinking beer and playing hungry shark on my phone. It was a perfect day to get stranded, the wind was only blowing at like 4MPH tops and it was partly cloudy. Now that I have the ski home the first thing I did was pull the MPEM out and check the fuses. The 15amp fuse was blown. Not only that but the plug that goes from the MPEM to the stator cover is full of oil, just a mess. The plug assembly thats pulled out still has its seal in tact and it was covered in oil as well.

I need advice on this, is there an easy way for me to fix this wire?, its pulled out of the crimp pin (see pic). Or do I pull that cover and replace that whole plug assembly?, which will also give me the chance to inspect the stator and mag for damage or water that may have entered the housing prior to blowing the fuse.

 

[Strizzo]

oil in the stator cover = leaking front seal, which probably means a rebuild. as for the 15A fuse, put another one in and make sure your MPEM is ok as well.

as for the wire, you can crimp a new pin on to replace the one that was pulled out.

 

[JoeStrange]

Anyone know if theres a tutorial on how to disassemble that stator plug? I think i'm going to try and solder the wire back on the pin.

 

[73Diesel]

I just ran into this with my stator last year. Apparently the 95 XP800 has a different wiring at the stator plug then the other 787. But search the forum for "stator plug assembly" and look for the one posted by me. Then scroll down to a video on how to remove the plug. It helped me a lot and is really easy to do.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

You can get a pin connector tool that allows you to pop the pins out of the connector, not sure if that's what you need... but you CAN get the wires out of the connectors. As for the front seal, I'd do a leak down test first and foremost, then start tearing stuff apart. If it is your front seal, rebuilding would be best, but you CAN replace it w/o pulling motor apart. That seal just pounds in. You'll need to pull off the stator case cover, the flywheel, and stator housing. You'll need the timing cover gasket as well, as it's paper. When installing, make sure you use something that will allow you to push that seal in straight as they're easy to bend. Use something like a wide socket or maybe a PVC adapter, something that will push on the entire circumference of the seal. While digging out the old seal, be careful not to scratch up the surface of the crank as it will cause it to leak in the future. Safest thing may be to carefully drill a small hole in the side of the seal and pry on it, but don't go too deep as you'll hit the crank bearings behind it. I know it's unorthodox, but it can be done. I'd recommend a leak-down test once you install it too.

 

[Jetskigoodies]

Deutsch connector
Watch the last minute and that will show you how to take it apart





[video=youtube;LIR9-ZdG958]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIR9-ZdG958[/video]

 

[JoeStrange]

Thanks for the help guys. I went ahead and fixed the pin and cleaned the connector, plugged it back in with a fresh fuse in the MPEM andddddddd............. no spark, but it didnt blow the fuse again.

So I went ahead and pulled the stator cover and It looks perfectly normal, I cant imagine why I have no spark, I'm really stumped.

 

[Strizzo]

did you check for signal (ac voltage) from the pickup coil while cranking?

also, thats a lot of oil inside the cover, and it looks like the windings are covered in metal shavings.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Wow, yea, you're definitely lookin bad there! I bet some of those metal shavings are shorting out the works. Can you tell what was rubbing to create them all? Also, you have a REAL bad oil leak. I've never seen anything like that. If your crank bearings are okay, how could so much oil possibly have gotten in there?? Could it be from someone cranking the engine while the bottom end is full of oil? Even worn seals don't leak THIS much.

 

[JoeStrange]

I was being sarcastic guys. All 6 bolts holding the mag to the flywheel broke off and danced around inside the mag before finally seizing themselves against the stator,thats where all the metal shavings (chunks of bolt) came from. As you can see from the picture the other halves of the mag bolts are still in the flywheel.

Yes the oil leak is pretty bad, I suspect this why I have had to replace the starter 2 times in the past 3 years. Im not sure where to go from here, Part of me wants to fix the oil leak, put a new flywheel,mag and stator on and ride. The other part of me wants to retire the ski till next year and start a complete restoration and motor rebuild.

Really shitty situation.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Motor rebuild doesn't take as long as you think. You can probably do it in a week once you get the parts in, enjoy it for a month before it gets cold. I'm willing to bet you have a bad rotary oil seal, or maybe even a bad crank seal. You can pull the RV cover and check to see if the rotary seal is weeping oil. During normal engine operation, you only have vaporized whisps of oil running through the crank case. It appears you're accumulating cups of it in (at least) your MAG crank chamber, suggesting a leak. It doesn't have to be a huge leak to net you this much oil over a day or two. I'm guessing you had to replace the starter from it hydrolocking on the oil in your combustion chamber?

 

[Spimothy Leary]

LOL, I enjoyed those pics, that's pretty rough hahahah

If you have another ski to ride (lots of summer left) my gut tells me that if you stopped now, yanked the motor and did a complete inspection, maybe you can just get away with a replacement crank assuming the top end is good and then your only eating the expense of a new or quality used crank and some gaskets.

if this is your only ski, i'd say so for it now, and follow IDoSeaDoo's advice, makes sense to me, you might be back up and running before August starts.

 

[Strizzo]

apparently you can replace the front seal without pulling the motor, and all you have left is the flywheel to pull off now. if you changed the front seal, and aren't getting leakage from the rear seal, you could possibly be back on the water only missing a weekend. when you replaced the starters, were they full of oil when you pulled them off?

 

[racerxxx]

Yes, you can pull the flywheel then the mag housing pop the seal out the back, pop a new one in replace the mag housing to case seal and reassemble. Gonna have to pull the from motor mount. You can wedge a chunk of 2x4 under the engine to hold it up.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

[Spimothy Leary]

and just for good measure, I will stress that riding solo in big water is not a good idea. I always recommend having a ride buddy with you so that you have your tow riding along.

I rarely ride solo, and when I do its generally in high traffic area's and within a 3-5 miles of the ramp so even if I had to ask a local boater to help me out, he could get me back to the ramp pretty quick and w/o much inconvenience on their part. When I ride with a buddy, its not that uncommon for me to be as far as 35 miles from the ramp. Every once in a while on a solo ride i'll run 20 miles up river but I always am thinking in the back of my mind, "who the hell is going to tow me 20 miles back ?"

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Hence I bought US Boat Tow insurance. It's $75 per year for inland and $125 for inland and ocean. As often as I go, it adds up to just dollars per trip. I'd sure kick myself in the ass if I got stranded on some wednesday night with noone around.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Hence I bought US Boat Tow insurance. It's $75 per year for inland and $125 for inland and ocean. As often as I go, it adds up to just dollars per trip. I'd sure kick myself in the ass if I got stranded on some wednesday night with noone around.

ya.. but if you roll your ski, & submerge or lose your phone, who da' fug you gonna call if your pulling a Brock ? (sorry Brock !)

I'm just repeating what my wife told me, I got an azz reaming from her 4 years ago after one of my best EVER rides on my ski: it was 25 miles upriver & back in a driving rainstorm with 20 mph winds, 4ft seats, submarined the ski several times, lost my hat, my goggles, and had a blast !!!

I hadn't told anybody I was going out that day... saw only one other boat on the water the whole time and if I had sunk the ski I probably would have drowned at worst or drifted for an hour or longer at best.

Ever since that Azz chewing I received on return from my lovely wife, I've been much more safety minded in my approach to ride planning

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Mmmmm 4 foot seas x) You've just reignited my yearning to take my skis to the beach. Most fun I ever had was in an inlet with those conditions.

 

[scrisp]

I've thought about taking my Doo on Saginaw Bay and always wondered how big the waves are out there. I was up in Au Gres last week (June 29th) when a bad storm blew through. I stopped and watched the show, right on the west side of Saginaw Bay/Lake Huron. I definitely would not want to be out in a storm. lol I thought about making a trip to Charity Island, if I could find it, but I've never been out on a trip like that before. My friend lives in Harrisville, about 30 miles south of Alpena, and we're going to ride on Lake Huron, at her house in a couple of weeks. The lake is usually really calm in the mornings.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

How many months of riding do you guys get out there in OH and north of that? (highs at or above 85F)

 

[KyleB]

ya.. but if you roll your ski, & submerge or lose your phone, who da' fug you gonna call if your pulling a Brock ? (sorry Brock !)

I'm just repeating what my wife told me, I got an azz reaming from her 4 years ago after one of my best EVER rides on my ski: it was 25 miles upriver & back in a driving rainstorm with 20 mph winds, 4ft seats, submarined the ski several times, lost my hat, my goggles, and had a blast !!!

I hadn't told anybody I was going out that day... saw only one other boat on the water the whole time and if I had sunk the ski I probably would have drowned at worst or drifted for an hour or longer at best.

Ever since that Azz chewing I received on return from my lovely wife, I've been much more safety minded in my approach to ride planning

Ain't it funny how lovely wives can give really good Azz chewings?! :cheers:

 

[JoeStrange]

How many months of riding do you guys get out there in OH and north of that? (highs at or above 85F)

if you going for 80s only its a 3 month season. June, July and August. You will get a few hot ones in September though too.

 

[scrisp]

I rode in October 2 years ago. It was great dodging icebergs. lol It was actually not that bad, that was the year that we had many many 100+ days, so the water was still pretty warm for that time of year. Normally, I take my first ride in early May, to get the old gas out of the system and see if there are going to be any problems. By the mid-end of May, I'm usually our most evenings. This year has been kinda cool though, not sure if we're going to get a ton of really hot days.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Yea, that's the biggest reason for my life policy to only move further south. Eventually, I'll be in Fl

 

[JoeStrange]

2 years ago was the best! There was a day in July that I was pulling my skis out of a 40 acre lake at 10:15pm & the temp was 98 degrees, the water temp was 93 degrees. Last year sucked, very mild and this year the same so far, but thats normal Michigan summers. I personally would like Florida in the winter and Michigan in the summer.

Yes, you can pull the flywheel then the mag housing pop the seal out the back, pop a new one in replace the mag housing to case seal and reassemble. Gonna have to pull the from motor mount. You can wedge a chunk of 2x4 under the engine to hold it up.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

Racer I think this is going to be the plan of attack as I believe the rotating assembly is still in good shape, I still need to comp test to be sure though. If the comp test is bad then I retire the ski for the season, pull the motor and everything else out of it and start a jetskigoodies style resto on it.