Help me for the love of god!!!!

[thejacksonkid910]

96 xp wont turn over unless i jump the starter. when i do jump the starter it turns great. when i found all this out there was about an inch of water in the bottom of the black electrical box. i know that it could be a starter solenoid, starter relay, starter, or a safety lanyard but im not sure exactly how to test anything but the solenoid. im not a noob to working on seadoos, this is just a problem i have never encountered before. any help would be greatly appreciated.

oh and by the way the last time we took it out on the water the battery got loose and which caused the smaller ground wire to break loose so we got it back to the dock by just holding the wire on the battery terminal and starting it that way until the connect failed and we have to start it again. then another thing is the key got smushed so i bent the inner pins back out until i got it to work. im pretty good on trying to figure out whats wrong, i just have a little trouble testing my theories.

and my last question is when i jumped straight to the starter and the engine began to turn there was no spark and i just wanted to be absolutely sure that it wasn't supposed to spark even though im almost positive myself that it wasn't supposed to

thanks for the help guys
-Alex

 

[deepdiver]

Sounds like the starter solenoid is bad since when you bypassed it, it turned OK. Most of the parts in the box are pot sealed so hope something in there didn't fry. You had a lot of water in there. The box must not have been sealed/clipped down tight. Good luck.

 

[deepdiver]

I have a 95 XPS so assume it is very similar. The lanyard, if like mine, is just a mechanical way of holding the safety switch down. Assuming it is in place and the safety switch closes, then when you push Start the voltage from the ECM is applied to the coil in the solenoid, which causes the click as the high current contacts are made, allowing current to the starter. So, you could check the voltage being applied to the solenoid via the small wire. It should be about 12VDC. If there, and solenoid doesn't put battery voltage to the starter side, then the solenoid is bad. Sounds like you already know the above. Sorry if I wasted your time there.
You can check the lanyard/safety switch by just verifying the switch shorts when you push the button or put the lanyard on.
You won't get any spark unless the lanyard is on because the ECM won't allow it.

 

[deepdiver]

Sounds like you have a different lanyard than me so ignore that which doesn't apply.

 

[thejacksonkid910]

looks like its going to be a solenoid. test the current from the switch to the solenoid and it showed up 12v. ill keep you posted

 

[deepdiver]

Not to quibble but you measured voltage not current. Volts x current amps = power.
If you have a high resistance when the solenoid makes contact the current is inadequate to run the starter. Current is harder to measure since it usually requires a special meter. Sounds like the switch is supplying voltage to operate the solenoid. But not enough current to operate the starter. Hopefully replacing solenoid is the fix.

 

[voodoo]

Be very cautious of using a running car/tractor to overcome a weak battery, this causes electrical failures which are costly, using a car battery with the donor turned off is fine.