HELP!! Seadoo GTI 155 (2007)

[Samartin1224]

My problem: I let my brother-in-law drive my 2007 GTI 155 SE. (88 hours on it) He thought it’d be cool to pull up on the reverse handle like an E brake in a car at top speed. Everything broke. I replaced the reverse cable and the lever started working again.

Since then, the ski will top out at about 20 mph and the reverse handle pops up about an inch when throttled. The steering is off and the turning radius is about 3 times as big. I replaced the wear ring, spark plugs, carbon seal and hat, bearing ring, and checked the drive shaft for damage. All good.

Today, the same problem persisted except this time I got an exhaust code at about 8k RPM in addition to everything else. It feels like it’s driving with the reverse gate halfway down, but when I check it on land it seems to work properly.

Any help would be much appreciated thank you.

 

[depami]

I'd be inclined to take the reverse gate off and see what it does.

 

[Samartin1224]

I wasn’t sure if I could just disconnect the gate and take it off, then run it like that. Is there anything else I need to do before putting it in the water?

 

[ski-d00]

You may have assembled the reverse cable incorrectly where it goes through the hull. Many people put the 2 halves of the cup seal in backwards which will do exactly what you describe. The reverse cable should have almost no play and be very positive up and down. It also sounds like you did the same thing to the steering cable as it will do exactly what you describe as well and has the exact sealing system through the hull.

The exhaust code is most likely due to low flow through the pump since you are not getting good flow which should resolve itself once the system is put together properly.

 

[Milehighguy303]

Your situation is puzzling. How a jet pump rebuild, plugs, etc. could all occur from pulling up on the reverse lever doesn’t totally make sense to me, but unfortunately it is where you are at.

Just a dumb question… you do have the reverse bucket spring attached at the jet pump area, right? And the correct OEM spring? And attached in the right spots to hold the bucket up when accelerating? My spring broke yesterday, or I would take a photo to show you. I have this same ski and love it - wish I could help. And wishing you the best.

 

[ski-d00]

Just a dumb question… you do have the reverse bucket spring attached at the jet pump area, right?

There is no spring on the 4tecs, only the old 2 strokes.

I've seen this many times over the years either by using it as a brake or by seeing how fast they can go in reverse by gunning it and it rips the bucket off. Normally the pump itself is fine but the bucket, nozzle, steering and reverse cables are damaged.

 

[depami]

There is no spring on the 4tecs, only the old 2 strokes.

.....................

I don't know about the GTI but my 2007 RXP has a spring:

 

[Samartin1224]

You may have assembled the reverse cable incorrectly where it goes through the hull. Many people put the 2 halves of the cup seal in backwards which will do exactly what you describe. The reverse cable should have almost no play and be very positive up and down. It also sounds like you did the same thing to the steering cable as it will do exactly what you describe as well and has the exact sealing system through the hull.

The exhaust code is most likely due to low flow through the pump since you are not getting good flow which should resolve itself once the system is put together properly.

The repair guy at the local marina installed the reverse cables, so how would I check to see if they’re installed properly or not? Also, today I took the reverse gate off completely and tested it and it was doing the same thing.

 

[Samartin1224]

Your situation is puzzling. How a jet pump rebuild, plugs, etc. could all occur from pulling up on the reverse lever doesn’t totally make sense to me, but unfortunately it is where you are at.

Just a dumb question… you do have the reverse bucket spring attached at the jet pump area, right? And the correct OEM spring? And attached in the right spots to hold the bucket up when accelerating? My spring broke yesterday, or I would take a photo to show you. I have this same ski and love it - wish I could help. And wishing you the best.

Yes the original spring is still attached. I took the bucket off today and still had the sand problem when I tested it.

 

[Samartin1224]

There is no spring on the 4tecs, only the old 2 strokes.

I've seen this many times over the years either by using it as a brake or by seeing how fast they can go in reverse by gunning it and it rips the bucket off. Normally the pump itself is fine but the bucket, nozzle, steering and reverse cables are damaged.

I took the bucket off and tested it today with the same issue. Would the problem persist like that after removing the bucket?

 

[Samartin1224]

I have two of these ski’s and someone suggested swapping the entire reverse gate and housing from the good one to the broken one and testing it that way. Obviously the steering would still be off if the cable is messed up, but does anyone think this is a good or bad idea?

 

[depami]

I have two of these ski’s and someone suggested swapping the entire reverse gate and housing from the good one to the broken one and testing it that way. Obviously the steering would still be off if the cable is messed up, but does anyone think this is a good or bad idea?

If you took the bucket off and it did the same thing, swapping buckets won't likely prove anything.
Is it at full RPM when this reduced speed occurs?
Seems like something may have happened to the pump.

 

[Samartin1224]

Ya it’s full RPM. I just thought swapping them would help diagnose any damage to the parts that house the actual gate. Like the nozzle or something else that might be prohibiting propulsion. I had the jet pump out when I replaced the wear ring and everything looked fine there

 

[Samartin1224]

I finally figured it out… and I’m kind of an idiot. So I was looking for damage on the nozzle of the reverse gate cone, and I noticed that there was about a 1/4” gap at the top where the nozzle meets the pump… then I noticed that the top two two bolts on the housing were missing, causing it to lean forward and making that gap. Like an idiot, I assumed that bolts didn’t go in the top two spots because I could see metal sticking out already… which turned out to the be the original bolts that been sheered clean off. So ski-d00 you were absolutely correct. By yanking on the reverse lever like that, it caused the bucket to buckle and sheered the screws right off. Thank you all for the help!

 

[POPPS]

Wow,,ouch,,,,a lesson for everyone,,,

 

[Milehighguy303]

Yes, that exact same thing happened to my same ski, but from jumping a wake - I actually forgot about it… I forgot about it. My kids friends jumped a large boat wake at pretty much full speed. When they landed, the force was so great that the reverse bucket slammed down (overcame the reverse spring tension) and the force sheered the heads of the top two bolts off. Broke the reverse cable nut too. I guess the pull on the bucket is so great, it can sheer bolts. I happened to see the bolt heads missing, and my ski would go 40 mph. Two new bolts and I was 60 mph again.

 

[Samartin1224]

Ya I guess I didn’t realize that were supposed to be 4 bolts since I’ve never worked on it before now. Crazy how much you can learn in a short time when something breaks

 

[Samartin1224]

Wow,,ouch,,,,a lesson for everyone,,,

The real lesson is, never let your idiot brother-in-law ride your ski without supervision

 

[POPPS]

And,,,I tell my customers to "not" lend the machine to anyone,,,they never are going to pay for repairs so they are careless as a result.

 

[Poormanracing]

Unfortunately I encourage it keeps me busy and I want to buy a bigger house I tell them.