mibesecker
New Member
I picked up a 97 GTX in good condition a few years back and up till recently hadn't used it enough to require any major maintenance on it and for what it did require (carbs rebuilt, swap out old grey lines, leaky oil reservoir, winterization, etc) I would take it to a local guy due to lack of time and confidence working on it.
Recently, I've had a little more time on my hands and with the help of this forum (and the seadoo manual) I have started doing more things myself on the machine. I was able to successfully swap out my steering and reverse cables, clean the RAVEs, change the wear ring, pump oil and all new gaskets. After these repairs she ran great but I noticed I was still having some water in the bilge which appeared to be coming from a worn out carbon ring. Since I don't know when the last time it was changed I decided to do a carbon ring drive line repair kit. All went well with the repair using youtube videos, manual, and resources found here. The issue seemed to be solved with the leak but after the 2nd time taking it out I noticed the lower hose clamp was starting to rub and slice through the brand new bellows and the new carbon ring seemed to be wearing out quickly (new dust around the hull). I readjusted the clamp, siliconed the bellows just in case and went for a test run on the lake to diagnose. After this I noticed a new visible chip in the carbon ring with leak and a continued slicing of upper portion of bellows attaching to thru hull. Got it off water as fast as possible and now unsure how to proceed.
Can anyone offer some advice about what is going on? I was thinking something could be out of alignment now causing more vibration on the system and new part failure but there is not noticeable difference in noise before/after the repair. There were no shims in place on pump when I disassembled initially, I never removed the engine, only the drive shaft from the PTO to swap the drive line components. I will attach a pic of the drive line pre and post repair. From the pics you can tell the old carbon seal was very worn and uneven, floating ring and o rings were still original. New floating ring is a bit different sized compared to the original however I confirmed with the company these were the correct replacement parts for my year/model.
So what's going on causing the failure of the new parts? Something to do with the jet pump rebuild (several rides prior) or more likely the drive line repair? I have ordered another new bellows boot and carbon ring but don't want to waste putting them on if I am missing a step. Thanks for any help keeping this thing alive!!!!
Recently, I've had a little more time on my hands and with the help of this forum (and the seadoo manual) I have started doing more things myself on the machine. I was able to successfully swap out my steering and reverse cables, clean the RAVEs, change the wear ring, pump oil and all new gaskets. After these repairs she ran great but I noticed I was still having some water in the bilge which appeared to be coming from a worn out carbon ring. Since I don't know when the last time it was changed I decided to do a carbon ring drive line repair kit. All went well with the repair using youtube videos, manual, and resources found here. The issue seemed to be solved with the leak but after the 2nd time taking it out I noticed the lower hose clamp was starting to rub and slice through the brand new bellows and the new carbon ring seemed to be wearing out quickly (new dust around the hull). I readjusted the clamp, siliconed the bellows just in case and went for a test run on the lake to diagnose. After this I noticed a new visible chip in the carbon ring with leak and a continued slicing of upper portion of bellows attaching to thru hull. Got it off water as fast as possible and now unsure how to proceed.
Can anyone offer some advice about what is going on? I was thinking something could be out of alignment now causing more vibration on the system and new part failure but there is not noticeable difference in noise before/after the repair. There were no shims in place on pump when I disassembled initially, I never removed the engine, only the drive shaft from the PTO to swap the drive line components. I will attach a pic of the drive line pre and post repair. From the pics you can tell the old carbon seal was very worn and uneven, floating ring and o rings were still original. New floating ring is a bit different sized compared to the original however I confirmed with the company these were the correct replacement parts for my year/model.
So what's going on causing the failure of the new parts? Something to do with the jet pump rebuild (several rides prior) or more likely the drive line repair? I have ordered another new bellows boot and carbon ring but don't want to waste putting them on if I am missing a step. Thanks for any help keeping this thing alive!!!!
