How to fix fuel baffle blown fuse in Seadoo 97 SPX (Fuel gauge not working)

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Bonmotwang

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The fuel gauge on my Seadoo 97 XPS was work last year. Yesterday I took it out to kick off the season. I noticed that the fuel gauge was not working.
Took apart the connector on the two wires from the baffle. and measured the resistance between the two pins. It was about 5M to 8M Ohms. So open circuit. Connector resistance should be between 0 Ohm to 90 Ohms.
Searched forum, realized it is fuse blown. And looked at other people's pictures and had a plan for my fix. I thought it will be helpful by sharing it. Not rocket science, but my way.

Step 1) Unplug the 2-wire inline connector for the fuel level sensor.
Step 2) Disconnect the four hoses on the baffle. (Vent and Return were reversed, but it doesn't matter, could be either way, search forum you will have more info about this topic). On the battle the name are labeled clearly. (Cut out some tie wraps in the way)
Step 3) Loosen both clamps, I totally backed the clamps open so that it won't scratch my hand while turning and pulling it.
Step 4) Loosen the screw on the back of the choke puller, so that it is hanging free, otherwise it will in your way when you pull the long (10 - 12 inches) baffle tube out.
Step 5) Need your muscles: Hold on the black rubber and turn it a little to make sure it is turning, and keep turning back and forth while pulling up. It is very hard to put your 100% strength on it. But be creative and find a way to get it out. I used a big flat screwdriver and pried a little. Believe me you will get it out. Thanks Waterluver, I was going to give up.
Step 6) When the rubber is out, pull the whole thing all the way up, and when it is at the very top, push the wire and cable around a little, wiggle a little, then you will have it.
Step 7) This is what you will have:
baffle out.JPG
remember to cover the fuel tank opening with a piece of something using a elastomer band.
Step 8) Remove the filter screen at the bottom. Just push the 3 snaps in and remove it.
filter.jpg
Step 9) The float will drop out. The magnet (cylinder shape) is secured well. Don't think it will fall out in this design. (previous version do fall out).
float.jpg
Step 10) Muscle and being creative again, to slide down the rubber boot. As you can see in the following picture, there is a step the rubber has to overcome to get out. I used a big flat screw driver to pry. The rubber is pretty strong, so you can be a little rough to it. (putting it back is harder LoL).
Step 11) Chance of the the fuse brow if your meter is showing open circuit or mega ohms of resistance. If you are being techy and want to make sure, there is a way. You can actually access the through hole fuse one the bottom side of the PCB (where reed switches and resistors are on). Here are some pictures and I will explain how.
This the PCB top side looking from the bottom of the tube. All the component are on the top side, and the pin are soldered on the bottom side of the PCB.
pcbtop.jpg
Here is a link in our forum with the tube opened, if you want to understand more after the location of the components, check out this thread.
http://www.seadooforum.com/showthread.php?69191-Sorry-Fuel-Baffle-Story
Here is a picture of looking into the "RET" hose nipple.
You can clearly see two pins side by side, but there are not the pins for the fuse. What we want is closer to your eyes, and you can barely see them. They are inline with the tube, so you can only barely see one.
fuselegs.JPG
So the idea is to short it our using a small screwdriver or Allen key and on the meter the resistance between the two pins in the connector should read around 90 Ohms (the float is out, so no reed switches are closed). What I did is put the allen key through the nipple and feel it is stopped by the two pins which are not belong the fuse, then pull the allen key back and feel the two fuse pins. and push on the side ways. Try a few times, you should be able to short out the fuse and get 90 Ohm reading on your meter. But you can skip this techy step.
[Step 12] OK, Time to cut it open, but I didn't cut, I drilled. 1/4" bit is OK.
drill.jpg
Drill 3 holes side by side, so that you can see them, and you can work with your soldering iron. Any debris dropped in, just shake it out from the bottom of the tube.
3holes.jpg
[Step 13] Now you see the pins belong to the fuse. first soldering step is to presolder/touch the pins. This will make the next step (solder on a jumper wire) much easier.
This is the tools I used. If you don't have the similar size, then probably you can adjust the hole size when drilling to be suitable to your tool size.
tools.JPG solderingstation.jpg
Just put the solder beside the pin, and use the soldering iron to melt the solder to sit a drop (about 2mm diameter ball thing) of solder flowing around the pin. If no satisfied result, do it again. Don't keep your soldering iron on the pin for longer than 20 seconds, it may overheat the foil and foil will come off the PCB. You should be OK, I got the "ball" to cover the pin fairly easily. Unfortunately I missed the picture. But do the pre-soldering, it is very important to get the next step right and happy. BTW, you can verify "short to get 90 ohms" here if you want to :)
[Step 14] Solder the jumper wire.
You can get a piece of wire (3/4" will be OK) for shorting out the two pins. Leads from 1/4 resistors are the best, but can be anything similar. Also, pre-solder it to cover the whole short wire will solders. Here is the wire before you put it in the tube:
wire.JPG
[Step 15] Solder the the wire in. Use a pair of tweezers. Get one end on first then push the other end close the other pin, then solder the other end. Here you will appreciate the pre-soldering you have done!
done.jpg
Here is my work. Not too bad and most importantly, meter is showing 89.5 Ohms. Yahooieeee!
If you get to this step and didn't have too much of soldering experience, congratulations! Well done.
You may say the next step is to cover the hole/slot. But I didn't do because I figured A) the opening is going to be at the neck of the fuel tank opening, so mainly covered. B) the rubber boot will seal. If there is some gasoline jumped out of the opening we drilled, it will just sit between the two big clamps. Please point it out if this is a problem and why.
[Step 16] Put the rubber back and the float and the filter. It took me good 30 minutes to figure out the right way and put it back because you can only put it back from the bottom of the tube. Again I used a flat screwdriver to pry it. Thanks boot, your are pretty strong. This is how I pried:
pry.jpg
Just be careful when you get tired and frustrated, don't put any force on the pink and pink/black wires, if they are broken, the tube is dead. Just be patient and creative here. If failed 3 times, try the 4th. Several times I almost got 60% above the step, but it slid back. But take your time, you are almost there!
Then put the float back in, you may found it may stuck on the top, but it is ok, a little tap on the tube it will drop down. This is because over the years, the top part got shrunk a little.
Then put the filter back, if it is dirty, rinse it.
Then you will have this:
baffle out.JPG
Yes, I cheated, it is the first picture. LoL.
Now it is the real time to do double Yahooieee!
[Step 17] put the tube back into the tank, the pink and pink/black wire pointing to where the inline connector was. Again to get bottom into the tank you need to wiggle a little. It is much easier to get the rubber boot back on. :) Then put the two big clamps back. Then connecting the 4 hoses back, you may debate with yourself which is vent which is return. Flip a coin and follow it. LoL
[Step 18] Tie wrap wherever you see necessary

Put the lanyard on, you will see the fuel gauge back to work! Good job. But I have to point out one thing ignored by most of people and thinking it is not important:
The fuse, yes, why there was a fuse there and inaccessible by the end user.
This is to prevent the 12V circuit or any other power supply from getting somehow shorted to the pink and pink/black wire, it won't become a heater greater than 6W.
The tube is considered as a component in explosive environment, and required by CSA to be a safe device by itself. The only way is to put a fuse in the circuit and not changeable/replaceable by end user. If it was a inline fuse, people may put a 1A or 10A fuse in or just short it out.
So don't complain, Seadoo did the right thing.

Said that, many people may think they are sitting on a bomb while riding it if we short out the fuse. Nahh, it is OK, chances it will blow up is about 0.000214%. Correct me if you have more accurate number.
Please get an inline waterproof fuse holder and 250mA slow blow fuse ordered, so that you can put it in the circuit when it arrives 6 days later. I would put it on the baffle side of the connector on the pink wire. Disconnect the battery first. And put a red tag saying : "250mA fuse slow blow only, do NOT short it".

OK, that is it. happy riding and be safe.
 
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Good tip on pre soldering the jumper Paul, easy to get to much heat in there otherwise. ~Great write up to, your getting good at working on these. :cheers:
 
Thanks Bob. Big part of loving and getting good at Seadoo's is from the help you guys have provided.
 
Bonmotwang, nice write up and thanks for the plug :)

When I am trying to get a rubber thing off another thing I first go around the edeges with one of these: GW_84005_FRNT_MAIN.jpg while spraying with green cleaner, Armorall, or whatever. Once I can turn it easily, I'll start pulling, prying or whatever it takes.

Figured this out after starting a leak in a radiator neck long time ago :(

Afterthought: Awesome solderin' iron, BTW
 
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Your tool is better for pulling the rubber off. Prying probably isn't the best way.


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You misunderstand... You don't pry or pull. You don't gouge the rubber or the neck with the point. You work the point end between the hose and the neck and go around the neck while spraying. Once the hose is loosened up, you can start puilling / prying, etc.

The idea is to break the seal first. Works on any kind of hose, etc. Prevents damage to necks, knuckles, so forth.
 
Fuel sensor fix

When mine went I started by replacing the float, which was bad. While removed from tank I did a resistance check which came up bad. So, like most who have had this problem, I assumed the F1 was bad. I did the "drill some hole's thing" but found it way easier to just cut out a flap with my dermal. Big warning here, be very careful of cutting holes thru the pickup tubes, these are easily repaired but you got to see them to fix them. The bad thing is how the wires are connected to the circuit board and is what causes the problem. The soldering is fine but they screw the wires to posts and then cover it with potting compound. I think over time the connection just breaks down. Here's some test readings at the circuit board itselfSamsung 087.jpgSamsung 088.jpgSamsung 089.jpg This is from the terminal end itselfSamsung 095.jpg Not knowing how the wires connect under the black stuff I did things you shouldn't do. Using small needle nose pliers I removed the tan plastic jiggy from the circuit board. I drilled the soldered blade connectors that attach the board to the wires/pins, I then tried to pull the board out of the bottom of the tube after heating the soldered connections. THIS WILL WORK however I found that out later. I gave up cause I didn't want to break or burn the board. I was being to cautious. So instead I cut thru the connectors with my dermal Samsung 096.jpg Now you see the pin part of the blade connectorSamsung 097.jpg So I pulled the board out. Why you may ask? Well why not, heck I've about ruined this thing anyways. This is where I found out interesting things. Radio Shack or other electronic stores carry this 250Ma 250v fuse so if your f1 fuse is fried just pull the board ( by unsoldering it from the blade pins after drilling 2 small holes thru the blade pin/cboard) and solder in a new fusesamsung2 004.jpg I mean unless you want a potential bomb in your gas tank you should connect the fuse somewhere in the circuit. Now I removed the black stuff. YES it can be done! I started using my dermal and a 1/8 end mill. DONT DO THIS. yes it works, after hours, but its so easy to cut holes into the pickup and vent tubes. I know I did. I used my heat gun and a screwdriver, came right out. samsung2 002.jpg you can see how the soldered blade connector becomes a screw connector with wire terminals be very careful, the tube plastic melts before the black stuff. You just want it a little pliable. I will post a pic of a completed, working, and irretrievable broken sensor in a few days when I'm done.
 

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Great post, I just worked on my 96 gsx yesterday and found the round f1 fuse and removed it by desoldering it and used solder to connect the board with no luck. Maybe I need to use a wire to connect where the fuse was. I first tried just putting solder between the two ends of the fuse with no luck. This project all started out because I got water in my info gauge and I believe shorted or blew the fuse. Anyone not use a wire to connect this and it work? im wondering if I missed something when installing the info gauge.

Scott
 
Did you measure the resistance at the two pin plug? Still open circuit?


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On meter I set it to ohm and when plugged in each wire end i saw no orig change i just sat at 1 on the meter whether on the wires or not. I presume this meant blown fuse as i should get a change when moving the float up and down. i have yet to check since resoldering but i know plugging it onto ski i still get the low fuel light and no bars on gauge even when fuel baffle is upside down. This is the correct way to check with the meter right?

Scott
 
I ordered some inline waterproof fuse holders and fast blow 0.25A fuses from my electronics vendor.
1.jpg2.jpg

It should close the loop :)
 
Are you saying you cant get the solder to stick between where the pins of the fuse go thru the board and the laminated foil?
 
I just did the minimum to short the fuse. And add an external fuse so that it could be replaced easily without opening the baffle.


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By the way all this drilling, cutting, finagling, is not the way best way to fix this. By using a small end mill and a dermal cut some paths thru the top of the black stuff. Stay in the center to avoid cutting the nipples and remember the wires are there. Using an mill helps to prevent drilling thru the top of the tube since a mill is blunt. You can see clearly when you get to the plastic fuel tube cause of the color change. The only reason for this is to give you an area for the black stuff to "give" into. Next heat with your handy heat gun, SLOWLY. You are not trying to melt this stuff, just loosening it up. The nipples will melt long before the sealant so be very careful. With a small screwdriver start prying the sealant out. Take your time!! With it all gone just unscrew the wires from the top of the terminals and pull the board out of the tube. The wire terminals are not fastened to the baffle at all, the screws hold the board in. That's it, replace the shorted out notorious pink wire, re-solder a new fuse onto the board, resistors, whatever. No drill holes or flaps cut out of the tube. Now for a very important thing, do not use any kind of "resistant to gas/oil" sealant to take the place of the black stuff. Its not worth taking the chance of turning your Seadoo into a high speed Molotov cocktail. Use a polysulphide sealer. You can find it from aircraft suppliers at airports or on the net. They make 1 and 2 part sealers for civilian and Mil-Spec aircraft gas tanks, and doing it this way means it requires very little, a 2.5 oz tube is sufficiant
 
To close the case. I put in the fuse
50.jpg



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