Yes, I pressured up the system to 10psi, and checked the logical place with soap bubbles. I pulled a vacuum on the system as well and it held pretty good. So I hooked up my handy dandy fuel pump to the carb feed line and turn it on. Yep it is pulling air from somewhere.
This ski a 1998 GS would start up fine and run great with no issues. Then when the owner shut it off for 10 minutes it was difficult to start. I built the engine a few monts ago so everything was right but I did a compression check to be sure. Compression was 150. And I know the rotary valve clearance was good because I just machined that. So... I put a brand new carb on the ski even though I didn't find anything wrong with the carburetor. After carb replacement the ski did the same thing.
I got the ski back and began troubleshooting and found this situation. Problem solved and the ski worked great. Figured I'd post this for those that think leaving the 20 year old fuel valve on a ski is OK. Yes you can get away with it sometimes but they can cause hella problems. Don't get aftermarket valves... they leak. I've tested them prior to installations. OEM is only a few $$ more and well worth it. Hope this helps someone. Good Luck All !!

This ski a 1998 GS would start up fine and run great with no issues. Then when the owner shut it off for 10 minutes it was difficult to start. I built the engine a few monts ago so everything was right but I did a compression check to be sure. Compression was 150. And I know the rotary valve clearance was good because I just machined that. So... I put a brand new carb on the ski even though I didn't find anything wrong with the carburetor. After carb replacement the ski did the same thing.

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