BigAl57
Member
This is a little long but I wanted to pass on my experience this year. I started the season thinking my 97 GSX was bogging due to blocked fuel lines, so I changed the fuel lines and cleaned the carbs. After the first run on the lake I also happened to have a blown exhaust hose (which in retrospect should have been a warning) which I thought was just coincidental. Anyway, I replaced the exhaust hose, did the other work mentioned, and took the seadoo back on the water where it ran great for about 10 minutes before it stopped again, and smoke was pouring out of the engine compartment. I noticed that the new exhaust hose had popped off the muffler. Again, this should have been a warning sign (and would have saved me time and money). Once again i took the carbs apart to recheck, thinking it was a fuel problem. Finally I got everything back together and was positive it was going to run great so I took it out and was jumping waves with my wife (she on her 95 GTX) when after about 10 minutes the rpms dropped and the engine finally shut down, and smoke was pouring out of the compartment again. This time, however, the seadoo was taking on water and started to sink. My wife towed me back to the cottage.
I am not a mechanic but because the engine compartment was full of water I decided to take the spark plugs out and try to start the engine. You guessed it, it was full of water. I looked inside and found I had blown the exhaust hoses, melted the end of the water regulator, and burned the tailpiece completely. I was able to get it on the trailer and had a good look and even though I have winterized it for the past 3 years I realized this time I had hooked up the water intake and outlet wrong!!
I got all the water out of the engine and sprayed the cylinders and carbs thoroughly with the seadoo fogging solution. I also drained the crankcase oil. I did a compression test and both cylinders were 150psi. Took it to the dealer but they said it wasn't worth repairing and that some of the parts were no longer available.
I am stubborn and thought it should be repairable, as long as I could get the parts. I found what I needed on e-bay and I was able to install all of them, thanks to this forum. I ran the seadoo this past weekend and it went like a bat outta hell!. No bogging, no smoking. Topped out at 6860 rpm with the speedometer reading 56mph.
The lesson I learned is that, much like medicine, when things aren't right you have to look at the whole picture. Even though it seemed to be a fuel problem something told me to check the water hoses. And, even though I looked at the picture in the manual I still thought I had them correct. It wasn't until the final blowout that it became so clear.
It cost me my 2 week vacation without my machine, and $300 for parts, but it is running awesome now and there are still a few weekends left. Believe me I will be triple checking anything I do in the future.
For whatever reason I had no alarm telling me the engine was overheating. I just want others to know that if you are having problems with apparent bogging or stopping after a few minutes you might just want to double check that the cooling system is hooked up correctly along with cleaning the fuel lines. It was a dumb, and embarrassing mistake that I hope I don't make again, and that I hope others can learn from.
Thanks,
I am not a mechanic but because the engine compartment was full of water I decided to take the spark plugs out and try to start the engine. You guessed it, it was full of water. I looked inside and found I had blown the exhaust hoses, melted the end of the water regulator, and burned the tailpiece completely. I was able to get it on the trailer and had a good look and even though I have winterized it for the past 3 years I realized this time I had hooked up the water intake and outlet wrong!!
I got all the water out of the engine and sprayed the cylinders and carbs thoroughly with the seadoo fogging solution. I also drained the crankcase oil. I did a compression test and both cylinders were 150psi. Took it to the dealer but they said it wasn't worth repairing and that some of the parts were no longer available.
I am stubborn and thought it should be repairable, as long as I could get the parts. I found what I needed on e-bay and I was able to install all of them, thanks to this forum. I ran the seadoo this past weekend and it went like a bat outta hell!. No bogging, no smoking. Topped out at 6860 rpm with the speedometer reading 56mph.
The lesson I learned is that, much like medicine, when things aren't right you have to look at the whole picture. Even though it seemed to be a fuel problem something told me to check the water hoses. And, even though I looked at the picture in the manual I still thought I had them correct. It wasn't until the final blowout that it became so clear.
It cost me my 2 week vacation without my machine, and $300 for parts, but it is running awesome now and there are still a few weekends left. Believe me I will be triple checking anything I do in the future.
For whatever reason I had no alarm telling me the engine was overheating. I just want others to know that if you are having problems with apparent bogging or stopping after a few minutes you might just want to double check that the cooling system is hooked up correctly along with cleaning the fuel lines. It was a dumb, and embarrassing mistake that I hope I don't make again, and that I hope others can learn from.
Thanks,
