Looking for Help/Advice..Another Blown Motor

[digital sol]

Well first off id just like to introduce myself, my name is richie and ive owned a 97 GTX Sea Doo sense 97 and its a blast to drive, how-ever my experiences over the past 3 years are leaving a sour taste in my mouth. Long story short we/family use the sea doo only during the summer while we visit a lake for vacations. Id say maybe 15 hours each year?

We began having issues with it 2 years ago, it was hesitating really bad and wouldnt reach anywhere near peak speed, just felt like it was running on half a motor and studdered alot under WOT. We had a local sea doo authorized shop take a look at it and they determined that the carb's needed to be rebuilt so we had them rebuild and the next time we went down there for vacation picked it up and launched it on the lake....that same day the issue was still there..so once again we took it back and had them work on it for the same issue.....the said it was fixed so we picked it up on are next vacation and it drove fine for the 3 days we were there.....the following summer it began doing it again and the shop said the motor was toast and needed to be replaced so they replaced the entire motor. Sense the motor was replaced we have put less than 15 hours on the sea doo sense it was replaced and the same issue is back again and this time the shop says yet again the motor is done for and needs to be replaced. The shop says a valve dropped and the motor is trashed. What causes a valve to drop? I mean the carbs were both rebuilt the two years before and the motor replaced the year after that. But its not like its driven every day, its for a vacation home that we only get to make it down to use a few times a summer.

Now its been a solid 2 years before ive gotton to go on vacation and use the sea doo without towing it in somewhere or paying for repairs. Its had the carb's rebuilt TWICE, the motor replaced ONCE, and ive got over $3,000 worth of recietes from the past two years of repairs and nothing to show for it.

Now i ask myself...is it worth trying to find another shop to replace this motor? Is it something a general wrench turner and swap himself? I have never worked on boats but am a car nut and have done motor swaps, turbo set-ups, s/c set-up's, and so fourth but never done anything mechanical with a sea doo. Im just stuck with what to do, ive dumped alot of time and money into this sea doo in the past 2 years and the shop that did the repair work has nothing to say for it. We hardly drive it and when we do we end up towing it in for more repairs.

The sea doo itself is in awsome condition for its age, we always used sea doo brand oil, changed regularly, use premium gas and everything.

Im located in st.louis missouri but we use the sea doo on table rock lake, which was also where all of the repairs/work was performed.

Any idea's, suggestions would be great. Im looking into pricing for another motor but theres no way in hell im taking it back to that shop, ive given them over $3,000, a ton of my time and we"ve got less than 20 hours on the sea doo to show for it.

Thanks fella's and sorry for the long read

 

[timmyboy76]

same sh**, dif'rent customer

all I can say, is that sux, man. Nuth'n new around here (forum), just different members with same threads.

Best thing to do, is find a Harbor Freight for a compression tester, or if you have one/buddy has one. PSI should be in 120's to be acceptable, for a 787 motor, best is 160psi, with no more than 10% in them. If compression good, then pop the airbox lid off, then undo the 6-4mm allen heads, then remove box. Then undo the bracket support and the 2-10mm hex bolts that are underneath the mesh netted arrestor. From there, remove it, to expose the 4-4.5mm allen bolts securing the carbs to the manifold, but before moving those, undo the 10mm nuts that are holding the choke cable, throttle cable, and oil injection cable, to the carb plates, now undo the 4-allen bolts, and lift carbs out. If you have the GREY FUEL LINES, then the going thru carbs is a must. After you removed the carbs, carefully, break them apart so you can re-use the o-rings/gaskets. Finally reinstall everything, and go and purchase 10ft of 5/16in fuel line and 20ft of 1/4in fuel line and replace all the grey crap. While doing that, you'll need to remove the on/off/reserve fuel valve and clean inside it.

Also, remove the black caps on the motor and undo those allen bolts, and remove the RAVE valves, those need cleaned every year. Because your motor has these valves (which this is the only valves your motor has) make sure you run synthetic oil...less carbon build-up.