Major vibration and lost of thrust

[rkkoeb]

I have s 1997 GTS 717. It ran outstanding all day today but at the end of the day I had a problem. As soon as I give it gas I get a major vibration in the body of the jet ski and a lack of thrust. Hardly moves. There was a ton of sticks and other items in the water today and I am wondering if I sucked something up and broke a roll pin on something on the impeller. I was able to slowly make back to the dock to load up. I don't think it is in the engine because it sounds great. I can't hear anything banging around inside the jetski so no sure what happen.

 

[JJinSC]

Get underneath and look into grate. I bet you have wood stuck in there. I have had this happen before.

 

[JJinSC]

Pieces of floating wood too big to get through the impeller can get ingested at idle. Will not come out of grate when you shut it off because they float and will not sink.

 

[racerxxx]

All it takes is one piece. A buddy of mine had a zip lock ruin his day once.

 

[rkkoeb]

Sure enough I just look an there is a piece of wood jamb between the impeller and the housing.

 

[rkkoeb]

Once I take it out will I be good then? Nothing brakes when the impeller get jambed?

 

[Cliff787]

You could pull the spark plugs while it's on the trailer and see if you can spin the motor by hand by using the PTO.

You should also check the wear ring for damage, pump vanes, impeller and the oil cone to visually be sure that everything is okay.

 

[Coastiejoe]

As long as the wood didn't damage the Wear Ring, you will be good to go. There is no "Roll Pin". Generally speaking, nothing breaks when something gets into the intake area. That said, the wear ring is normally what gets damaged. It is the part that is SUPPOSE to take the abuse to prevent the more expensive parts from getting damaged.

The gap from the impeller to the wear ring should be 1mm, or the width of a dime. Once it gets bigger than that, you will lose performance and have cavitation.