New Rider, New Ski, new member, new problem - GTX RFI

[DavesNotHereMan]

OK, guys, my first real post, so I apologize in advance if I "step in it".

I bought my first jet ski, a 2001 GTX RFI with 104 hrs on it right after Labor Day. It had not been used for 2 years, sitting in the guys garage. The PO put a new battery in it, a friend of mine, with some experience, went with me. We hooked up the hose and it started immediately. No problems at all. Ski, trailer, cover, 4 jackets and $2500 later, I am towing it away. All I did was fill it up with fresh gas (we get 90 octane Ethanol Free) and topped off the oil and dropped it in the lake. First trip, 2 hours mostly cruising at 35 mph (about 5500 rpm - if I remember). Perfect!

First Noob mistake. Since the drain plugs were in, I assumed they were tight. Yeah, I know. Commence with the first set of guffaws, now. The ski is tied to my dock (don't have a jet port, yet), so a week later, there was water in the bilge and more than I thought as normal, but since we had a ton of rain that week, thought it could be normal. The siphon pumps cleared it out perfectly on the next ride, but a few days later, there was even more water in the bilge. We pulled it out of the water and found the loose drain plugs and took care of that. No problem with water since.

So that is background.

The next 3 trips were all perfect. The 4th trip, I noticed a miss, or a surge every once in a while. On the return portion of our trip, we ran at 45 mph for about 20 minutes. WOT, I got it to 54 mph according to the top speed mode in the info center. Since then, the missing,surging has been getting steadily worse. Last Fri, it is now down to cruise speed (35 mph) and when it misses, hesitates, surges, I will lose 500 rpms. It starts and idles fine, even thought the idle in the water seems a little low at 1300 rpms. It will miss during acceleration.

So, I have read everything I could find in this forum. The RFI Spot really provided some great education. From what I can surmise, this is either spark plugs (they are the same ones from the PO) or the dreaded Rectifier problem. When I pull it, I intend to take it to the shop and have them do the 100 hr inspection/service, since I am sure the PO never did one and I doubt that the RAVE valves have ever been cleaned.

I am pulling the ski for the season this Wed, so I will change the plugs before I leave the dock, but if anyone can provide any insight or suggestions, I would sure appreciate it.

- Dave

 

[96spxpos]

the FIRST thing I would do/have done is put new plugs in and GAP them accordingly, and clip the wires back I tiny bit and reattach the boot. My first week after owning the ski I experienced the same thing..almost as a miss, or a surge (No info center, no RPM Gauge)...clipped the wires, zip tied them, thing ran like a champ..

 

[DavesNotHereMan]

Thanks, 96...
Sorry, but what do you mean by clipping the wires?



-Dave
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[96spxpos]

Did you even at least CLEAN the plugs? the thing sat for a while...
Personally, I know some people keep their plugs a whole season, even heard of people keeping them for two years +...
for me, to get 2 spark plugs for like $5, I put brand new ones in after every 5 rides or so....but then again, I also fog my motor after every single time I ride it.. ( I live in a nasty salt area, where even the shocks, brake levers, etc of my 50cc island scooters rust and pit under the cover and under the house)

 

[DavesNotHereMan]

May really be Noob, I warned ya.

I was serious when I said I did nothing but gas and oil. Yeah, the plugs are like $2.15, so I will gap them .020" and swap them out Wed.

Thanks again.




-Dave
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[96spxpos]

Your two spark plug wires, that have the two boots on them that clip onto your spark plugs..they can get corroded/become frail and produce intermittent connections. pull the boots off, clip the wires CLEANLY with sharp snips (don't try using like a knife or utility blade and make rigid cuts in the rubber), then reattach the boots and secure them tightly with zip ties.. you literally only have to clip like less than a 1/4 inch

 

[DavesNotHereMan]

Hmmm. I can visualize the boots, so I will take a look before I start cutting anything. Sorry to hear about your corrosion, ours is more mold and mildew.


-Dave
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[DavesNotHereMan]

The boots were zip tied to the spark plug wires. Since it was still in the water, I did not mess with them but did change the plugs.

The old ones look like this:


Mag on the left PTO on the right.

Not wet, but black.

New plugs, started right up, idled better, now 1380. Accelerated great, no surging. At least for the 10 minute ride to the ramp where we pulled it out of the water.



-Dave
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[1983]

-The boots actually screw on and off the spark plug wires themselves.

-Go ahead and cut the tie wraps, and unscrew the boot from the wire. Then about a 1/4" back cut the wire, and you will see the nice clean copper wire in there versus the end you just cut off will probably be green/dark color. Its normal, just screw the boot back onto the fresh cut spark plug wire, tie wrap on, and I put dielectric grease in my boots as added protection against corrosion and water ingress.

-Rob

 

[96spxpos]

Yea, I don't remember mine screwing on, I think I either just pressed them on and zip tied them or twisted/screwed them on a bit then ziptied them. Good to know they can be "screwed in".. I'll give that a try when I clip my HX wires

 

[1983]

-Yep, if you look down in there with a flashlight you can see that there is threads of a screw type embedded in bottom of boot.

-Rob

 

[96spxpos]

Nice! I think I was just pressing them in the entire time..

 

[DavesNotHereMan]

I didn't know either. I see the boots zip tied and there is a small metal band that is crimped onto the plug wire.

Question: if the boot just screws on or pushes onto the spark plug wires, how is a connection made to the component that fits over the spark plug? I would think that connection is vitally important.


-Dave
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[1983]

-On my 96' xp I looked and searched on net how it was attached. I at first thought it was crimped on like an automotive spark plug kit. ( I have used the MSD custom wire kits for hot rods that allow you to make you own spark plug wires and crimp the metal clip on that goes on end of spark plug "click" )

-But I eventually took it apart after seeing a video on how to do it. Unless your RFI model is different. It shouldn't be though. The metal clip that goes on end of spark plug wire is molded into boot, the end of it has threads like a screw that actually bite into the spark plug wire core ( the core is the shiny copper part that carries the voltage through the wire ) That is how the connection is made, and I was surprised it was like that when I took mine apart. But all is good. It may or may not fix any issues you have but it is something free to do, and standard practice amongst sea doos.

-Rob

 

[jammin777]

yep the rfi's screw on like any other

 

[Coastiejoe]

Disconnect the Rectifier and see if your miss and performance come back. Very common for it to produce A/C volts and affect how the MPEM runs the engine.

It will not charge when you disconnect it, but your battery will be fine for many minutes to do the test.

 

[DavesNotHereMan]

Well, guys, I decided to let our local SeaDoo dealer do a full checkup. Since I have no idea what the PO did or did not do, I thought it best to let them do a hundred hour service / inspection including cleaning the RAVEs, since it appears they were never cleaned in the 104 hrs. Then I at least have a known baseline on the ski.


-Dave
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