Newb with 2 long sitting '97 GTX's

[QuickRock]

Hi everyone. I just aquired 2 97 GTX's that have been sitting for so long the vinyl seats and most of the foam padding has disintegtated and all the gas has evaporated. After oiling soaking the cylinders and rotating the shaft by hand I hooked up a battery rolled the engine over a few times while oiling cylinders more. I could read the display well enough to see that one of the machines only has 54.7 hours on it.
Next on my list is:

• Replacing gray fuel lines and filters.
• Remove and soak carbs. Will they need to be rebuilt or will soaking be good?
• Clean and flush oil system.
• Steering cables work but steering shaft needs to be unfrozen.
• FNR cables are frozen up.
  

I couldn't believe that these are 13 years old and only have been run 54 hours, nothing should be worn out so I feel confident that can get these into dependable condition quite easily. I have plenty to do and have already learned a lot from this site about what to do and what not to do. I'm sure I will have a few questions as I progress with this little project, this is going to be fun.

Is my list missing anything that you experienced guy's would do? Thanks in advance and thanks for what I've learned here already.

 

[seadoosnipe]

Good luck!

Hi everyone. I just aquired 2 97 GTX's that have been sitting for so long the vinyl seats and most of the foam padding has disintegtated and all the gas has evaporated. After oiling soaking the cylinders and rotating the shaft by hand I hooked up a battery rolled the engine over a few times while oiling cylinders more. I could read the display well enough to see that one of the machines only has 54.7 hours on it.
Next on my list is:

• Replacing gray fuel lines and filters.
• Remove and soak carbs. Will they need to be rebuilt or will soaking be good?
• Clean and flush oil system.
• Steering cables work but steering shaft needs to be unfrozen.
• FNR cables are frozen up.
  

I couldn't believe that these are 13 years old and only have been run 54 hours, nothing should be worn out so I feel confident that can get these into dependable condition quite easily. I have plenty to do and have already learned a lot from this site about what to do and what not to do. I'm sure I will have a few questions as I progress with this little project, this is going to be fun.

Is my list missing anything that you experienced guy's would do? Thanks in advance and thanks for what I've learned here already.

If your going to make a project to repair a ski, you picked the right ones. The XP uses the second largest of the Rotax 2 stroke family. These engines are very powerful. You might take a few minutes to look into the thread "a look inside the 787". You can drop down to my signature, there is a hyper link to it. You will be able to learn a few things about the pieces of the motor.

There is one thing you didn't mention, the rotary chamber. If these skis sat that long with the oil in the chamber, it likely caused the seals to start leaking. By oiling the cylinders and turning the motor over by hand, you may not be able to notice that by reading the plugs. How much oil was in the oil tank? When you rolled the engine over, did you have any excessive oil come from the spark plug holes?

Before working?... I think, before working on them and investing any major amount of time, I'd try to get a start to see where your electrical system stands. As long as I've been a mechanic, I always check for three things; spark, fuel and air. In that order. The fuel line replacement can wait. It's not like your going to take it out on the lake, you just want to start it. You don't even need to hook up the water hose. Just get a hot battery, put the lanyard on and if you get two beeps, push the start/stop button. You'll want to pour about a coke cap full of gas into each plug hole before putting your plugs back on. If you have used heavy oil to lub the engine, you don't have to use premix. But, if they start, as soon as you get ignition, be ready to shut it down. Your test will be complete. That means your MPEM works.

Carbs? You may not have to rebuild them but I'd disassemble them and clean them out. If your careful, you won't tear the gaskets and you'll be able to reuse them.:cheers:

Go from there, ........ let us know how you come out!...:cheers:

 

[QuickRock]

I have gotten them to for a few seconds each, just enough to know they will. When I hooked up the battery and rolled them over there didn't seem to be any extra oil in the cylinders, only the oil I put in there. I used a marine type carb cleaner/lube that acually foamed up to fill the cylinder. I also sprayed this into the carbs before replacing the flame arrestor prior to the test start.

The oil tanks are both about half full. I will drain these , flush lines and replace filters.

 

[seadoosnipe]

Power...?

Well then, if you have tested for electrical power, seems your well on your way to getting a nice set of skis.

Continue on what your doing. Clean the carbs. Don't soak them. They are too easy to clean. You can re-use the gaskets.

:cheers:

 

[busatom]

Hours

Louis I have 2 96 skis as u know. When did seadoo start putting hour meters on their skis?



Tom

 

[seadoosnipe]

Skis and info centers....

I can't go through the list of which skis have them and which do not. I know the the year of your XP does not have one. But, you can take it to a dealer and they will hook your MPEM up to the programmer and read your hours. The MPEM logs hours on all skis and boats.

The GTX has the hours listed in the info center. Most skis with info centers will probably have the hours recorded. My 97 GTX also displays the hours. When I bought it, it was just over 100 hours.