Hi all,
First post and newbie to the site and fairly new to Seadoo ownership. It's a '95 XP 717 in the Dominican Republic.
I had to do a top end repair after I snapped a stubborn head bolt that refused to budge after twenty odd years in situ. That's the trouble with the combination of aluminum castings and stainless hardware, the worst combination for corrosion. However the engine was in surprisingly good condition internally with the top end off, but when I attempted to reinstall a jug I broke a ring. Those rings get really brittle with age!
As there was hardly any wear on the cylinder bore, I decided to replace it with a standard size ring. Back on the lake after a couple of tanks of fuel through it, it seemed to be running really well. Then I let my friend have a go. He shot off out of sight and I waited for nearly an hour until someone else towed him back into view with another ski!
He told me that he was running at full throttle for a few minutes and then went for a turn. He said that during the turn it slowed down and the engine died and wouldn't start.
Well now it's in my shop with a catastrophic engine failure. In a nutshell, the PTO piston skirt failed on both sides sending shrapnel into the crank, destroying the bearings and making a two inch round hole in the crankcase.
So my question is, what could have caused the piston skirt to fail?
The parts I need to repair are:
Crankshaft repair kit - (I will order the parts and get a machine shop to do the work) Recon shafts are just too expensive
Lower crankcase half (or do I need to purchase a matched pair - there are a few on eBay)
Piston - (should I replace the pair or is it acceptable to do just one?)
First post and newbie to the site and fairly new to Seadoo ownership. It's a '95 XP 717 in the Dominican Republic.
I had to do a top end repair after I snapped a stubborn head bolt that refused to budge after twenty odd years in situ. That's the trouble with the combination of aluminum castings and stainless hardware, the worst combination for corrosion. However the engine was in surprisingly good condition internally with the top end off, but when I attempted to reinstall a jug I broke a ring. Those rings get really brittle with age!
As there was hardly any wear on the cylinder bore, I decided to replace it with a standard size ring. Back on the lake after a couple of tanks of fuel through it, it seemed to be running really well. Then I let my friend have a go. He shot off out of sight and I waited for nearly an hour until someone else towed him back into view with another ski!
He told me that he was running at full throttle for a few minutes and then went for a turn. He said that during the turn it slowed down and the engine died and wouldn't start.
Well now it's in my shop with a catastrophic engine failure. In a nutshell, the PTO piston skirt failed on both sides sending shrapnel into the crank, destroying the bearings and making a two inch round hole in the crankcase.
So my question is, what could have caused the piston skirt to fail?
The parts I need to repair are:
Crankshaft repair kit - (I will order the parts and get a machine shop to do the work) Recon shafts are just too expensive
Lower crankcase half (or do I need to purchase a matched pair - there are a few on eBay)
Piston - (should I replace the pair or is it acceptable to do just one?)
