Oil in cylinders
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Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
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I think I winterized in October! Anyway, if the motor was just fogged, all three cylinders should be oily(the plugs electrodes should be wet with oil and the piston tops shiny with oil), the foggong oil displaces moisture and keeps corrosion to a minimum. I guess it depends on how much oil you discovered though, copious amounts that might be enough to make old Jed a millionaire might raise an eyebrow.
I think if your four-stroke ski emits blue smoke as you ride it around, there might be an oil control issue.
And how much oil are we talking about?
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
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Also, what's the color of the spark plug center electrode for each cylinder, white, brown or black?
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
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It's not unusual to find slight traces of oil around the vicinity of the spark plug threads, maybe just enough to wet the end of your fingertip. If the plug center electrode insulators are a snow white, or maybe light eggshell color, it doesn't sound like you have a problem with oil control in the cylinders, the plug insulator color would become dark brown to sooty black if there was an oil control problem, and you would likely notice a blue cloud of oil coming from the exhaust while the engine was running in addition to loss of crankcase oil over a period of time riding around, making it necessary to add oil in between oil changes.
Sounds to me like normal conditions in your case, you could run a compression check to confirm cylinder compression pressure is normal but I think you'll find the engine is fine. Always run a compression check for a ski that you might buy from someone.
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
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I believe that motor typically blows north of 150psi (150~155psi?), maybe someone who has one can verify that detail. You can get a good quality compression gauge in many autoparts stores, look for one with a gauge head that comes with a hose to attach(screw) into the spark plug threaded hole during the test. These gauges typically can measure over 300psi, so the needle should read about half scale (~150psi). Also important is cylinder balance, I like to see a reading within 5psi of each other would be ideal, greater than a 10% variation between cylinders is outside of reasonable and indicative of a problem. I like to do the compression test at least once per year, normally at the end of the riding season.
Some important notes on preparing for the test:
Shut off the fuel supply valve, you don't need fuel during the test as the engine will not be running and fuel presents a fire hazard.
Make sure to locate the three sparkplug wire grounding posts and always place the plug wire ends on them while cranking the engine using the electric starter, or else damage to the ignition coils may occur. This also reduces the risk of fire and ignition of fuel vapors that may be trapped in the ski's hull.
Hold the throttle lever wide open while cranking the engine to build cylinder pressure, holding the throttle lever fully open shuts off the fuel injectors by safety interlock, this feature is otherwise known as fuel-flooded clearing mode. Remove all three spark plugs before beginning the cranking test.
Record your readings, I often write them directly on the cylinder head using a permanent marker.
Also, here's an generic article describing the process:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/car...ars-101-how-to-do-a-compression-test-14912158
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