Part1: Repairing Seadoo plastic Jet Pump Possible? IMO, yes...

[MacAddict]

First off, many thanks to those who have posted about engine repair/rebuilding, carb tuning and the like. It has helped me tremendously in getting my 2 addictions back up and running on my own, as well as saved me infinite $$ **

Posted this on other forums, but wanted to share my experience with others, as I have seen quite a few people faced with the same dilemna... broken into 2 parts for easier read...

This is one of a few posts that I plan on doing, (wordy as it may be - Sorry for the long read) documenting my struggle with these skis through their transformation with rebuilt top ends, new fuel lines, custom milled silicone motor mounts (for surf jumping) and brand new, totally custom silver/candy apple/candy tangerine metalflake paint jobs... among a bunch of other things I did on a budget with great results.

So... as the title states, having looked around various forums and on here, I see that others have been plagued with the same problem I discovered after purchasing my Seadoo XP 951 a few years ago... the previous owner ran over something big, (among a host of other crap he did/didn't do) which got sucked into the intake at a high RPMs and fubarred the plastic jet pump veins.(see right pic) I ran it like this for a season or two, replacing the wear ring with a stainless steel one, thinking that might help pump power, which compared to the old plastic ring that had 2-3" holes worn in it, sure... it helped. Also rebuilt the pump with new bearings/seals. But I could tell that things were still "off", even though once I got the dual carbs tuned, top end rebuilt with 140+/- compression, I was hitting 6600-6800RPM @ 58-60mph on smartphone gps. Like others, I tried various methods to repair this with epoxy putties and epoxy with fiberglass matt chopped up in it for added strength and found, just as they did, that the enormous pressure just crushes whatever you try to use and tosses it out the nozzle like sand. I even went so far as to take a dremel with pin-sized drill bit and drill slightly into the veins and place SS brad nails as "ribs" for extra strength. Denied. :facepalm:

Soooooo... I was faced with the dilemna of paying $200+ (plus shipping) for a used 155mm pump on eBay or elsewhere, many of which had similar damage to the veins, so that didn't make sense. While the older style brass pump seemed the right answer, as I read on many forums that they are more durable and would fit my 951, there's better performance from the newer plastic pumps.... and so I made the decision to stick with plastic. I assume the performance gain is because the the "cupped" design of these veins, versus the straight blades I saw on the brass props. That little "hook" in the blade probably does a much better job of grabbing the water and straightening it as it shoots out the back. But that's a discussion I am sure has been discussed at length elsewhere.

Not to mention that was $200 I could spend on a solas 15/20 prop to make it jump out of the hole!

Ok.. so here's where the "MacGyver" style tinkerer comes out in me. I knew that nothing I used from a chemical standpoint would ever bond strong enough to where the plastic veins used to be to resist the pressure of the water in the pump. I also don't have a friend with a CNC milling machine that could design/mill me an aluminum pump, and I don't have Seadoos original plastic injection mold laying around for the pump.

So in my attempts to repair some other plastic pieces on the skis, I had gone to my local Harbor Freight and purchase their "plastic welder", which is basically a heat gun in stick format with different nozzles to direct the heat where needed. This thing was a P.O.S. I used it one time to try it out on some scrap plastic, came back a day later to use it and it didn't heat up. By the ratings on the their site, this was common, so ALWAYS check product ratings.

Well so then while I was returning that, I saw that they had a "5-In-1 Hobby Woodburner" on sale for $9 which came with various tips, one of which was a nubbed blade style. While not a high wattage item, and they do have an 80 watt version, I thought it might do just the trick to melt the plastic welding ABS sticks I bought. Although a slow process, I had great success with this repairing my Seadoo GTI seat plastic where it had cracked and broken into many pieces along the staple line on the backside. (Will put this in another post for those interested in saving $250+ clams) After repairing the plastic, I was able to press with two thumbs and flex the plastic without it snapping/breaking again.

So this got me to thinking about the plastic on the jet pump. I was worried it was some obscure kind of composite that wouldn't even melt, but after pulling it off my ski and looking, I could see the mold lines, etc. that looked alot like ABS parts I have fixed on vehicles/motorcycles. So I tested with the iron, and it was definitely meltable. SCORE!

So my thought was "why not"? I mean, what's the worst that could happen? These veins are behind the impeller, and if they broke again, they would just pass through the nozzle like refried beans on a Saturday morning after an AYCE spicy taco night.	Okay, Okay, so maybe that's "not" the worst that could happen

Being as this was a long posting, I broke it up... see part 2 HERE...

 

[MacAddict]

Part2: Repairing Seadoo plastic Jet Pump Possible? IMO, yes...

So here's the juicy bits I am sure you are here for:

• Grab yourself the Hobby welder for $9 (or the 80 watt version, but may get too hot, making the plastic brittle)
• Grab a package of plastic welding rods. I got the mixed bag, but if you can, just get ABS (white)
• Pull your pump, drain the fluid, pull the cone and then pull the impeller. I picked up a Seadoo impeller tool for $8.95 from an East Coast retailer on eBay (BAP). Have purchased numerous parts from them, including aftermarket MPEM for GTi and they've been good...
• Use a well ventilated area like garage or porch area, because the fumes from the plastic are nasty/toxic, and always seem to drift towards your face.
• Small pen style or LED flashlight.
• If you have access to a dremel or die grinder with long shaft, it makes cleaning up the veins after melting easier.
• Give yourself time, as this lower wattage is a slow process, but as stated, won't overheat the plastic and make it brittle.

OK... So here we go:

Start with your broken jet pump: (this is Seadoo, but may apply to other manufacturers as well - test plastic for "meltability" and try to determine type of plastic, but most probably ABS of some sort) What I found best is to wipe the area with terry towel soaked in Acetone, then pre-melt all along the edge you are working on, pressing down into the material a bit like a hot knife into stick of butter. Pre-melting the edge not only warms the plastic up, but gives a fresh, raw plastic for the ABS rods to melt into and blend with. You could die-grind the edge to new plastic, and then melt but I didn't do this.

Then I melted fresh ABS (white) rod all along the edge I just melted in the black plastic, making sure to hold the flat edge of the iron against the black plastic to heat it up, then pushing the end of the plastic stick against that flat hot edge and working the ABS into the melted black plastic. This ensures a strong bond.

Keep working back and forth across this broken vein, filling in with the white ABS. What you want to make sure of is to not melt too large an area... work in small segments to where the plastic almost liquifies. This will prevent pockets or bubbles from forming in the newly created vein.

What you should end up with is a nice, solid plastic area, perhaps a bit thicker than the stock veins. It will probably be rough, but you can come back and smooth that with the flat edge of the hot iron.

If like me, you have multiple broken/cracked veins, it should probably take 2-3 hours, but should end up something like this.

You will also end up with a ton of material on the "cup" side of the vein, which you'll need to use the flat edge of the hot iron to knock down flat, but retaining as much of the "cup" or "curl" at the leading edge as you can. Use the in-tact veins as reference, and hopefully you have enough of the previous vein to guide you. If not, this technique may not work, as there just won't be enough structure for the ABS to bond.

To check the strength of this new vein, (LET IT COOL FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR+ FIRST!) I took a very long, heavy duty flat-head screwdriver, wedged against the far side of the pump and the center and edges of the newly formed vein and pressed down with substantial weight. Didn't use all my weight, for I think even the stock vein would crack or snap, but enough weight to tell me that they were solidly formed. Now, I must admit, one of my veins snapped out when I did this, which came from going too quickly and not getting a strong enough bond at the start between the white ABS and black plastic. Gotta make sure the black plastic and white ABS liquify and blend together. I re-did this vein, making sure to take the time the two plastics melted together properly along that edge, let things cool and then re-stressed with with the screw driver and it was solid.

I did some further smoothing with my dremel, the die grinder and the hot iron to try and get the surfaces as smooth as reasonably possible. But one must consider this is after the impeller, and while yes it could still cause some "cavitation" or bubbles if the surfaces were really rough, I don't know that would be as important as insuring your impeller is true and your intake/ride plate edges are all sealed with silicone properly.

Performance:

My initial runs were not great performance wise, as this ski sat through the winter and had old fuel. I will probably pick up some carb rebuild kits to be sure. But once I got her warmed up, I was able to get it up around 6400-6600RPM for a long stretch. I also did some zig zagging and jumped some boat wake in an attempt to rough up the jet pump, and put some stress on things. I did not take it to the inlet to do some much desired surf jumping yet, as I gotta get the carbs rebuilt and tuned, but it was a pretty solid couple of runs.

However, I'm happy to report that nothing broke loose, and the repairs I did seem to be holding strong. :thumbsup:

Obviously time will tell how well these hold up, but I wanted to share my experiences with others, as I have seen a number of people with this same or very similar issue with the plastic pumps. I will definitely post back positive or negative as the season rolls on.

Total Cost:

I probably spent about $25 on the materials, the Hobby burning tool and other things needed. Yep... $25!

Conclusion:

I apologize again for the wordiness... I'm just the over-descriptive type... but I hope some of you found this information helpful and gives you the confidence to at least try to repair something like this and save yourself some $$. (or spend on other goodies)

I will be posting some of my other "MacGyver" additions/fixes to the skis, like repairing the GTi sea that was in pieces along the edge, (saving myself another $250) as well as making custom 3-tone seat covers for both my skis with this killer carbon-fiber marine vinyl I bought online that was incredibly inexpensive, and enough for me to make another 2-3 seats. I'll even do a post about painting both of them with a temporary spray booth I built in my garage, along with mistakes made there.

Stay tuned for my other posts, and thanks again to all who have posted helpful How-To's or comments to other postings!

 

[manolocross]

Good job!!! Looks good!!

 

[LouDoo]

Great job, however for all the time and trouble I would have just replaced the pump with a good used bronze one. I'm not being critical, it's just what I would have done.

Lou

 

[LouDoo]

I know you separated these threads hoping to keep things simplified, however the fact is they will stay separated and it's gonna be hard to find the two parts. Therefore I am combining them. I hope you don't mind.

 

[Matt Braley]

I love a good solution and a well written thread with pics. I think that SS wear ring may have added to the original problem though.

 

[MacAddict]

I know you separated these threads hoping to keep things simplified, however the fact is they will stay separated and it's gonna be hard to find the two parts. Therefore I am combining them. I hope you don't mind.

I don't mind... I just know that some forums limit you to 10,000 characters, and with as much of a windbag as I can be, I knew I would go over... But thanks for keeping them together... easier to find, like you said... and thanks for the feedback. A bronze pump would have been easier, yes... but after watching ebay for the last 3-6 weeks, nothing sold for less than $250+ $25 shipping, so i thought for $25 in material, I would give it a shot...

I love a good solution and a well written thread with pics. I think that SS wear ring may have added to the original problem though.

Thanks for the positive feedback Matt... but I'm curious....how would the SS wear ring have "added" to the problems that a set of veins that were already broken 1/3 off with an original (never replaced) plastic wear ring that had 2-3" holes worn through it? The combination of the new SS wear ring with the broken veins just amplified the issues in the pump you mean? Just looking for feedback is all....

Thanks again guys....

 

[Matt Braley]

They get a bad rap because they will fowl an impeller when a rubberized version of one would not. I like the way an OEM wear ring is even a little softer. I think they designed it like that to have a little give in it to help objects pass without damage.

I think your pump was well worth the effort because it is a "big hub" pump. That's a great pump often called a "poor man's Skat".

 

[MacAddict]

They get a bad rap because they will fowl an impeller when a rubberized version of one would not. I like the way an OEM wear ring is even a little softer. I think they designed it like that to have a little give in it to help objects pass without damage.

Yeah..... that's understandable... plastic would definitely "give" in the event of sucking something into the impeller... All I can do is pray nothing of any substance gets sucked in, but being as I got totally hooked on surf jumping last season, something is bound to get in there...

I think your pump was well worth the effort because it is a "big hub" pump. That's a great pump often called a "poor man's Skat".

Hopefully my repairs will last, and I will agree... LOL... I'm already eyeing a Solas 15/20 Concord for her, in light of the $250+ I saved, along with some other "secret mods" for the 951 in writeups elsewhere... but thinking about retaining the bulky stock intake box, instead of aftermarket Prok's though, given that I will be surf jumping, and don't need salt water drawn into the intake.... But that wil lbe one of my other threads...

Thanks again...