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Please help me validate what the mechanic said.

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rshaker2

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Trouble with starting and rope in motor

I've been reading different posts about this problem since Sun but I need a little more help.

I just bought this boat Thursday. We spent all day Sat getting the little this right, fuses replaced, horn, bilge fan and pump working etc. I was told by the prior owner that he just had it tuned up and when he ran it water came in through the exhaust gasket.

We had our mechanic fix the exhaust gasket as well on Sat. and ran it Sun. The starboard motor seemed fine but the port motor once we got to 6K surged down and up between 4k and 6k. No water came into the bilge so I know the leak is fixed.

From what I read here I was getting ready to clean the RAVE and the carbs but today I got in touch with his mechanic to see if it was really tuned up.

I told him the problem we had and he already knew about it from the previous owner, btw he owned it for 6 months. He told me that he rebuilt the carbs and the RAVE looked fine. He said that when the previous owner flooded the blige that the water most likely invaded the engine through the rear seal. He wants me to remove the head and inpect it.

I build race motors for cars, until I quit recently, and never saw that. Do you think this is possible? I was thinking about going through other steps I read here on the fuel system because I can't image how surging would be caused by a scored cylinder.

Thoughts? Ideas?

TIA,
Bob

Edit: title to make it easier for others to search that share my problem.
 
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Yes, water could get into the engine though the rear crank seal... but that wouldn't cause surging, and if there was water damage... you would have a crank bearing go bad.

I'd go down the RAVE's and carb path like you already planed to do.

Even if they did a "Tune-up" and winterizing... you can still get a little water in the carb, and when it sat all winter... it could have formed rust, or corrosion, and plugged one of the passages.


Last thing. Yes, you can take the head off, and check things over... but a compression check will tell you if there is scaring bad enough to cause an issue. You are looking for 150 psi.
 
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remove the raves and look at pistons thru the openings. Also, it sounds like its a rectifier issue. Fire up the "surging" motor, and volt test the battery. Should read around 13.5-14.5. If in the 15's or 12's, replace the rectifier.

Before clicking to homepage, happen to look at your avatar real quik...either the last "mechanic" is a bunghole, or your boat isnt a "sportster". That year boat did not have RAVES, it had 720 motors...
 
My model is correct 1998 Sportster 1800. This isn't my mechanic it's the previous owners mechanic. He claims to have just done the carbs a couple weeks ago. He sounded like a bunghole.

I'll check the rectifier and post back. Thanks all.
 
So, I decided to go straight for the carbs having little trust for this mechanic. I found the fuel in hose to the carb not pushed in past the little hump on the pipe. Could that be the problem, can air get through there? Also, there was no gasket between the air cleaner and the top of the carb but I don't think that contributes.

Thoughts?
 
where is the rectifier located on the gTx?.... and how much did you pay for it? I have some gtx's and one of them is doing the surging thing from 4500 to 7000, back and forth....
 
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Alright, your boat IS the Sportster 1800, so that makes the "mechanic" a bunghole...(say'n he cleaned the "raves")

No gasket between top of carb and flame arrestor housing. Push/re-clamp/Inspect, ALL the fuel lines, no need to trust that guys work now.
 
Any air leaking to the fuel system is replacing the fuel itself, so lean surging will happen that way, and the result if neglected is burnt pistons/cyl scoring from overheating, if your racing experience is not 2stroke you have a whole new lesson plan to learn here, speed read before you paddle back burnt out motors.
 
Yeah 2 stroke is out of my area of expertise.

I took out the carb, cleaned the little filter, put the fuel-in hose on correclty (the mechanic didn't have it in all the way) and re-attached everything. Tried it on the water today and same issue. I think I'm going to take it to a reputable mechanic even though I'm certain this is a fuel starvation issue. Maybe I'll try one more time myself first. :-)
 
you make sure the "squirter" was firing fuel? The little brass fitting protruding thru carb.
 
Let's add insult to injury.

As we tested the boat yesterday it sucked in a rope. I tried to take it out today and noticed it cracked some of the outer coat from the hull near the shaft and a bunch of white plastic that goes together to form a tube fell out. Anyone knows that that might be; a drive shaft protection tube, rope prevention tube? While looking I also noticed a bolt completely missing from the back of the starboard motor, wtf!

Anyone want to buy a boat :-)
 
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Got the rope out and ran the boat yesterday. There seems to be no ill effect of the white plastic tube being broken.

As for the original intention of the post. I sprayed SeaFoam into the motor nad took it out again and it worked much better. Sprayed it again last night and we'll see what happens today.
 
Most people remove the drive shaft protectors. The boat will normally run better without them.

They are to protect the driveshaft in case of sucking up a rope... but they just break the first time it happens.

Going back to the first post... what was the actual issue?? OR... what is the issue now?

Did you change your regulator?
 
It's definately a lean issue. I took it out a couple days ago. It idles pretty fine after shooting it up with seafoam. I let it warm up then I gunned both engines and they both went over 7k rpm then the port motor died. I restarted it without issue and then slowly kept creeping it up until we hit 6k, then it started going back and forth between 4 and 6k rpm. If I jerked off the throttle I could kinda prevent this for a bit then go full throttle the motor would hold a consistent 4 or 6k rpm, depending on what test run, while the starboard was at 8k. I decided to drop it off for the carb to be cleaned and to change the grey lines that were still there. I also asked him to check the fuel pump (regulator?) on that side.

When I get back from PR, hopefully it will be ready.
 
Just got back and this guy didn't touch my boat. I need a repair shop in Southern Mass. I know of Big Wave Craig but is there anyone else?

Thanks
 
My buddy remembered a place while we were at breakfast today. A Kawasaki dealer that apparently does Seadoo as well. Durands in Tiverton, RI.

I took my carb off so they can rebuild it by tomorrow and we discovered that the part on the top, looks like the diaphram was rotted and the only that belongs on the bottom was missing. So much for the guy who claimed to rebuild these. Let you know how it works this week.
 
Take the time to solve the fuel/oil problems, then dip the boat still on the trailer to test everything, this way you can feel the warmth of the water hoses and observe any leaking stuff, pull back to the parking lot to fix what you can and redip-retest, you can also test the voltage at the battery by lifteng the throttle a bit to get the juices flowing, mark the oil tank to be sure it is drinking, now things are looking good? do this each season and leave the breakdwon drama behind.
 
Update:
I had the carbs rebuilt as stated above. Found the throttle cable was sticking and wouldn't go to close, fixed it. Took it out and after it warmed up I pushed both motors to full throttle. The left one went to 6k then died. It restarted and then was wobbling a bit from 6-4k. After 30 seconds it wouldn't go past 4k rpm.

Planning on check the carbs, again and the fuel pump. Also, might need to put a zip tie on the cable (I had to cut the one that was there, was pinching the cable.)

Also, what should my full throttle RPM be, 6k or higher? I noticed the starboard motor now wouldn't go over 6k.

Thanks.
 
You should see about 6800 rpm's if you dont have cavatation.

When you rebuilt the carbs... did you verify the pop-off pressure and give it a leak test?

even so... it sounds like the main jet or it's circuit is clogged. check it with compressed air. I find that carb cleaner, followed with compressed air, will force out any obstruction.
 
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