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Should i be worried about the oil underneath the engine on my 98 GS?

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tlegend

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yesterday i purchased a 98 Seadoo GS from a PWC repair shop which was traded in from a customer. The guy told me that the oil was because of cleaning spark plugs etc and while tuning it up.

I brought it home late last night, this morning while cleaning the hull and noticed a puddle of oil, i stuck my hand in there and there was more oil underneath the engine. i soaked a towel to clear up the oil, but it seemed more oil was there.

IT starts right up i have not taken it out yet and will probably will not till next year, i had the shop winterize it for me.

Should i be worried that the engine is damaged and may need replacing? Or puddle of oil underneath the engine is normal?

Also i marked with a sharpie the oil tank so i would know if it is loosing oil...

the oil seems to be fresh (color is blue and not black)

Thx you
 
Welcome to the seadoo forum. You need to ad you seadoo model and year to your avatar for future problems or questions. It might be possible that the oil line leading to the bottom of the engine case has a crack or split in it causing it to leak out. After you clean the hull real good lay down some paper towels or newspaper so you can figure where it is coming from. More than likely it is from a split hose or a crack in the oil injector tank. If it were me I 'd either have the selling dealer correct it or give yo something in writing that he will correct any related problem in the spring...I'd go with the first choice my self.

Karl

Karl
 
will call the shop tomorrow.

I wiped the entire hull, if there is a leak, will it leak even in storage? or will it only leak when the PWC turns on?

i have marked the oil tank with a sharpie and cleaned the hull will check again in a few days to see if there is any leak...
 
If its a "leak" say from a oil line...yes, it will leak in storage. Unless the oil injector feed line is leaking or the line is cracked then it will just keep leaking till it is repaired. Keep an eye on it. If only a small amount of oil is leaking it will leave a big mess. Seadoos should never have any oil just lying around. The hull should be clean and dry unless something is wrong.

Karl
 
If its a "leak" say from a oil line...yes, it will leak in storage. Unless the oil injector feed line is leaking or the line is cracked then it will just keep leaking till it is repaired. Keep an eye on it. If only a small amount of oil is leaking it will leave a big mess. Seadoos should never have any oil just lying around. The hull should be clean and dry unless something is wrong.

Karl


can you please tell me where the oil injector line is located on these?
 
It runs from the oil tank to the oil pump. Just follow the oil lines and look for any leaks along the way.

Karl
 
when i was working on my friends seadoo i accidentally pulled the oil line that connects to the oil tank and it let a bunch of oil out and all sat under the engine. i was taking the starter off and its easy to pull that oil line sometimes especially his stupid ski because he didnt have a ziptie or a clamp on the hose.

someone could have done the same to yours. but like you said, check the mark on the tank in a day or two and see if the oil level dropped and that will most likely answer your question
 
Hard to reach!.....

Two ways to approach this. If you got a killer deal on it, then fix it yourself and be happy. If not......doesn't California have laws in place to protect the buyer from a bad investment. Here, we have 3 days to return a large priced purchase.

Your GS uses the 717cc motor. It seems to me, the idea of it being under the engine would point the finger at your rotary gear case. Looking at the top of your oil tank, you'll see a line about 1/2" OD that runs down to the side of the motor. That's the vent line from the rotary chamber. The level in that line will reflect the level in your oil tank.

On the bottom of the oil tank, you should have two lines. One that drops down to an in line oil filter, then over to your oil linjection pump on the front of your magneto.

The other large oil line goes to the supply of your oil chamber of the rotary gear which is a worm gear off the crankshaft, made of brass.

The oil is likely leaking from one of these lines. Like Karl said, either cracked or broken .....something of the sort.

But, your biggest mistake is to purchase this ski and not ride it. By next season, when you do ride it. If it runs like a piece of junk, who you going to talk to? He'll laugh.......saying, "you bought this from me 9 months ago and you just now cominig to me with a problem"........?

You should have rode this ski first. It's a 98 model?.....How do you know it runs well in the water? The impeller or wearing ring could be bad or it may not run smooth because it needs a carb rebuild. You can not judge these machines from hearing them run on land.

Did you do a compression test? That would be the first thing I'd do right now, if you did not do it. You can buy the gage at any parts house for about $25 bucks. You take out a spark plug and screw it in the hole and turn the motor over. Now....that's not a complete rundown on how to do your compression test but the idea here is, you bought something "blind" from a repair shop, which is where they bring in skis that are broken....do you think it might have been broken? If so, how do you know they fixed it?.....


The oil....get a mirror and flashlight and see if you can stick that mirror under the motor good enough and shine the light under it, to see if you can spot a leak.

Winterized?.....if he did it correctly, all you should have to do is take it out and ride it. As long as he did not leave any of your cooling lines off, you can ride it and blow out the antifreeze, then we can tell you in the forum how to re-winterize it. It's the 717....not much to winterizing it.

Sorry to play the devils advocate here on you.......but I don't want to see you waste your money. You bought this thing really blind (from your thread description anyway) and have no way of knowing the motor condition and for me, breaking all the rules of engagement in buying from a "stealershop".........

I hope I'm wrong, I really do..........
 
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Thx you for all that have replied.

I spoke with the owner of the shop, he said mark it with the a sharpie on the oil tank and if the oil level drops after a week i could bring it in.

yesterday i wiped all the oil off more carefully i guess there was more there. I try to trace the oil lines and could not see anything where it was leaking from.


I put my hand underneath the engine case for maybe a minute to see if something drips could not see anything there.

since i marked the oil tank last sunday i have not see the oil tank drop the oil level. I guess i have to wait till next sunday to see if it dropped.

I did notice today more oil came forward because my ski is sloped while in storage.

Today i will leave some newspapers to see if something drops. I think it is coming from way inside in the middle of the engine somewhere.

i know i should have taken it for a spin before i bought it.... I might take it for a spin after a few weeks when i am not as busy...
 
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