Ski only goes 29mph and bogs

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Have you verified there is actually water on your plugs? You could remove the rave valve housings and see if there is water on the raves. Real easy - two bolts each, you don't even disconnect the air pressure lines, just lift them out as an assembly. Once they are out, you can look right into the cylinder and see the piston. If you take off the plastic cover for the PTO coupler, you can turn the engine over by hand and get a real good look at the edge of the piston and top of the piston.
I recently had a head gasket fail on my 951, and it showed itself by oil/water seeping out from under a head bolt. The compression was still about 125 psi. The base gasket under the cylinder block can also leak, as can the exhaust manifold gasket and head pipe gasket. If the head pipe gasket leaks, it will sometimes only do it when you're near top speed. That's because at high speed the jet pump is forcing more water into the cooling hose and making more pressure. It can spray out of the head pipe gasket right into the carburetor. Its a very common thing on the 951.
During my last engine repair, I discovered that my engine drain line was full of sand and completely plugged. Thats the clear 3/8" line that connects to the crankcase not the 1/2" black line that comes from the head. Its under the exhaust pipe coming off the side of the crankcase down low. Once I cleared that, my side pisser had less force. So that showed me that the engine drain line relieves some of the water pressure in the engine. Less pressure on the head pipe gasket = less chance of failure. Yours could be clogged too and possibly increasing the chances that your head pipe gasket could spray water at high speed. After a high speed run, look at your engine and carbs to see if they are wet.
Something else that recently happened to me was air bubbles in my fuel line. Even though the fuel system was clean, a connection was allowing a small amount of air in. You could some intermittent air leak like that. You could splice in some clear fuel line to observe the fuel flow.
jjsinaz is right about the fuel cap. If you have a failed fuel system check valve, as you use fuel a vacuum will be created in the gas tank and your fuel pump will pull less fuel. Have you tried running with the cap off?
 
Thank you FL- rider for the input. Yes I have tried riding without the fuel cap. No difference. However, I like your idea about the clear fuel lines. That will be my next go to. You also mentioned air bubbles in your fuel lines at one time. What symptoms was your ski having in regards to the bubbles?
 
Thank you FL- rider for the input. Yes I have tried riding without the fuel cap. No difference. However, I like your idea about the clear fuel lines. That will be my next go to. You also mentioned air bubbles in your fuel lines at one time. What symptoms was your ski having in regards to the bubbles?

I had the bubbles, though very slight I spotted in the clear fuel lines, symptoms were it would cut out at WOT. I kept backing the high side needles out and nothing would change. Ended up being a badly assembled brand new fuel valve. Initially I bypassed to figure it out.
 
If your ski won’t go over 30 it’s low compression or a carb/fuel issue. Have you checked your reeds?

I agree with Miki. :) Engine heats up... compression goes down and so does performance. I've seen engines with missing and broken rings get over 130psi. To me any degradation in compression is a sign of problems. I am quick to do a top end. I'd rather pay now... than pay later and pay more. LOL

I've had instances with carbs where the ski takes off like a rocket after just staring up and after a minute wouldn't get over 35mph. It ended up being the carbs I had worked on a number of times. Once I replaced the needle and seats and proper spring with genuine Mikuni... both skis ran a lot better. Check your pop-off. I'm talking 96 and 97 GTXs so ... all may not apply.

Good luck. I can't wait for a warm spell so I can take my skis out for a run. I got testing to do. :)
 
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I've been chasing a gremlin on my 98 xpl for a couple months. It started out as a head gasket seeping oil/water mix from under a head bolt. It ran good for a couple months after a new head gasket, then mysteriously lost power once while going near top speed. It started back up and ran fine, but would get a slight surge occasionally at about 6000-6300 rpms. It seemed like it wasn't getting enough gas. At full throttle, it would run fine though. So, I kept it out of the rpm range it would surge in as much as I could. So I rebuilt the fuel pump and checked the fuel strainer. That didn't fix it, so pulled the raves to check the pistons and discovered I was getting a melt down on the MAG cylinder. Ive since gone through the carbs, pressure tested the fuel selector valve and fuel strainer, checked the in-tank fuel filter. Everything checked out ok. I rebuilt the top end and kept a close eye on it. The piston started to melt down again after doing high speed runs, and I noticed that slight occasional surge was still there. That's when I spliced in the clear fuel line and found the bubbles. So it turns out my fuel line wasn't getting a good seal between the selector valve and strainer. It wasn't leaking gas, but it was letting air in. I clipped the ends and now no bubbles. Im not sure if thats the whole problem though. I just did the top end again and have to break it in and find out. The clear line is an easy and cheap thing to try, and maybe it will help locate your problem.
 
I always pressure test and vacuum test the fuel lines. I clamp off the fuel line close to the tank, reserve and primary one at a time and switch the selector back and for. I check every way I can think off. Leaks have been pretty east to find that way. That fuel valve... even new ones... are prone to leaking. I found the brass pieces that are inserted into the body are sometimes loose and can be removed by twisting and pulling with my fingers. I don't trust the new ones any more than I trust the old ones. Kinda old school but I close the valve suck on the inlet or outlet and seal it with my tongue. If it leaks... I know it. Then I switch. I have reinstalled old ones that seal better than new.

The problem you found makes sense. Good Luck
 
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