Water in 2005 Seadoo RXT Engine Compartment After Intake Grate Screw Came Off

[C-Gremlin]

I have a 2005 Seadoo Rxt supercharged with 200 hours. I rode the pwc for two hours this past weekend and tied it off to the pier to store overnight. I returned to it the next day to find the rear end of the pwc partially submerged and the inside of the haul filled with water. The water did not fully submerge the engine but came up approximately 3/4 of the engine. I pumped out the water, towed it to the boat launch.

When I pulled it out of the water, I started to look for leaks. The plugs were adequately installed before putting the pwc in the water and I did not see any leakage there. I quickly noticed that the pump grate on the bottom of the haul was gone. There was a stream of water exiting from the front location where the screw enters the haul. I assume the four screws that hold the pump grate to the haul shook themselves loose during operation. I also assume the front screw works as a plug and is a drain point where the water entered through.

The engine oil looks normal (no discoloration or milkyness). I have not turned the machine over yet or even connected the key. The guys at the marina said there is probably water in the supercharger intake hose and that I should take it apart, clean and lubricate the bearings before running. They recomended I take it to a professional.

My questions are:

Where else may I have hidden water?

Should I be worried about the eletrical equipment?

Is the engine okay as long as the oil looks clean?

This is my first experience with water in the haul so any help is much appreciated.

 

[jhjesse]

Having just gone through something similar, I would:
1. Pull the hoses off the supercharger, intercooler, as well as, the hose going from the intercooler to the intake and check for water intrusion. Chances are they contain water. Get all the water out of these components.
2. Pull the spark plugs and crank the engine over and blow any water in the cylinders out. May have to do this several times in 10 second intervals.
3. Reinstall the plugs and try to start the ski. Get it started and run for about 30 seconds to dry out any water.
4. Fog the cylinders after getting the ski to start.
5. Pull the dipstick and look for milky colored oil. If the oil is clean, then you got lucky. If not, you must pump all the oil out and change it. Oh yeah remove the oil filter as it will be of no help.
6. Reinstall the oil cap with no filter and replace the oil with new. Start ski and run for about 30 seconds. Check the oil for milky color. It will probably be milky colored. Pump the oil out and change again. Repeat this until oil is clear. Probably 4 to 5 times.
7. After oil is clean, install new oil filter and re assemble hoses.

Your ski may be may be a little different set up than mine, but you need to check everything to make sure no water intrusion is present throughout the ski.

One more thing might be a good thing to do is check all electrical connections for water intrusion and use dielectric grease on the connections.

Good luck.

P.S. I would do this ASAP don't wait.

 

[red2blue]

I dunno 'bout anyone else...but I'd be real curious how that grate...fell off....without you even feeling it go. Wonder what the inserts look like in that "hull".

 

[jhjesse]

Definitely curious about that.

 

[C-Gremlin]

Thanks for the prompt reply jhjeese. Your comments were very helpful. In addition to your comments, I spoke with a seadoo mechanic who reiterated your instructions.

This is what I did last night.

1. I pulled the hoses off the supercharger and intercooler. A little water came out of the inlet hose to the supercharger. There was no water in the outlet hose from the supercharger or hoses to/from the intercooler.
2. I pulled the spark plugs and cranked the engine over. Fortunately, there was no water in the cyclinders. I did this multple times to be sure.
3. I then reinstalled the plugs and tried to start the ski. It struggled the first crank but was able to run it. I only ran it a few seconds as I didn't have it hooked up to a garden hose or anything.
4. I then pulled the spark plugs again and fogged the cylinders. I started the engine again (it fired right up this time) and ran it a few more seconds.
5. I pulled the dipstick and looked for any discoloration in the oil. The seadoo mechanic mentioned I wouldn't see discoloration until I started the engine. The oil appears to be clean and there was no discoloration.
6. I plan to do an oil change, but don't anticipate having to do more than one as I think I got lucky and avoided getting water in the engine.
7. I also checked the electrical components and lubricated the positive battery terminal (it had some green/blue corrosion on the terminal from being submerged).

With regards to the intake grate. I received no warning or noise from the grate falling off. The day this happened, I wasn't riding too rough. The water was choppy but nothing extreme. I inspected the bottom haul further last night. My grate was held together by three bolts in the rear and one in the front. Fortunately, the front bolt hole still contains the threaded insert. This is where I believe the water entered the haul. I've done a little research on grates falling off, but haven't found much. After this accident, I will be sure to the check screws to the grate prior to launching. I didn't realize one of these bolts holes would be a pathway into the haul (poor design if you ask me).

The threaded inserts to the rear bolts are missing. I assume the inserts were ripped away when the grate was pulled off. I'll need to purchase a new grate and replacement screws. I'm guessing I will need to find a new threaded insert for the rear bolts and install it into the haul. I hope the threads are still good on the front screw.

At this point, I'm still concerned about the supercharger. Should I have I have the bearings lubricated or replaced??

Limited water came out of the hoses to the supercharger, but I worry the bearings can break in the future causing much bigger problems.

 

[jhjesse]

Double post..................

 

[jhjesse]

You are one lucky guy!! I would get new threaded inserts glassed in and replace everything.
As far as the supercharger is concerned, I don't know much about them. Aren't the bearings lubricated from the engine oil?

 

[red2blue]

Wow....bad luck to have it happen...good luck that you weren't runnin wot when it went.

You can get a girdle for the back bolts...but the front insert still being there is a big plus. Fingers crossed that it'll take some torquage w/o spinning in the glass. Make sure you lock-tite those btchs in this time.

 

[BigDfromTN]

You are one lucky guy!! I would get new threaded inserts glassed in and replace everything.
As far as the supercharger is concerned, I don't know much about them. Aren't the bearings lubricated from the engine oil?

Yes. SC bearings are lubed by engine oil. There are seals between bearings and the air/working side of the SC.

 

[C-Gremlin]

Thank you all for your responses. My next challenge is figuring out what I'm left with near my intake with regards to the grate and screw attachment points. See the attached photos.

As mentioned earlier, I still have the threaded insert for the front screw for the grate attachment point. I'll need to pick up some new screws, caulk the area and lock-tite it.

At the rear attachment points, I'm pretty confused. There should be three screw holes. I see two (at the base of the triangle), but with no threaded inserts that are hollow. Now I'm wondering if what I'm looking at is part of the existing grate structure currently attached to the pump support.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[red2blue]

pics are a bit fuzzy but seems to me bolts are broken in the two forward points of the rear inserts.

How long have you owned this ski?

The bottom of the hull clearly shows...rough treatment.

 

[Michael211_2000]

Well I know something about this issue!

I have a 2006 RXT to which the exact same thing happened to the original owner (except he jumped on and tried to start it half-sunk, ingested water into the engine and hydro-locked #1 piston bending the connecting rod... for which I bought this 2006 RXT off him for extremely cheap, and fixed myself!). This is yet another great reason to have an automatic float controlled electric bilge pump always on in your hull (which is another topic, of course)!

Yes the forward intake grate bolt goes completely thru the bottom of the hull, and if you lose that forward bolt your grate will break off (and no, you may well not even realize when it goes!). The factory put a big gob of silicone on top of the forward bolt inside the hull where it comes thru to "seal" it, but it apparently doesn't stick very well and can come loose (as did on my 2006 RXT).

How many of you have ever thought to get under your hull and check your intake grate bolts? I don't think the factory thread-locked any of them! Mine are blue-threadlocked now with an R&D Aquavein performance intake which I'd rather not ever lose! LOL!

Also it's a chore to get to but not a bad idea to check for that silicone gob on the inside of your hull on top of the forward bolt. I cleaned the area of the hull there where mine had been (it had come loose and way a "floater" in the bottom of the hull), lightly sanded the hull then wiped it down with nail polish remover to chemically clean it then finally put a fresh gob of silicone over the bolt end and it's holding well on mine still.

Now about the rear 3 bolts, only the middle one really has any significant hold to it the outside 2 bolts just screw into inserts set into the plastic... plastic which IS part of the jet pump "shoe" and would require a WHOLE lot of work to replace with a new part! Probably not worth it.

The middle bolt hole is the only one that's steel though, so it does the vast majority of the holding of the rear of the intake grate (part of mine's OE grate was still attached at the middle rear bolt in fact, the grate had broken off pulling the outside plastic inserts out as it went). I used some replacement inserts I epoxied into the holes in the plastic on mine, I think I may even have a few extras (they came like 5 to a pack)... PM me and I'll see if I can locate them for you (or at least the website I ordered them from)!

Big question though, if your rear middle bolt was gone did it fall out or was it pulled out stripping the threads? If those threads are stripped you may just want to tap some new slightly larger size threads into the metal and get a SS bolt sized to match the new threads, maybe have to drill the hole in the new intake grate slightly larger so the larger bolt will fit... IDK.

Finally, beaching the hulls even on seemingly fine sand beaches will tear up the gelcoat on the underside of the hull... you're basically sanding it down with a heavy grit, and any pebble will really cut into the gelcoat as wave action moves your hull slightly back and forth. I'm a real fan of dropping anchor and leaving it in 3 feet of water and wading ashore. Mine has a few scratches from the original owner beaching it before me, but I've not added any more to it in the 6 years I've had this RXT.

Regards!

- Michael

 

[C-Gremlin]

Hi Michael, thanks for the additional information. This seems to be a common problem and failure point.

Like you, I'm the second owner. I never beached my seadoo but the previous owner has as you can see from the pics. The bottom of my haul is pretty beat up. It could use some body work, which I've been procrastinating for some time. I haven't done the research yet to see what type of products to use and sanding/buffing required.

I took additional photos of the rear screw hole inserts. See attached. The front two plastic screw inserts are gone. I'll need to replace the inserts with new ones, like you mentioned you had done. I'd appreciate it if you could share the website you purchased them at and part number if available.

There was some silicone filled in the rear metal/threaded hole. I pulled out the silicone. I believe the screw fell out. The threads look to be in good condition. I'm hoping I won't have to modify the threads. I'll need to get new screws and test it out. I agree this screw takes much of the loads (probably why it's steel threaded).

- Thanks!

 

[Michael211_2000]

For matching OEM color gelcoat repair kit (to fix any deep scratches or chips in your hull's underside:

http://www.gelcoat.ca/index.php?p=catalog&parent=108&pg=1

I've done some work on the underside of mine during the winter months, I fix a few more of the original owner's scratches every year.

I can't find the link to those inserts, it was like 6 years ago I'd bought them... but I did save the extra inserts that came in the pack I'd bought (apparently it was a pack of 4 inserts as I found only 2 in storage in a little plastic baggy):



Looks like I paid $29 with shipping for these suckers (I found a partial receipt in the bag with them... part of it is unreadable anymore it's faded out but the total at the bottom was $29). There weren't any instructions as I recall, you just use a good plastic 2-part epoxy wait till it's starting to thicken and put it up in the hole then with a little tape over the top end of each insert (and I remember going ahead and threading a bolt fully into each one to insure no epoxy could possibly get into the threads) stick them in center them and wait for the epoxy to cure fully. Then remove the bolts and use a dremel to cut off the excess insert (they are longer than needed, but are the right size threads for the OEM SS bolts that mount the intake grate which you'll have to order or get from a dealership).

PM me is you want these these things. i have a Paypal account, if you'd like split the original cost with me I'd appreciate it. I just inspected my intake grate and after 6 years everything (including the 2 inserts I installed) are still looking just fine under there!

You might also want to fill the bolt recesses in your ride plate while you're working under the hull, those things are like small anchors holding you back... you take some cord and wrap a small length of cord around each bolt head then stick a piece of duct tape over the bolt head (to hold the cord in place around the bolt head) then fill the recess with marine epoxy (the kind that comes as a stick you cut off what you need knead it up and it activates and starts to harden). Get it smooth as you can, then when it has hardened sand it flush. The point of the rope cord and tape is to keep the epoxy from surrounding the bolt heads in case you ever need to remove the ride plate... you can use a screwdriver and hammer to knock the epoxy plugs out, then the bolt heads will be accessible again without having to dig epoxy out from around the bolt heads! This adjustment does help your performance and top end speed eliminating all those recesses in the ride plate!

Finally, if you were experiencing so much vibration as to have both the forward and rear main intake grate bolts come loose and fall out... you might aught to pull your pump and inspect it to make sure it's ok inside. That just seems like an awful lot of vibration to me! IDK.

- Michael

 

[C-Gremlin]

Hi Michael.

I was able to find some inserts online. I'm waiting for them to arrive. I hope they work well. Thanks for offering your spares.

I ordered a new grate and the required bolts/washers. Once I got the new bolts, I tested the threads on the rear insert and the front one. The rear thread is okay. However, I can only get the bolt on the front thread about a 1/4" before I get resistance. The front thread is where the water came through. This bolt is HEXAGON SCREW M8 X 30. I'm wondering if I need to buy a tap and clean up the thread? Does anyone know the specific tap size needed?

Thanks,

-Chris

 

[Michael211_2000]

I'd think you take your front bolt to a local auto parts or hardware store and they can find you a matching tap with the same threads pretty easily.

- Michael

 

[C-Gremlin]

Update:

Over the spring I picked up a tap and rethreaded both the front and rear threads. The new bolts now thread in very nicely.

As far as the two inserts I ordered, the inner threads match the bolts that I ordered. However, the outer diameter of the inserts are too large for the inner diameter of the plastic housing it is to go into. I attempted to force them in but the plastic housing started to crack. I'll need to get some new inserts with a smaller wall thickness that will fit.

Does anyone have any part numbers or know where I can find something that will work?

I currently have the new grate on the ski with only the front and rear bolts inserted. They're on there pretty good and I continue to check the bolts to make sure they're on tight so I avoid this problem again.

 

[Michael211_2000]

Yeah I offered you my extra inserts but you passed 'em up. So sad. :-(

Good luck!

- Michael

 

[C-Gremlin]

Yeah I offered you my extra inserts but you passed 'em up. So sad. :-(

Good luck!

- Michael

Michael,

You are correct. I found what I thought was the correct part locally. Do you still have the spare parts? I'm looking for two.

Thanks