Water ingestion on first ride after rebuild - what now?

[andy.262]

So after finishing my rebuild I went to go out on the very first ride to start the break-in. Not even 10 minutes into the ride it starts sinking, water got up to the air intake and obviously the engine stalled out. As soon as I got it out of the water and drained, I pulled the spark plugs and cranked it over to spit all the water out that I could, and a ton came out. Put in new spark plugs and was able to get it started on the trailer, idled it for a little bit to get the rest of the water out. Now it starts right up on the first press of the button, as if nothing was wrong.

I feel like I'm out of the woods for now, my plan is to start and idle it a few times a day for a few days while my parts come in to fix the leak. Anything else I need to do to prevent it from rusting inside? Squirt some oil in the cylinders maybe?

I think the usual recommendation is to go run it at full throttle for a little bit after this happens, but I can't really do that because it will sink, and also becuase I haven't even really started the break-in period on this newly rebuild engine.

 

[mikidymac]

Fog the engine really good.

 

[JeremyD615]

What was the source of the leak? Like Miki said, be sure to fog the motor really well, and then get it out on the water as soon as you’re able. This may go against the grain a little bit here, but if it were me, I’d probably abbreviate your break in a bit. You got your first heat cycle on it, so after being easy on it while it gets up to temp the next time, I’d run it pretty hard for a few passes... You don’t need to go WOT with it, and don’t hold any one throttle position for more than a few seconds, but I’d definitely open it up to 2/3 to 3/4 throttle a few times. Get some heat in that thing to make sure the moisture is cleared out of it...

 

[andy.262]

Alright, just went and fogged it out. I'll start and idle it and then re-fog every day until the parts come in.

The "leak" was just me being extremely dumb and forgetting to hook up the hose that goes from the pump to the water regulator. So not only was there just a big hole in my pump, the engine was also not getting any water to cool it. Probably good that my ride only lasted a few minutes...

When I took the pump off just now, I saw that the oil cone has a bad o-ring on it, and I lost one of the little o-rings that goes between the impeller housing and the steering nozzle. So I'm sure that wasn't helping either.

I'm pretty confident I can get it sealed back up correctly, I'm just worried about the water ingestion and potential rust.

 

[JeremyD615]

It happens. I left a hose off of one of mine not too long ago. Luckily I noticed it felt heavy right when I left the dock and the only damage was to my ego. Normally I’m a pretty strong advocate of following the break in procedures to a tee, but in your case I think I’d err on the side of getting any moisture out of it rather than being super cautious with the break in...

 

[andy.262]

Definitely going to be checking it for leaks before I leave the dock next time I get to the water, that's for sure. Thankfully I had my brother out there on the other ski to tow me in, otherwise my ski would probably be on the bottom of the bay right now.

Assuming I don't do anything else stupid when I put it back together, I'll do a couple of harder runs next time like you suggest. I think I'm more afraid of the moisture than not doing the exact proper break-in.

 

[AKnarrowback]

Fog it. But if you can just back the trailer in the water and clear that thing out ASAP.

You don't need to run it wide open but it does need to get to operating temp and run there for a while, 15 minutes minimum.

 

[andy.262]

Wish I could, but I'd probably get murdered at the boat ramp lol. My town does not have great water access, the only boat ramps are at busy marinas where everyone gets mad if you don't launch as fast as humanly possible.

My guess is no, but would running it on the hose be a good alternative until I can get back on the water? Or will that not really make a difference between just running it on the trailer without the hose?

 

[JeremyD615]

No, running on the hose will never get enough heat in it to do any good. Just put it on the water as soon as you’re able...

 

[andy.262]

OK, so 2.5 more questions for you all:

1. After stumbling across this thread, do I need to be concerned about the crankcase oil?
2. When I put the oil cone for the jet pump back on, it's blue Loctite (Permatex Medium Blue) on the 3 bolts, but do I need something on that fill plug?
2.5 For the o-ring on that cone, I read that I should put loctite 518 on it (which I think is gasket maker). Loctite is not easy to find in my area, but I already have is Permatex Ultra Black, Copper, and Motoseal. Will one of those work instead?

Always seems like I'm missing a lot of oil by the end of the season, but I never used Loctite or anything on it when I changed it. Now seems like a good time to start doing it correctly, since I have it apart anyways.

 

[mikidymac]

1. On your 1997 SPX, yes pull the plug and add the appropriate oil to the balancer.
2. Blue loctite on teh bolts and Permatex 518/515 ont he plug and o-ring. Anny Napa autoparts will have it.
3. See 2 above.

 

[andy.262]

on the 2 and 3

for 1, I did put the oil in there when I assembled it, but now that I've ingested water, does it need to be changed? If so, what happens if I don't get all the old oil/water out and there ends up being too much oil in there after I add the 30ml fresh oil? Will it even hold more than that?

 

[mikidymac]

There is an Allan drain plug, take that out first to drain the oil and water out then reinstall it and add the 30 ml.