Water leak somewhere 98 GTI

[jorge.a.borges]

After riding for about 1 hour there is at least 5 gallons of water in my Sea-Doo. this has been happening for a while but now I really feel like I need to fix it. I have a 1998 Sea-Doo GTI.

This afternoon I connected a hose to the back and started the Sea-Doo. I wanted to see if water would flow out the bellow. But no water entered the Sea-Doo at all.

The reason I suspect the bellow is because there is a space when I pull the bellow towards the back.
Is this space normal? is there a way to verify that this is the problem?

 

[ryan bennett]

Grab the carbon seal (silver part located on 2nd picture) and pull it back toward the impeller to make sure the c-clip did not come off. The best thing to do in my opinion is remove the jet pump housing, impeller, drive shaft and inspect the carbon seal & bellow. There could be a small tear on the bottom of the bellow that you cannot see. The carbon seal should not have uneven wear on the side facing the bellow. I've been through 3 bellows and a slightly bent drive shaft was causing my problem.

Or take the seat off and drive it a short distance to see if water is coming in at the bellow. You'll know pretty quickly...

 

[jorge.a.borges]

Thanks for the information @ryan bennett. Is it difficult to remove the jet pump housing, impeller and drive shaft? I'm guessing I would start by removing the bolts (I think there are 4 of them) from the back of the Seadoo.

Also, I recently fixed my water issue or at least 90% of it. It turns out one of my fins that are screwed into the hull on either side towards the back was loose. In fact one of the nuts was completely missing from one bolt and on another, it was halfway unscrewed. This let a lot of water get into the hull. And I found it by adding water to the hull and then tipping the front of the ski up. Once I got it high enough, water was coming out for under the fin. Then all I had to do was touch the fin to see that it was very loose.

To repair it I took the fin completely off and purchased the missing nuts, washers and lock washer (and some rubber washers too) because I didn't have gaskets. Once it was completely removed, I think filled in some of the screw holes that go bigger from the years of riding it which loose bolts with Pettit EZ Tex Marine Epoxy. Once it dried I then applied more Pettit EZ Tex Marine Epoxy to the screw holes and mounted the fin (while the epoxy was setting).

Like any job on a Seadoo, it was hard to reach the bolts on the fin. I was upside-down in some very odd position and practically had to dislocate my shoulder to mount the nuts onto the bolts but I got her done.

 

[Seadoo timebomb]

First off hooking a hose up to see if the bellow and carbon seal leaks doesnt work. The water is fed in backwards thru engine for cooling then routed out to the pick up in the pump.

You got smart by filling up the hull and tracing the leak.

When ski is on trailer backed in the water, start it with seat removed. Rev it up. This is the best way to find out if anything motor, pump or carbon seal related is the problem for a water leak.


The sponson is what that is called. Not too uncommon for a screw to come loose. Silicone is the best all around sealer to use when reattaching one. Fixing the hole was a good idea with epoxy.

 

[ryan bennett]

Good to hear, easy to remove it the impeller. However, the easiest option would be to do what @Seadoo timebomb said and put it in the water to check the bellow/carbon seal area for leaks. If it looks like the problem is in that area go check out the service manual for your seadoo and it shows exactly how to disassemble and assemble the housing & drive shaft.