Water leaking between motor mount and lower unit
- Thread starter Cdwinkler
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Cdwinkler
Active Member
It’s a 2000 seadoo challenger 2000. Last year it ran fine all year and at the end of the season it started cutting out at high speeds. I cleaned out the high pressure pump and housing and took the boat out. That’s when I noticed water coming inside between where the motor mounts and the jet drive inside the motor compartment. 
I did have water hooked up before the motor was started. Would that have caused it?
I did have water hooked up before the motor was started. Would that have caused it?
kenfyoozed
Member
Leaking around the drive shaft?
JeremyD615
Well-Known Member
My first thought would be that the boat has been run too long outside of the water and burned up the carbon seal/carrier bearing. (I’m not sure wether that boat uses a carbon seal or the carrier bearing set up.) Even when running on the hose, they shouldn’t be run for more than a minute or two. The hose provides cooling water for the motor, but not for that carbon seal, and they burn up fairly quickly.
Sportster-2001-951C-Stock
Well-Known Member
This would be a Mercury sportjet, perhaps? Without actually crawling down there and having a look while the engine is running in the water, I'd suspect the power head mounting gasket. If so, the power head will need to be unbolted and lifted off to replace the gasket or address the cause.
So have a look closer before jumping the gun.
The 4K RPM issue might not be related but tread carefully if/when the motor isn't making power like it should, might just be a clogged injector or two but a dead cylinder can result in severe damage.
Might want to check compression of all cylinders and while the spark plugs are out I have a ritual habit of squirting 2-stroke oil in the cylinders and intakes of a motor that doesn't run correctly whilest poking around b/c there may be a lubrication issue occurring. It's telling you something, it's not up to the task at hand for whatever reason.
Hopefully the compression in all cylinders is good.
Then, a good test to identify which cylinder(s) is not contributing while the engine is running is pull each plug wire off the plug (using a plug wire puller to avoid being zapped!) one at a time then placing it back on and move to the next all while running and see which one(s) has no effect. That's how you locate a dead cylinder(s).
Squirt, squeeze, bang, fart, all six must be doing this in sequence otherwise the orchestra is out of tune.
So have a look closer before jumping the gun.
The 4K RPM issue might not be related but tread carefully if/when the motor isn't making power like it should, might just be a clogged injector or two but a dead cylinder can result in severe damage.
Might want to check compression of all cylinders and while the spark plugs are out I have a ritual habit of squirting 2-stroke oil in the cylinders and intakes of a motor that doesn't run correctly whilest poking around b/c there may be a lubrication issue occurring. It's telling you something, it's not up to the task at hand for whatever reason.
Hopefully the compression in all cylinders is good.
Then, a good test to identify which cylinder(s) is not contributing while the engine is running is pull each plug wire off the plug (using a plug wire puller to avoid being zapped!) one at a time then placing it back on and move to the next all while running and see which one(s) has no effect. That's how you locate a dead cylinder(s).
Squirt, squeeze, bang, fart, all six must be doing this in sequence otherwise the orchestra is out of tune.
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Guarracs
Member
It’s your powerhead gasket which may not be bad... go around the bottom and retorque the bolts the big ones to 35 ft lb and the small ones to 20 ft lbs dunk it back in and see if it stops the leak, on your speed problem it could be a lot of things but I can’t speculate unless I know exactly what engine you have 
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