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Weak Spark

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SaltyBones

SaltyBones

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One of the skis will not start. Beeps twice every time. It started to hit a couple times, and even started a couple times for a second or two. Pulled the plugs and they were wet. Put new plugs in it and nothing. Checked the spark at the end of the plug with my finger and it wasn't strong (i could leave my finger over it and keep cranking it, it was that weak). Is that normal for these sea doos? Is it a bad coil causing this?

Also, after cranking it a bit, the negative wire is very hot. Bad ground wire, or normal after cranking the motor awhile?
 
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no thats not normal, the negative wire should not be very hot, remove that ground wire and check for corrosion on the contacts. you should feel a serious shock from the spark plug as well. As long as your grounding the sparkplug against a good bare piece of metel on engine you should see a faint spark but may be hard to see in bright sunlight. trim the pug wires if ground wire isn't the problem
 
i've tried both the battery from this ski and ran it dead and then the battery from the other ski. Both were fully charged and one was less than two months old.
 
I had a ground wire that was almost broken off at the mounting point and it caused a no start issue exactly as you are describing



96 XP800!
Keep the 2 strokes alive!
 
You have a connection issue or a bad wire. You need to remove the main negative and hot wires, wiggle the ends and kind of pinch the wires with your fingers near the ends. If they crunch or white powder comes out, they are junk. If they are good, wire brush them, wire brush where they connect, put dielectric grease on them, and reinstall. A common failure area is, the ground running to the starter. It is not fun to get to. If it were me, I would go to the local auto parts store and simply add a few new grounds using universal battery ground wires.

My bet is, it will solve the issue.

@Minnetonka sells custom heavy duty battery and ground wires.
 
I've been all through this ski about a month ago and made sure everything was clean. Checked some more today and cannot find any corrosion issues. Where/how do I add extra grounds?
 
SaltyBones said:
I've been all through this ski about a month ago and made sure everything was clean. Checked some more today and cannot find any corrosion issues. Where/how do I add extra grounds?
Click to expand...

Large heavy wires, Ground - battery to the block and if you can get one near the starter you should.
Positive - Battery to the solenoid. If it cranks slow after that, you need to replace the cable from solenoid to the battery and or the starter.
 
Do yourself a favor and start over evaluating all your main cables, you're just guessing up to this point and not a single mention of actually getting a meter out and taking simple resistance tests on the cables.

Take everything loose and test from both ends of the cables using the 200 OHM scale setting on your DVOM, the 200K scale will not measure zero OHMS accurately a good ground is a circuit that measures 0 ohms.
 
ok...all grounds are good and verified. It will start on ether. So, apparently it is not getting fuel. The carburetor is a brand new part and less than two months. I did not change out the fuel lines when I put the new carburetor in. They are not grey. Any ideas on what to check next? Should I replace the fuel lines next or check the fuel pump, or what would you guys recommend? I read the rotary valve could be out of time possibly, but i would not have any idea how to check that.
 
with new carburetor did you check pop-off anyway? trimmed plug lines and checked plug boots? if fuel line routeing is correct then possibly split in the pulse line maybe but very unlikely and I doubt fuel pump diap. is bad. Even with out of time RV the engine will usually backfire or run very poorly at idle. Also out of time ignition is possible if the flywheel woodruff key is gone or failing stator maybe. And btw starting on ether is VERY EASY, I had a 1969 55hp johnson that had very weak spark that would start on ether but not start on 87 octane premix (problem was the stator and points in that instance) not sure what else it could be.
 
Update: bowl that houses the fuel filter did not have any gas. So, I'm guessing my problem may be the fuel pump went bad?

The stator and coil is now new as well. The ski ran great when I first installed the new carb btw.
 
There is a water separator. It is VERY common area where it sucks in air.

I would suggest using a remote tank with a line to the fuel pump. See if it runs on the remote tank. If so, then using the same line/tank, start working backwards at each fuel connection. At some point it will quit, this will be the location you have an issue...
 
Coastiejoe said:
There is a water separator. It is VERY common area where it sucks in air.

I would suggest using a remote tank with a line to the fuel pump. See if it runs on the remote tank. If so, then using the same line/tank, start working backwards at each fuel connection. At some point it will quit, this will be the location you have an issue...
Click to expand...

Is that what that bowl is called...water separator? Do i need to get an o-ring or something for the water separator?

How do I do this? Doesn't the fuel pump look like a cylinder and picks up the fuel from that? If so, I don't understand how to get it to take fuel from a remote tank unless i took it out of the tank and physically put it into the remote tank.
 
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You should perform the fuel system pressurization procedure spelled out in the Manuel it really isn't hard at all and will tell you if you have any leaks in the system (this may also prevent your ski from catching fire if you have a fuel leak). Yes you should replace that water separator o-ring has caused many a lean issues but that's probably not your main problem. the fuel pump is an integral part of the mag carb its the clear (or black on some carbs) diaphragm sitting above the carbs check valves. its so rare to see a fuel pump problem on these I still doubt it, but it is possible for sure.
 
It's easy enough to check your entire fuel line supply to the pump itself to rule out any issues, won't take you five minutes start to finish. A hand pressure pump works well to show you where any leaks are with a little soapy water in suspect areas but any handheld vacuum pump will do and you have to hunt for it from there.

Take the main line off the fuel baffle and either clamp it close to the end with a pincher or fold it back onto itself 180* a few inches and lock it in place with a cable tie, remove the reserve line and do the same.

Now you can remove the fuel line from the pump inlet and introduce 5 psi into your whole supply side using a hand pump, by checking all three positions of the selector valve you cover every possible point where the fuel pump can draw air all the way back to the baffle for any leaks to wherever you have clamped the lines.

More than half of the ski's & boats I work on fail this test somewhere between those points of entry and exit prior to a scheduled carb service, most times at the selector or filter housing seal as the other gentleman described.

~You can imagine the hassle it saves by finding and fixing that beforehand.
 
I have a bleeder and was would like to know if I could hook it up right there where the fuel/water separator is. Otherwise, I don't have a clue which line is which coming off the baffle on the top of the tank.
 
the baffle on tank has each nipple identified with "ON" "RES" "VENT" etc. its stamped right on baffle.


Rob
 
Ok...I see the "ON" "VENT" & 2 "RES" lines for a total of four coming off the baffle. Is the "ON" line considered the main line? Do I remove both "RES" lines? It sounded like there was only one "RES" line. Next...Which is considered the pump inlet line? Which line would I follow to figure that out? Thanks and sorry about the amateure questions.
 
Ahhh...I guess I could not see the "T" from my angle. So, I have the "ON" line and the "RES" line removed, folded over on themselves and tied off that way. Is this correct so far? Which is the inlet line that I hook the pump to? Is that one of the 2 lines coming off the fuel water separator?
 
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I'm getting 2 beeps followed by 4 quick beeps now. I've checked/cleaned the DESS connections and checked the fuses. I don't know what has happened. Any ideas?
 
I replaced the coil, stator, wires, and plugs so far and cleaned all connections I could find (this was done when I thought the spark was weak). It is not anymore.
I have scratched the fuel line pressure testing, because I do not understand enough about it to do it apparently.
I just installed a new o ring at the fuel/water separator and have a new sector switch and carb on the ski as well.
Fuel lines are black and from what I can tell, they look fine inside and out.
Took it to the dealership and $150 later, they provided no information.
After reading some more about the 4 beeps, it appears it may just be an alert to let me know not to leave the key on the post.
Not sure where to go from here.
 
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