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At the end of last summer they killed my jetski. It had an SBT replacement engine that was out of warranty. It sucked up lake bottom and blocked the cooling jacket around cylinder #2. I had no compression as the piston and rings melted at the exhaust port.
I took the cylinders to several machine shops to see if they could machine out the problem. No shop really wanted to tackle the problem and the one that did wanted lots o’ $$. So I looked to SBT again as a rebuilt engine was about the same price as I was quoted for the machine shop work and I still would have my old engine. So, I opted for the premium engine with a 2 year warranty for not much more than what the standard one cost.
So 6 months later I had my engine and spent a weekend pulling the old one out and replacing it with the new one. It wasn’t that hard, I took my time, I had a shop manual. There I was, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend with a new engine and guests to arrive shortly and NO SPARK. I thought I timed the installation correctly and would have the whole summer on a new engine, but NO SPARK. I abandoned the project to be with my guests.
Well, two weeks later I was back and determined to not let it beat me. I spent about 4 hours yesterday disassembling the electrical system, checking the resistance of the stator, verifying that the wiring had no breaks, sanding all of the ground connectors, opening then closing all of the wire connectors in the electrical box, then closing the electrical box that now looked ‘like an explosion in a spaghetti factory”. I still don’t know what the problem was, but I have SPARK and it RUNS.
I was impressed with the premium engine when comparing it with the standard engine I previously bought. Not that the standard engine had problems but the premium engine looked so much better. It looked brand new, it had a nice paint job, and no broken external mounting tabs. All bolts torked to spec without stripping. The engine sounds great but I ran out of time yesterday and didn’t get a chance to put it in the water. However, next weekend I’ll be breaking it in. Happy father’s day to me. The kids now have two years to break this one. Thanks SBT! :beer
I took the cylinders to several machine shops to see if they could machine out the problem. No shop really wanted to tackle the problem and the one that did wanted lots o’ $$. So I looked to SBT again as a rebuilt engine was about the same price as I was quoted for the machine shop work and I still would have my old engine. So, I opted for the premium engine with a 2 year warranty for not much more than what the standard one cost.
So 6 months later I had my engine and spent a weekend pulling the old one out and replacing it with the new one. It wasn’t that hard, I took my time, I had a shop manual. There I was, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend with a new engine and guests to arrive shortly and NO SPARK. I thought I timed the installation correctly and would have the whole summer on a new engine, but NO SPARK. I abandoned the project to be with my guests.
Well, two weeks later I was back and determined to not let it beat me. I spent about 4 hours yesterday disassembling the electrical system, checking the resistance of the stator, verifying that the wiring had no breaks, sanding all of the ground connectors, opening then closing all of the wire connectors in the electrical box, then closing the electrical box that now looked ‘like an explosion in a spaghetti factory”. I still don’t know what the problem was, but I have SPARK and it RUNS.
I was impressed with the premium engine when comparing it with the standard engine I previously bought. Not that the standard engine had problems but the premium engine looked so much better. It looked brand new, it had a nice paint job, and no broken external mounting tabs. All bolts torked to spec without stripping. The engine sounds great but I ran out of time yesterday and didn’t get a chance to put it in the water. However, next weekend I’ll be breaking it in. Happy father’s day to me. The kids now have two years to break this one. Thanks SBT! :beer
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