white smoke

[jmukite]

I was riding my 2000 Polaris Virage in the Ocean a few weeks ago and after 30 minutes, it died. When I started it back up, it would only run slow. So I shut it off and towed it in with our other waverunner. I never saw any warning lights but I may not have noticed. The next day, when it was cold, I a ran it for a few seconds and it would rev up but you could tell something was wrong. It seems to have white smoke coming out for the exhaust.

The compression still checks out but I am wondering if this sounds like a blown head gasket? Any help here?

[Technical Support]

Re: white smoke

It could be a head gasket but there's a lot we can't tell without having the ski. What is your compression? What happened when you tried to restart after it shut off?

[jmukite]

Re: white smoke

I have the unit down in Marco island at a Marina that does not work on wave runners but because they have our boat they were willing to peak at it. their mechanic told me it had decent compression but didn't say how much.

I guess he also thought it might be a head gasket. When I shut it off, while hot, it restarted but wouldn't go anywhere when trying to give it more throttle and then would shut off. But for a couple tries following it would restart and act the same - each time with a puff of white smoke.

Again the next day, while cold, it reved up to 4000 + RPM's and could have gone more but I didn't want to try it while docked. It felt weak though.

I am going back down there in Novemeber and have a mechanical background with auots and would maybe want to give it a shot to fix it myself but I'd have to buy a few parts prior. Either way, I would tow them back to Chicago at that time. Or the mechanic at the Marina said he'd work on it if I could get them parts since they are not a Polaris authorized dealer anymore.

[jmukite]

Re: white smoke

If I were able to get the unit to you, what is the typical head gasket replacement charge? Are you in Clearwater?

[Technical Support]

Re: white smoke

Without numbers I can't say one way or the other what it may be. We do not do work on skis.