2002 Virage won't start without appling the throttle at just the right time.

[sirdave4]

One of two things happen when trying to start my ski. The first possibility is when pressing the start button it fires up for a sec and then just dies. If the throttle is applied at just the right time it will fire up. The engine appear to be getting a little bit of gas and then getting cutoff (unless the throttle is applied at just the right time)? The other possibility is it won't fire at all and applying throttle doesn't do anything. This progressively got worse over the last few months where it's almost impossible to start it now. The last time i was out on the water, the engine started to miss, almost like i was running out of gas and then it dies. I was able to start it back up but the missing continues to get worse. About 8 months back i purchased a SBT carb rebuilt kit and it ran fine (no starting problems) until about 6 months later. There are no mods on the ski. I've replaced the reeds, rebuilt the carb, replaced the tempo fuel lines, compression is 150/148 for the two cylinders and everything checks out. The only thing i noticed it the fuel filter (which is in a clear container) doesn't fill all the way to the top? Not sure if that's normal or not. Is there a gauge that can be hooked into the inlet fuel line to the carb and verify there's enough suction from the carb? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Technical Support]

Re: 2002 Virage won't start without appling the throttle at just the right time.

Check battery voltage while cranking the engine over, You MUST HAVE 10.5 cranking volts to fire the system.

[sirdave4]

Re: 2002 Virage won't start without appling the throttle at just the right time.

It's definitely not the Battery. I've replaced the battery with a brand new one and charged it overnight before using. The Voltage does stay about 10.5. I noticed that the motor is starting to miss or sputter especially at higher speeds and sometimes just cut off. So basically, it started off with hesitation off the start (which is known on the polaris virage), then became difficult to start and now it's cutting off well riding. I'm not sure were to even start? The carb has been rebuilt, the compression tested on both cylinders (148/150), changed the gas/added fuel stabilizer, changed out the fuel lines (tempo lines) and replaced the reeds. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[sirdave4]

Re: 2002 Virage won't start without appling the throttle at just the right time.

Note:

When I replaced the fuel lines, I left out the fuel restrictor (between the carb and fuel filter on teh intake side). At the time, I thought it was just a link that connected the two fuel lines. One of the forums stated that might be my problem on the low end with hesitation but the starting trouble and engine missing happened at a much later time frame.

[sirdave4]

Re: 2002 Virage won't start without appling the throttle at just the right time.

Last night I pumped the throttle several times which discharged gas into the carb cylinder via the accel pump. Well continuing to pump the throttle I pressed the start button and it fired up. It seems like the motor isn't getting enough gas. I rebuilt the carb twice now and everything looks good (pop off pressure, etc). I also bypassed the fuel filter and on/off switch to eliminate any possible air leaks.

[sirdave4]

Re: 2002 Virage won't start without appling the throttle at just the right time.

I also tried to adjust the low speed screw but that didn't seem to make a difference. The stock setting is 1 3/4 turns. I continued to advance the screw at a quarter turn each until I was all the way out to 3 turns. It made no difference.