Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

[Ben in TN]

My 96 XP which has been a very reliable and fast ski for quite a number of years quit running on me this past Sunday. I was a little worried that a seizure had occurred even though I was not hammering it when it when wah wah wah and I tried to feather the gas to keep it running when I noticed it was trying to die. Anyway, after it came to a stop in the water I hit the start button and it went "conk" as the starter tried to crank the engine but, it just went "conk" that one time and then while I was still holding the button it let out one long beep and then it would not chirp when I removed the replaced the lanyard and wihout any chirp chirp it would not try to crank anymore. When I towed it to the shore I took the plugs out and could turn the pto with my hands without much trouble. After disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it several times it did start chirping again. I then took my ski over to a friend's nearby house and actually got it to start but, it would not rev up correctly. It's as if the rev limiter was holding it down and it did not want to rev freely and it would not rev over around 4,000 rpm while it was on the trailer and it kept wanting to die. Anyway, I brought it home and today I replaced the front gray box with a friend's stock front gray box and it did chirp and when I hit the start button it went "conk" one more time and that was it and then it did not "chirp chirp" for me anymore until I replaced the coil box and then it "chirp chirped" for me once more and one "conk" when I hit the start button. So I've changed out both electrical boxes and it's still doing the same thing and it's not wanting to go "chirp chirp" for me unless I disconnect the battery and reconnect it a few times. So I'm left with fewer possible things that could be causing this problem. My first guess is the DESS post itself and secondly the starter and thirdly the pickup or stator? Has anyone here "Bill O" ;) seen this problem before?

Ben in TN

[Dan99XPL]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

Did you do the basic test such as compression check on both cylinders? Check the fuel filters to see if they are clogged? Sounds electrical but you might want to rule out the basics.

[SHOOTER]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

Hey Ben,
good to meet you at the Norris gathering. Just pop the head off and look at your pistons to see if you seized anything up. Another way is to look throught he raves.
To check to see if its a starter or solenoid problem, you can cross a screwdriver over the two positive poles in the rear electrical box. When you cross the two, it should do 2 things: a) start the motor or turn it over OR b) not do anything. If it gets the starter going, then your solenoid is bad. If it doesn't, then the solenoid is bad $20 fix. If its the starter let me know as I am parting out a 95xp800.
SHOOTER

[jwood]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

Sorry to hear that Ben. With it just "conking", I would start with the simple stuff first, such as the ground cable and all connections. The ground cables are bad about corroding on the block end where you can't see it. I re did John's not long ago...

[Bill O'Neal2]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

Hi Ben,
These guys all have good suggesstions. Compression test, grounding cables, inspecting the clyinders, ect.
I might add that when a starter motor gets old it draws alot more amprege, as do the cables and solenoid do with age. Any one of those may be drawing too much amperage for a used battery to handle.

But, your motor shut down when you were riding it. That could be fuel related, causing a slight siezure, or it could be shutting off because the pickup broke in the mag housing or something of an electrical nature. I highly doubt anything to do with the DESS post or the start/stop switch.

Try installing a new battery, doing a compression test, see if you can get it started, clean the carb filters, test the solenoid and starter motor. But, remember just getting it running will not stop it from possibly siezing again, if something is wrong with the fuel supply to the motor.

Let us know what you find wrong.

Test the on off reserve switch when you have the fuel lines disconnected from the carbs.

[Ben in TN]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

Oops, sorry about taking so long to reply. The ground cable end that bolts onto the engine side had broken off. Thanks much guys..

Ben

[jwood]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

I'm glad it wasn't anything bad, Ben...:)
My GTXL laid down on me a couple of weeks ago..:( (It did seize..)
I haven't had time to check it out yet.


How ya been ??

[Ben in TN]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

I've been doing pretty good Wood. I actually went down to a friend's camp close to Clifton last Saturday and I partly blame all that rough assed water for breaking my ground cable ;) and this didn't happen until Sunday while I was riding on Normandy lake. I have Ussery's XP over here right now and am about to put in his Microtouch rev limiter since I had his box and my gray box removed. I wish we had a lake somewhere between us that we could meet at in the afternoons and get in a few hours of riding. It's sure been hot the past couple days. Anyway, I wanted to thank all the guys again for their troubleshooting ideas and I had actually done all that hard stuff except for pulling the head which I know isn't that hard. I do wish I had a battery powered ratchet for removing those head bolts though. I'm planning on removing the head shortly to get these Buckshot Magnum's dialed in a little better. I am going to put the 46 SBN's on Ussery's XP sometime soon too. I actually like those SBN's better except for maybe that last 50 rpm's I think the Magnum's give me if it's even that much. The Magnum's aren't letting my engine smooth out until around 5300 rpm. If I turn in the low speed adjusters it wants to bog off idle. I've got 140 jets for lows and 100's for highs and 2.3 or 2.5 needle and seats. So I really wish my ski had a bit more bottom end and water injection to the headpipe would likely help me out there. Does injection to the headpipe make that great of a difference in the midrange? I've got a jetworks valve going to the stinger and I'm curious as to how big of a jet I should be using to the stinger. I have the waterbox rave valve removed and the hole plugged. So I wish my engine started to cleanl rev starting around 3500 rpm instead of 5300 rpm carb rejetting or smaller needle and seat or possibly both? And what size jet should I use in the stinger and the headpipe is currently fixed jetted around a 120 I think or maybe a 110. Been a long time since I've messed with my ski really. It sat in my basement for at least 2 years and I never even winterized it when I quit riding. I hate to hear about your GTXL and I hope you get it fixed without breaking the bank. I wish my wife's STXR had footwells more like the Sea-Doo 3 seaters. Those short legged japanese engineers didn't design the ergonomics as well as I would have thought on the STXR at least they got the steering angle closer to a Doo's ;)
PS. I wanted to say hey to Shooter and I wish you'd been parting out that 95 XP800 a while back. I retrofitted my 96 XP with the 95 XP pump setup a few months ago. Oh yeah, does anyone know where to see installation instructions on a Microtouch rev limiter for a 96 XP? I've got my own box to go by which has one in it but, I remember something about determining the base timing that I think I need to verify before I set the jumpers. Anyone? Thanks

Ben

[jwood]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

Here ya go....

http://www.revlimiters.com/html/rev-...-download.html


Yeah, some water closer by would be great. I would really like some late evening rides....

I'm putting my 46 Novi's on mine now, and will be trying to get it dialed in soon. I'll tear into the GTXL once I get the SPX sorted out.

[Ben in TN]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

Thanks Wood, I knew it was out there somewhere.. Ussery's XP had the same 5 stamped on his as my 96 XP so I've got his box back in his ski and ready to put on the bigger carbs. I wish SBT would change this forum a little and put recently replied to posts at the top of the 1st page and not hide them behind the newest started posts. I'm still in need of a little advice on my Magnum carb setup.

Ben

[Technical Support]

Re: Old yeller laid down on me Sunday.

The first page is an attention getter, not to be used to monitor the threads.