My GSXL sunk, now the rear cyl reads ~95 lbs.

[JustplainKevin]

First it sank, then an hour later I had it running again and it seem to be ok. Later a friend took it out and after I went and pulled him in, he reported that it would run a little while and stop, then run a little while again and stop until finally he killed the battery trying to get it restarted. I feared the worst but hoped it was only a battery.

The next day I put another battery in and rode it very slowly(30mph) to the ramp(~1 mile). When we go in sight of the ramp, it started acting funny again but I was able to idle the rest of the way. The rear cylinder was reading low when I tested it last night. Now I have pulled the head and even the front cylinder has some scoring but the rear has some pretty deep scoring on it.

At first I was blaming myself for it sinking because it sank due to an exhaust hose popping off. a hose that I had removed while installing the sponsons. But, while trying to start it after the sinkage and even the next day it shot water about 3 ft out the exhaust and the exhaust isn't even pointed out the back. And When I was rinsing the salt water out, my helper mentioned that there was a steady stream of water coming out where I had never seen it come out before. This water was very hot even after what was coming out of normal pisser had cooled. The hole is under the VTS boot at about the 3 o'clock position. I now think that this was letting water in where it shouldn't(Not in the hull but in the exhaust). It may have shot out like that and blown the hose off.

So does anyone know what this hole is? Is it normal and I simply never noticed it?

When he described it starting and only running for a short time, I guess this was a series of seizures. If this is true, what are the odds that the crank or con' rod bearings got enough crap in them to be a problem? It feels smooth when turning over by hand and it didn't make any different noises when running. I did notice that the pump rattle more than usual, lower idle I guess. The cylinders are coming off later this week, how do I check the lower end? Finally, I thought that the PITA exhaust bolt was a socket-head, mine looks like a 15mm nut on a stud. If a swivel socket will not fit then it looks like the carbs will have to come off, any advice?

Thanks for reading this far,

[JustplainKevin]

Re: My GSXL sunk, now the rear cyl reads ~95 lbs.

OK, nevermind about the extra waterline. A quick look at a parts drawing and another look at the boat and I see that it is normal.

[Bill O'Neal2]

Re: My GSXL sunk, now the rear cyl reads ~95 lbs.

Buy the tool to remove that exhaust bolt from SBT.

The water leak at the rear by the VTS must be a dumper line that is susposed to be connected to a fitting next to the pump on the pump spuuport plate.

Your motor was probably siezing, not because the rollover or water flooding, but it was probably some dirty filters inside the carbs and/or a clogged fuel valve or an oil injection failure.

[JustplainKevin]

Re: My GSXL sunk, now the rear cyl reads ~95 lbs.

I have some more info. The carbs are gonna get rebuild just because I don't know when they were last but I think this problem was not their fault. I pulled the cylinders off and with everything else out of the way I could see what looks like water in the oil lines from the tank to the pump and from the pump to the intake.

I know that water goes to the bottom of a tank of fuel but does it also go to the bottom of a container of oil? It looks like the bottom of the oil tank has some clear liquid in it. The tank in my GSI is black all the way to the bottom.

When it sank, it didn't sink all the way to the oil tank and I have never seen any oil in the bottom of the boat. So I am pretty sure that the lube system doesn't leak. I don't know how it could have gotten in there unless the rain is leaking in thru the cap. approx. how much run-time would be required to pull water from the tank to the intakes? There was probably less than 5 minutes of run-time between sinkage and seizures. I had already planned to pre-mix this thing after/during this rebuild but I would still like to know how the water got in.

Any ideas what I can expect to pay for having the cylinders bored and new pistons, rings and wrist pin bearings? How do I check the health of the rod bearings?

What really sux about this is that where the front cylinder isn't slightly scored, I can still see the cross-hatch marks.

[1fastski.com]

Re: My GSXL sunk, now the rear cyl reads ~95 lbs.

topend kits are sold here on SBT with out looking i would guess 250 for the set . they also sell a ready to bolt on topend setup { cyl exchange } or expect to pay a shop 30 to 40 a hole to punch them , if you only need honing 10 to 15 bucks a hole . the only way to inspect the crank is to remove it . done any other way your taking a big change . the 951 is to easy to pull and rebuild the right way dont skimp on it .

you dont need to do both cyls if one is in good shape .