Water in Motor need help.....

[Spindleton]

I have a friends Sea-Doo GTI-LE-RFI ('03 or '04 not sure). I left it tied to the deck overnight and found the rear of it below water the next morning. I pulled it up onto the ski ramp and pulled the plugs to let it drain. I then pulled the two spark plugs and found lots of water. I turned the motor over and got out as much water as possible(unable to turn the ski over as I was by myself).

I have it here at the house now and I've blown compressed air into it, sprayed a little WD-40 in it and was wondering if there's anything I can do to insure I get this thing started soon. This happened on Saturday and I'm afraid of rust really screwing it up if its not screwed up already. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Matt_E]

Re: Water in Motor need help.....

Since it happened Saturday, and you haven't had it running yet, I suggest you start looking for a rebuild and the means to pay for it.
It's safe to say the crank bearings are toast.

[1fastski.com]

Re: Water in Motor need help.....

crank it over with the plugs out { if possable have a friend help tip the ski on its side with the spark plugs holes pointing down } if not keep cranking untill all the water is out { dont kill the starter let it rest every 10 sec for a min } if you sank it in freshwater it should be fine BUT you need to get it running asap and make sure when cranking it over you have the spark plug wires grounded . when you get it running you must run it on the water for a good 30 min to dry out the bearings and fog the engine when done . i have saved many engines that were sunk for well over a week , iam not going to say thats good ,you should get them running within mins. you need to also clean all electrics in the ski that got wet .

[Bill O'Neal2]

Re: Water in Motor need help.....

After removing as much water from the engine as possible on land, not in the water,

Open all electrical boxes and spray WD40 into them.

Pour some fuel directly into the sparkplug holes ( a very small amount of Pre mixed fuel ).

Dry the sparkplugs and re-install them. (I use spray cleaner on the sparkplugs).

With a battery charger connected to the battery, try to start the motor.

If it doesn't start, clean the sparkplugs again and add a little more premixed fuel and try again. Sometimes this proceedure must be repeated over and over until it finally starts. It may take up to an hour or so.

If it starts to kick over, as soon as it starts to run on it's own, hold the throttle wide open until it runs cleanly.

Stop the engine and restart it a few times.

Launch the ski and ride it for at least 20-30 minutes at varying speeds, including WOT runs.

Note: to get all of the water out of the bottom of the engine cases, the rpms must be well over 6000 rpm in order to suck all of the water up and process it out into the exhaust system.

[Spindleton]

Re: Water in Motor need help.....

WOOT!! Thanks for the tips fellas. I got home today and went at it again and finally, with the aid of the battery charger,shop vac, and compressed air, got most of the water out. I poured a little pre-mixed fuel in the cylinders and turned it over. It started on the second try. I let it run for a few seconds and shut it off. I can't get to the lake until tomorrow, though. I thought I'd just start it occasionally, let it run a few seconds and shut it down. I'll head out there in the morning and run it like you guys said to.

Any other suggestions or things I should look out for?

Again, MANY THANKS!!! :emoticonb

[Bill O'Neal2]

Re: Water in Motor need help.....

Idling won't help it. Start it, rev it up all the way to the rev limiter and then it will suck all of the water from the bottom of the engine cases. Then go ride it ASAP.

[Spindleton]

Re: Water in Motor need help.....

Thanks, Bill. I rode the ski this morning for a solid 45 minutes beginning at WOT for about 15 minutes and then varying RPM for another 15 minutes. I spent about 5 minutes just idling around rock ledges to see if it would stall but it idled fine. It seems to be running great. I really appreciate the help.