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Bill O’Neal and Bryan Glynn, thank your for you help on my previous posts.
I’m still having some difficulty with my 97 GSX and I want to start from the beginning and then ask a bit more advice. This is a long post…sorry.
I bought 2 97 GSX’s new at the end of the 97 summer season. We only had one opportunity to run the boats at the end of the season and we did not push them hard because we were breaking them in. The point being that I don’t know if the problem I’m having was an issue in the very beginning or not.
I had the boats winterized by a dealer the first year. The first time out during the summer of 98 the engine water return hose on one boat came loose and pumped water into the hull. The hose clamp had not been tightened enough. I was riding the boat and by the time I realized what was wrong it had overheated. I shut the engine down immediately. I do not believe it seized. I towed (very slowly) the boat back to the lift and pulled the plugs. There was no water in the cylinder and after fixing the water return hose the boat ran with no trouble. This is the only time any sizeable amount of water entered the hull and the only time the boat ever overheated.
It was shortly after this incident that we began to run the boats hard after the break in period. We noticed that the boat that overheated did run quite as good as the other boat. There was no difference in the hole shot and midrange between the boats, but there was a 400 max RPM difference.
I spent a lot of time with the dealer that summer trying to figure out why the two boats ran differently. I told them about the overheating incident and they said it probably did not hurt anything.
One other difference I noticed between the two boats that summer was that the slower boat makes a “clicking sound” when slowing down from high speed. It does not make this sound when you just gun the engine, you only hear it when slowing down from high speed so I don’t believe it’s the engine. It is not terribly loud and there is no vibration associated with it.
The dealer tried a number of things that summer including installing the updated RAVE’s on both boats, checking the carb filters, and replacing the waterbox valve on the slower boat.
We pulled some gravel through the pump on the slow boat about two years ago. I had the dealer replace the impellor with the same stock Seadoo impellor.
I basically gave up on the problem after the warranties expired. This year I decided to try to work on the boats myself. After communicating with you guys in this forum I discovered that the high speed screws were improperly adjusted on the slower boat. I turned them both all the way in and I picked up another 200RPM.
At this point the faster boat will turn about 6750 RPM while the slower boat will only get about 6550. Other than this issue the boat runs great. The plugs look good and it starts up without much effort every time.
The carbs on both boats have never been rebuilt. I plan to do that this winter. I removed and cleaned the RAVE’s on both boats at the beginning of this season. I checked the fuel filter in the bow of both boats and they were clean. I checked the mag carb internal filter on both boats and they were clean. I have not checked the PTO carb internal filter yet because I did not want to remove the carbs until I’m ready to rebuild.
My first question is do you think some engine damage could have occurred when the boat overheated way back in 97? If it did, would you expect the engine to run so well in general and only have the max RPM problem?
I was going to buy a compression gauge, but Bill O’Neal said the inexpensive ones at auto stores are not terribly accurate so I’m considering taking the boat to a dealer and asking him to check a few things. Based on your comments and information I’ve read in this forum I was considering asking them to check:
Cylinder compression
Ignition timing
Engine alignment
Lastly, given that I have two identical boats, is there anything you’d suggest I swap to see if the problem moves to the other boat? I’ve seen some suggestions that components in the electrical system might be the problem. Would it be worthwhile to swap some parts with the fast boat? Which would you swap?
Any thoughts or advice you might have would be appreciated. Like I said, the boat generally runs fine. I know rebuilding the carbs needs to be done, but since there’s always been a difference between the boats I think there’s something else going on too.
Thanks for all your help.
I’m still having some difficulty with my 97 GSX and I want to start from the beginning and then ask a bit more advice. This is a long post…sorry.
I bought 2 97 GSX’s new at the end of the 97 summer season. We only had one opportunity to run the boats at the end of the season and we did not push them hard because we were breaking them in. The point being that I don’t know if the problem I’m having was an issue in the very beginning or not.
I had the boats winterized by a dealer the first year. The first time out during the summer of 98 the engine water return hose on one boat came loose and pumped water into the hull. The hose clamp had not been tightened enough. I was riding the boat and by the time I realized what was wrong it had overheated. I shut the engine down immediately. I do not believe it seized. I towed (very slowly) the boat back to the lift and pulled the plugs. There was no water in the cylinder and after fixing the water return hose the boat ran with no trouble. This is the only time any sizeable amount of water entered the hull and the only time the boat ever overheated.
It was shortly after this incident that we began to run the boats hard after the break in period. We noticed that the boat that overheated did run quite as good as the other boat. There was no difference in the hole shot and midrange between the boats, but there was a 400 max RPM difference.
I spent a lot of time with the dealer that summer trying to figure out why the two boats ran differently. I told them about the overheating incident and they said it probably did not hurt anything.
One other difference I noticed between the two boats that summer was that the slower boat makes a “clicking sound” when slowing down from high speed. It does not make this sound when you just gun the engine, you only hear it when slowing down from high speed so I don’t believe it’s the engine. It is not terribly loud and there is no vibration associated with it.
The dealer tried a number of things that summer including installing the updated RAVE’s on both boats, checking the carb filters, and replacing the waterbox valve on the slower boat.
We pulled some gravel through the pump on the slow boat about two years ago. I had the dealer replace the impellor with the same stock Seadoo impellor.
I basically gave up on the problem after the warranties expired. This year I decided to try to work on the boats myself. After communicating with you guys in this forum I discovered that the high speed screws were improperly adjusted on the slower boat. I turned them both all the way in and I picked up another 200RPM.
At this point the faster boat will turn about 6750 RPM while the slower boat will only get about 6550. Other than this issue the boat runs great. The plugs look good and it starts up without much effort every time.
The carbs on both boats have never been rebuilt. I plan to do that this winter. I removed and cleaned the RAVE’s on both boats at the beginning of this season. I checked the fuel filter in the bow of both boats and they were clean. I checked the mag carb internal filter on both boats and they were clean. I have not checked the PTO carb internal filter yet because I did not want to remove the carbs until I’m ready to rebuild.
My first question is do you think some engine damage could have occurred when the boat overheated way back in 97? If it did, would you expect the engine to run so well in general and only have the max RPM problem?
I was going to buy a compression gauge, but Bill O’Neal said the inexpensive ones at auto stores are not terribly accurate so I’m considering taking the boat to a dealer and asking him to check a few things. Based on your comments and information I’ve read in this forum I was considering asking them to check:
Cylinder compression
Ignition timing
Engine alignment
Lastly, given that I have two identical boats, is there anything you’d suggest I swap to see if the problem moves to the other boat? I’ve seen some suggestions that components in the electrical system might be the problem. Would it be worthwhile to swap some parts with the fast boat? Which would you swap?
Any thoughts or advice you might have would be appreciated. Like I said, the boat generally runs fine. I know rebuilding the carbs needs to be done, but since there’s always been a difference between the boats I think there’s something else going on too.
Thanks for all your help.
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