Problems starting after roll over

[Jadams]

Hello, I am very new to PWCs and in fact just picked up a 98 GSX LTD about 4 months ago. I have had it on the water maybe 10 times or so and everything ran perfect until 2 weeks ago. When sitting at an idle, the driver leaned and rolled the gsx over and i jumped off. For about 30 seconds, the seadoo gsx was running upside down until the cord was finally pulled. After turning the wc over (the right way) there was about 3-4 inches of water in the bottom of the hull and we just trailered it up and drained the gsx and went home. When taking it out this weekend, it was not starting. After about 30-45 seconds, it would eventually start and only after becoming flooded. I've noticed it is running very rich and also runs very rough. The top end is there, but it will not idle w/o dying. If i start it right away (hot) it starts right up. If i wait more than 30 seconds, it becomes flooded again.
After checking the carbs and reading on the forums, i'm clueless as to what this could be. I'm still waiting on the shop manual and am too new at them to know where the adjustments are at. Because of the 2-3wk shop wait typical here, i'd prefer to fix it on my own if at all possible. Any ideas? Thanks ahead of time,

Josh

[stevepaulus]

If it was running upside down for that long, more than likely you ingested water into the motor.

You should have immediatley taken it to shore, pulled the plugs and cranked it over until all the water was out....then you should of rode it hard for awhile.

More than likely you have seized the motor from water ingestion..in my opinion anyways.

Pull the plugs, and see if any water comes out when you crank it over...but more than likely it's too late

This happened to me last year..someone pulled my plugs and sank it, and it sat all night like that.....i pulled the plugs and cranked it over until all the water was out, but i let it sit 2-3 days before riding it......ran ok for 2 weeks then one day it just upped and siezed.

[ June 29, 2003, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: stevepaulus ]

[Jadams]

Hey Steve, thanks for the response. I forgot to say that once we pulled it out of the water and trailered it, we did pull the drain plugs and cranked it over until all the water was out and it started up. It seems as though it is a fuel problem, just not sure if it's filter related, carb related, etc.. Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks

Josh

[ June 29, 2003, 10:46 PM: Message edited by: Jadams ]

[stevepaulus]

Sorry man, i should have bee more clear......i meant the spark plugs..

you should have pulled the spark plugs to blow the water out of the motor

[stevepaulus]

If you did ingest water and you cranked it with the spark plugs in it, you probably did some damage.....

[stevepaulus]

Let me try this again.......

If you flipped it and it ran upside down for 30 seconds, you more than likely ingested water into the engine VIA the carbs.

You should have taken it to shore, pulled the spark plugs and cranked the motor to blow all the water out the engine...then rode the piss out of it..

You more than likely have rust setting up in the engine if you did not do that.

Hope that helps........and that will cause it to run the way you say it is running...and if i'm wrong i'm certain someone will correct me

[Jadams]

That'll help for next time, but what about this time? Where i go from here is what i'm needing to know. Thanks for the help, for my sake, i hope you're wrong Anyone else?

[stevepaulus]

I hope i'm wrong too, for your sake.......but if i'm right at least a top end job, maybe lower end to.......

Hopefully tech support or Bill O will help you out with this...you guys out there? I'm sure they will reply to you by tommorro.

I'm not qualified to say this is what it is, but it sure sounds like it to me.

I'm sure you'll get a reply from them later tonight or tommorro....just keep checking the thread you posted

Hope all works out for you.....BTW, sbt has excellent motors and service at a very reasonable price

[Technical Support]

I doubt you have engine problems. Do a compression test and see where you are at.

I agree it's probably in your carbs, it's possible you stirred up debris by having it upside down so long, I would get two carb kits and rebuild them.

[cbeastwood]

If it was me, I would check compression first - spark plugs removed, wires grounded, giving it full throttle while checking compression in each cylinder. Cheap gauges are inaccurate, but can at least let you know if you're getting the same compression in each cylinder, which should be good enough in your case.

I would then remove the RAVEs and look through the slots to see if there is vertical scoring on the pistons that would indicate water ingestion.

From there, I would remove the carbs, take them apart, clean the little filters out, and put them back on.

Then, I would check the front fuel filter and see if there's water in the catch bowl. If there is, there might be water in the fuel tank, in which case...

...I would drain the water / gas out of the tank and replace it with fresh hi-test gas.

But that's just what I would do...

[Bill O'Neal]

There is some very good advice in the posts to this thread.

It is VERY common to flip pwc's in the water.
Not every pwc is damaged because it gets water in the motor.
A few vertical lines from water ingestion on the piston skirts is no reason to rebuild a motor.
After filpping a ski and ingesting water into the motor, if it will not crank over and start, tow it to shore and remove coil box cover and check for water. Remove the VTS cover and check for water. Remove the sparkplugs, cranking the starter motor until the water is pumped out of the motor. It can be very difficult to get it re-started sometimes, so go to the trailer if possible, where you can use a jumper battery if necessary. Take your time and do not overheat your starter motor. After getting the water out of the motor, pour a tablespoon of raw gas into the sparkplug holes and replace the sparkplugs. You may have to remove the sparkplugs and repeat this many times before it will actually start and keep running. When it finally will run, rev it way up, to suck the water from the bottom of the crankcase. Once you get it running, put the pwc back into the water and ride it for 30 minutes minimum, if possible. When you get it back to shore, remove the white plastic water seperator cup and check for water in the gasoline.

Josh,
You said you "checked the carbs". What does that mean?

[ June 30, 2003, 10:13 AM: Message edited by: Bill O'Neal ]

[Jadams]

Wow, thats a ton of helpful advice. Thanks for all of the replies. I'll check everything out when i get a free evening this week and let u know what i find.

Bill - what i meant when i "checked the carbs" is i pulled the intakes off and just checked to make sure there was no big debris around them and that everything looked ok without removing the carbs. I know this is just a visual inspection, and it seems i'll definately have to delve in deeper, was really just trying to stir up some advice from where to go from here.

Of all the forums i'm on (the others are car related) this is by far the friendliest and most helpful, and i've only been on it for a few weeks [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks so much everyone. :D

[ July 01, 2003, 11:26 AM: Message edited by: Jadams ]

[96xper]

Pull your carbs, take out the little filters and see if they are clean. Dry the carbs out, lube it up, put them back in and try that out.
You can also pull the head and take a look at the cylinder walls. Take a look at the pistons from the raves and see what they look like. Check your compression. Make sure you put new spark plugs in the ski. Make sure your rear and front electrical boxes are dried up.

by the way, its busy season for jetski shops, 2 weeks is the norm, some places are even 3 to 4 weeks.
Good luck,
96xper.

[Bill O'Neal]

Internally, the carbs are not usually effected much by a flooded bilge. If they get water in them internally, it will be from water in the gas tank.

[Jadams]

So... if the carbs are generally not affected by such (flooded bilge), and there is no water in the fuel, after checking the catch bowl, would it be safe to assume that maybe a filter is clogged, or a granual of dirt or filter is holding a needle open, forcing the a/f ratio to become very rich? I'm a little confused as to what could cause my engine to be flooded on the low end, and run fine on the high end when it ran perfect before this roll-over and i haven't adjusted anything.