Smoke from air box

[David]

I recently bought a '92 XP that has a '90 SP engine. It's gotten increasingly difficult to start, although it cranks fine. It also has the twin carbs from the original XP engine. One of the bolts that holds the rotary valve cover on fell out the other day while I was trying to start it. There is a slight gap since the bolt's not holding that corner of the cover tight. I'm thinking that this could be causing an air leak. The spark is fine, the plugs are new and wet with gas and oil (when it won't start). I also noticed some smoke coming out of the air box when it first starts. It'll also smoke from the box slightly if I rev it. Does anybody have any ideas what could be causing this? I'm fairly new to jet skis and completely new to SeaDoo's rotary valve system. If anybody can help, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks.

[Michael73]

I'm not touching this with a 20ft pole, sounds very difficult to me!! [img]graemlins/spit.gif[/img]

[Bryan Glynn]

You definitly can have an airleak thee - do not run it until you take off the cover, inspect the valve and cover condition (must be perfect), then replace the bolt.

[David]

There's one other issue I forgot to mention. The threads are stripped out of rear of the rotary valve cover. I'm not sure of how to repair this except to pull off the carbs, intake, and rotary cover and tap the hole or use a heli-coil. I wish it was as easy as replacing a bolt!

[Bryan Glynn]

That's exactly what you need to do.

[Bill O'Neal]

It can be very difficult to get a heli-coil in some of the rotary valve cover bolt holes as they are very shallow. We use Time-Serts instead.

[David]

Those holes are definately shallow. Where can I find Time-Serts? I also noticed that somebody has broken off the grease fitting on the PTO (the one under the protective cover). I'm going to have to get that out too. Does anybody know what size fitting goes in that hole? Does the engine have to be pulled to repair that stripped hole? If I pull the engine to do this work, will the shaft have to be re-aligned with the engine? Thanks!

[Bill O'Neal]

David, You will probably find it much easier to remove the motor to repair the threads, otherwise you will need a small right angle drill.
It is not a big deal to remove that motor. Keep track of where the shims are located between the motor mounts and bed plate.

You can buy a zerk fitting from SD parts, or match it up at an auto parts store.

Time-serts are sold nationwide at auto parts stores. They are very common. I get mine from a local bolt supply store.

A very small easyout will extract the zerk fitting.

[David]

Well, a friend came by and used a right angle adapter to drill the hole to re-thread it. The zerk fitting came out no problem with a small easyout. There was very little of the fitting left when it came out. I'm not sure of the size but it looks like a 6mm. Does anybody happen to know what size the zerk is? Thanks again.