cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

[wendy]

this ski is a 1987 wr500 still in great shape , my problem is it overheats in the water and if I take it out and hook it up to a hose it ok, does not overheat. I check all the hose on this small engine there not much to check the only thing I think it may be is the waterbox but when I have it hook up to the hose the water come out the back ok so what can I do next if anyone can help.

[Bustoff]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

Sounds like a possible water restriction..

[David3aces]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

Head gasket has small holes for water to pass. These and cylinder head clog up and restrict flow. Fixed many doing this........

[wendy]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

guys ,but if I hook up the garden hose to the flush out hose and run the engine it dont overheat it only when I put the ski the the lake it runs for about 3to5mins. and overheats if you put your hand on the engine its very hot. Were does or how does the water get into this ski its not like. Iam looking around and dont know where it gets suck in from. If it is the head gasket does someone out there knows were I can go to get one.

[yamahawaverunner56]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

salt water or fresh water i believe it was stated earlier in this same thread the head gasket is clogged up with gunk take your head off and clean out the water passages around the cylinders

[skraggy]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

You can get the head gasket from SBT....check thier online store.Under gasket kits,scroll down and you will see them all listed separatly.

The water is picked up from the pump unit...make sure that that line is not clogged

[rcarpenter515]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

Wendy,

How did this work out?? I have a similar problem with my 1996 750 Kawasaki STS.

Thanks,

[wmsky]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

I agree with skraggy. If your ski overheats in the water but not when hooked up to via a flush kit, *and* you are running the engine the same in both cases, it seems most likely that there is a restriction or disconnect at the point from where it gets its water when in the water.

[yamahawaverunner56]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

not neccesairly it could still be a number of things i had that sdame thing with my 90 650 wra model i would run it on the hose and would not overheat as soon as i put it in the water it would go into rpm reduction because it overheated i took the head off for a hunch all my water passages were clogged up and now it run fine on both the hose and the water it very may be a restriction i would check that first if not that take your head off and check that and if you decide to do that ill even make a day trip out of it and come help you out with it for free if you need the help just let me know

[rcarpenter515]

Re: cool problem (OVERHEATS) on wr500

My problem is very similar to yours...my ski runs 5 or 10 minutes on the river, gets hot and shuts down. But in the driveway hooked to the garden hose it runs at idle for 20 minutes and is as cool as can be. But hooked to the garden hose the water is traveling backwards and taking the path of least resistance to get out, so something could be very restricted and not plugged and still cause problems. I've ordered 1 gallon of Salt-Away to dissolve the minerals in the exhaust pipe. I plan to remove the exhaust manifold and head and check it all out, then clean everything, put on new gaskets and replace all that I can of my existing cooling lines with Clear Blue lines from http://www.rivamotorsports.com/ so that I can see some of what is going on with water flow.