STX-15 recall

[squared]

A cooling hose from the pump popped off of my ski. It filled with water and almost sank. If you have one, make sure you check all the hoses, particularly back near the pump housing inside the hull to see if they are tight.

[squared]

Swamped 4 stroke fix

I'm posting this to help anyone who may have experienced the same problem I had with my 2004 STX-15F Kawasaki. A pressure hose popped off the barb back near the pump housing and flooded my ski. I have submerged 2-strokes before and used a similar procedure with no problems, but did not know how it would work on a 4-stroke. I bought a manual, but the factory repair manual stinks for giving any theory of operation. Anyway here's what I did and it's running fine for now.

This happened 200 miles from home, so I couldn't immediately take it home to do the fix. It happened in brackish water (Currituck Sound, VA). The ski sat in the water completely swamped for about 1 hour while I retrieved my truck and trailer to pull it out.

- After pulling it out of the water, open both drain plugs to drain the water.
- Towed it to the nearest Advance auto parts store (~2 hours after pulling it out of water)
- Pulled all plugs, cranked engine over to empty water from cylinders
- Removed air box, detached hose from throttle body, tilted ski toward back end to get all water to run out of the intake manifold. (STX-15 has a drain screw, but did not know it at the time)
- Bought oil, can of "sea foam", PB blaster.
- Poured 1/2 can of sea foam into the crankcase to bond with the water in the oil.
- After clearing the cylinder, poured oil into the cylinder and spun the engine over with spark plugs out and a rag over top the engine to cut down on the spray. I was hoping to displace any water on the cylinder walls with oil.
- Squirted some PB Blaster into the cylinder, left plugs out and put the seat on.
- Two days later back home - Used compressed air and gun with a rag over the plug holes. Blew compressed air into the plug hole to force water out of the exhaust manifold and pipe. Spun engine over and repeated to ensure all cylinders clear. Blew compressed air into the intake manifold. Sprayed PB blaster in cylinder to protect the bore.
- Using a MitiVac vacuum pump, drained oil/water/seafoam out of the crankcase. Let ski sit nose low for a couple hours to get everything to run to the dipstick bottom, re-vacummed out the remainder of oil/water.
- Refilled crankcase with oil and moderate amount of "sea foam".
- Reinstalled plugs, but engine would not start. Removed storage box (near handlebars) and then removed the fuel pump from the tank. Drained all gas/wiped tank clean on inside bottom. Refilled with fresh gas.
- Engine started, (With the help of Carb cleaner sprayed into manifold) but one cylinder was not firing. (evidenced by running the engine and pulling each plug wire out with insulated pliers to find the "dead cylinder").
- Thought it was an injector, since the wire was sparking, but the cylinder was dead. Holding finger over plug hole while cranking confirmed good compression (no serious engine damage do to hydraulic lock).
- Swapped injector with a good cylinder, no change.
- Swapped spark plug with a good cylinder, had a dead plug. Cleaned plug, but no good. Probably a broken insulator from the hydraulic lock.
- Autozone didn't have dual tip plug, so bought single tip plugs instead and replaced them all.
- Engine fired up and ran 4.0. Ran engine at idle for 15 to 20 minutes. (did not want to run at high rpm with water in oil.) Oil still milky.
- Changed oil and filter again, added a small amount of "sea foam". Restored pump hose to barb, and tightened every hose clamp on ski.
- Started and ran ski, oil less milky. Took to the bay to run at higher RPM.
- Ran ski for 2 hours, low rpm for first 20 minutes, then mid to high rpm.
- Checked oil and the "milky" tint was gone. I assume that since the ski has an oil cooler, it needs to run at higher rpm to "boil" the water out of the oil. Sea Foam probably helped some.
- Time will tell as to whether the bearings are damaged or not, but good compression, and it runs just as good as it did before the swamping.
- I plan on changing the oil one more time before riding it again.

[adrenilinpwrspts]

Re: STX-15 recall

Great job!! The only thing I would do differently is to not leave the plugs out,you are just helping the oxygen/rust process...

[Jetskibaru]

Re: 2004 STX-15 capsized

I am looking for help from experienced riders. My STX 15F capsized last week. I am trying to drain the water out from the intake manifold, as I found water and oil in the air filter box. But I do not know where is the drain plug of the intake manifold. I also have problem removing the oil filter cartridge using the cap wrench. The wrench keep slipping against the cartridge. I tightened that with a cap wrench during last oil change. Please advise how to drain the water out from the intake manifold and how to remove the tight oil filter cartridge. Where is the loose hose that swamped the jetski? Thank you.

[squared]

Re: STX-15 recall

The nut for draining the intake manifold is under the throttle body. If you take the hose off leading from the throttle body to the filter box, you can feel it under the throttle body. I had pretty good success just tilting the back end of the ski down, and then using a hand operated vacuum pump to drain out the water. I've attached a photo with an arrow pointing to the drain screw.

The filter on these engines is smaller than what is on automobiles, when all else fails, I have driven a screwdriver through filters to get them off. Never did it on a jet ski.

The hose that came off on mine was the port line coming off the pump. There are four hoses that exit near the pump area, the two big ones near top center are for bilge drains, the smaller hoses below those are the pump lines. I've attached a photo with an arrow pointing to the one that came off (near muffler).

Also, previous responder stated that leaving the plugs out until flush procedure may contribute to corrosion. I thought about this, but figured there was a good chance that a valve was open on at least three of the four cylinders, and leaving the plugs out probably wouldn't make a difference.

[Jetskibaru]

STX 15F capsized

Tnank you for the great information you posted. I followed the recommended steps and I was lucky to find no water in the cylinders or intake manifold. There is only some water in the air filter box mixed with some oil which I think is from the oil tank (part number 52001-3738) at the left hand top near the air filter case. I reinstalled everything and started the engine for few minutes (with water hose connected) but I wonder why there is no water flowing out from the water bypass outlet. Why is it so and what can be done to solve thye problem.