05 Sportster SCIC running extremely rich

[Giligan]

New to the forum and looking for some help. We have had our boat out about 5 times so far this season, and it was running like a champ. . . until the 4th trip. We put about 45 minutes on the engine and then stopped to swim for a while. We could barely get the boat started and limped back to the launch.

We went home and pulled the plugs. The looked pretty rich, so we changed them on Friday night. Today we took the boat back to the lake, and it ran pretty good. Still a little ragged at low rpms, but much better. We stopped to swim for an hour or so, and same problem, boat barely got us back to the launch.

We just got home and pulled the new plugs and they are so rich you can't see any porcelin. They are just sooty dry black. Any ideas where to start? Is there an air filter or fuel filter we should take a look at? We put the NGK DCPR8E's in and gapped them to .030" so we should be okay there.

Could this be a bad tank of fuel. The boat was about 1/2 empty on our 4th trip to the lake so we filled it up on the way, and have had problems ever since. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :banghead:

 

[Giligan]

Was hoping someone might have some advice. I guess I'll just bite the bullet and take it in to a dealer.

 

[robin savell lloyd]

Someone will respond soon I hope. You have a problem that many of us do not know for sure. There are a few on this forum that know about the newer seadoo's I am not one of them. If I were to guess I would say it is your temp senser but that is only a guess as I do not know how this system works. The way I came up with temp senser is because I had a car that had a bad temp senser and it thought that the engine was cold all the time so it ran rich all the time and even worse when it warmed up. black smoke out the tail pipe. replaced senser and problem was gone. This may not be how this system works though so hang in there and wait for a more qualified response. :cheers:

 

[Giligan]

I'm just really bummed. We have a family vacation planned for the 7th - 11th with the boat being the centerpiece. It had run very well until this weekend. The closest dealer to me is an hour away, and closed today. Having a holiday this week will make things even less likely for a timely repair.

Here are some pics of the plugs:

 

[anthony spa]

just want to ask

is this a 2 stroke / gas onlycall local dealer and ask for the carb adjustments and check butt when checking count how many turns u turn the scruze in then adjust out to dealer specs if this dont work then at least u will no how to putt them back to the setting thay where at hope this works for u

 

[robin savell lloyd]

I do not think that this boat is going to have a carb. Probbly fuel injected with supercharger. :cheers:

 

[kustomkarl]

Ok, on the Super Charged 4-Tec You have the correct plugs and gaped to the proper gap. Are you running 91 octane fuel? Don't run regular (87) octane. When you changed the plugs, were you careful not to break the coil wire on the top of the spark plugs? Usually replacing the spark plugs clears up a lot of the problems. I would check all the connections on the harness for the different sensors to see if maybe one is not connected properly. You might have to bring it to a dealer to have them check the ECM,(Electric Control Module) for codes. The dealer can only see the codes by connecting it to a B.U.D.S,(Bombardier Utility Diagnostic System). Then the correct sensor can be replaced and the code cleared. Let me know how you make out.

Karl

 

[Giligan]

Thanks Karl. I just got off the phone with the boat tech from the dealer we bought the boat from when we still lived in CA. He suggested checking the the vein on the supercharger. He said that would kill airflow leading to the rich condition. I check it out, and the vein does NOT rotate, which if I understood him properly, means that the supercharger is likely still functioning properly and probably not the source of the problem. I'm going to call the closest dealer to me tomorrow, hopefully they can squeeze me in to at least check the codes.

It makes sense that it could likely be a sensor issue. I can't think of anything else that would be logical at this point. Thanks for the help, and I will let you all know how it turns out. We have always run 91 octane only.

 

[kustomkarl]

I know the 4-tec inside and out, as I own a 200 Speedster Natural Asperiated. I have a paper back shop manual at hand too, that indicates the you need to have the codes read.
I bet its the TPS,(Throttle Position Sensor).

Karl

 

[Giligan]

That would make sense. The closest dealer that works on Sea Doo boats is a little over an hour away. There is a dealer that works on Sea Doo skis/rideons about 15 minutes away. If I can't find an appt somewhere with a boat dealer tomorrow, I may see if they would at least do the diagnostic here to get the ball rolling. Would the system they use to check the codes be the same for skis/boats? I know I've heard of b.u.d.s. before, so hopefully that would be the case. Thanks again

 

[kustomkarl]

Just remember that only "Authorized" Seadoo Dealers will have the BUDS software. Joe wanna be won't have it.

Karl

 

[normmb]

87->91?

Ok, on the Super Charged 4-Tec You have the correct plugs and gaped to the proper gap. Are you running 91 octane fuel? Don't run regular (87) octane. When you changed the plugs, were you careful not to break the coil wire on the top of the spark plugs? Usually replacing the spark plugs clears up a lot of the problems. I would check all the connections on the harness for the different sensors to see if maybe one is not connected properly. You might have to bring it to a dealer to have them check the ECM,(Electric Control Module) for codes. The dealer can only see the codes by connecting it to a B.U.D.S,(Bombardier Utility Diagnostic System). Then the correct sensor can be replaced and the code cleared. Let me know how you make out.

Karl

Hi Karl,
what happens with extended use of 87?

Norm

 

[Giligan]

So no luck on getting someone to look at the boat. Earliest anyone could fit me in would be the 8th, the day after we are suppossed to leave on vacation. A friend mentioned giving some Sea Foam a try. After a disappointing morning on the phone, I headed out to the parts house.

I put in a new battery (the old one was okay but this would've been it's 3rd season, and decided we might as well knock that out with as much as we've been in and out of the engine compartment. Then I put a pint of Sea Foam in the fuel tank and put another new set of plugs in the boat.

Took it down to the lake for a spin, and she is running really nice. I ran it for about 40 minutes at about 4500 to 5000 RPM. Then when I got close to the launch I shut it off and floated for a few minutes. Started right back up and headed in. I just got home and pulled the plugs and they look perfect. :hurray:

I'm not getting to excited yet though. I had to go out by myself, so I got in and got out before things got busy down there. When my bro-in-law gets off work this afternoon, I think we are going to shoot back down there and try to put an hour or two on it and then recheck the plugs. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 

[seadooin]

Well............what happened ?

 

[Giligan]

Well............what happened ?

I'm still waiting for someone to head out to the lake with me, hopefully soon, or I may being going solo for the second time today. I prefer having an extra set of eye and hands around the launch. I'm on the West coast so it's only 5 o'clock here. Doesn't get dark here till after 9pm. I'm hoping to get out on the water in the next hour. The initial shake down this morning looks pretty promising though. I really want to put an hour or so on the engine so I can get a reliable plug reading.

We're getting ready to go on vacation on Monday about 200 miles from home, so if things aren't right I want to know now in order to save fuel and avoid any further problems with the boat.

 

[Giligan]

Second lake test of the day went great! We are thrilled. It is too dark out to pull the plugs to verify, but the boat is running so much better throughout all RPM ranges. I'll pull the plugs tomorrow afternoon when I get home from work. I don't know if it was just fuel, or possibly our battery could have been contributing? I'm stunned. Our fuel guage hadn't worked all year, and it is working now too.

So it looks like the vacay might go off as planned! :cheers:

I am going to call and make an appointment to get the boat in when we get home. I don't want anything else to go overlooked at this point. Thanks for all the help. This situation has been frusterating, but we've learned a lot about our boat in the process.

 

[Giligan]

:hurray:

I pulled the plugs the afternoon, and they look GREAT! Very relieved!

 

[kustomkarl]

That's great news. To get a accurate plug reading run it at full speed than shut it down and check the spark plugs. Don't let it idle down or it will give a false reading.

Karl