1996 GTI severe cavitation

[4Run4Fun]

I have a 1996 GTi. I just replaced the entire fuel system becasue of the gery fuel line gremlin. It ran fine for about a day, but now I have some extreme cavitation when starting from idle. The revs shoot to the max, but very little thrust is coming out. If you ease into it, it hooks up fine. Top end speed is also off, and you can feel the engine cavitating to a certain degree even at WOT on plane. I would expect high 40s, as thats what I was getting just a week ago, now it tops out around 38. I don't know the condition of the wear ring/impeller as I have not disassembled anything yet. The ski stays in the water tied to the dock. My boat gets this crap that grows all on the hull and drive from sitting in the water, and I'm sure its on the ski too. My question is could the brown furry stuff that grows on things left in the lake cause enough obstrution/rough edges to make cavitation a problem? I have checked the carbon ring, carrier, and boot and they seem to be sealing good and still in good shape, I even loosened the rear clamp and added a little pre-load to the boot to see if that solved the problem, but it didn't. If I am going to get into this pump, I'd like a complete list of seals to replace, so I can do them all at once. I'm pretty sure the wear ring has never been replaced, so I'll get that while I'm in there too.
Thanks for all your suggestions/recommendations!
Ryan

 

[kustomkarl]

Ryan, first rule of thumb...never leave you seadoo in the water for any extended period of time...things grow in the cooling hoses and block the cooling of the engine. If you have a large gap between the wear ring and the impeller it might need a wear ring. You might want to subscribe as a "Premium Member" so you can download and read the manual on the seadoo, operations and repair of the wear ring.

Karl

 

[4Run4Fun]

Ideally, I would not leave it in the water, but it is by necessity only. The ramp is several miles from the house. I have a lift, but due to the fact that it torques the dock sideways when lifted, I can only get the craft about 7/8 of the way out of the water.
I have considered joining as a premium member, and probably will soon, but I need to get this resolved before friends come over and want to ride!
If anyone has had a similar experience with stuff growing in the pump, or on the grate causing cavitaion, I'd like to hear about it. Either way, once I get the thing out and get it torn apart, I need a list of gasekts to replace so I can do it all simultaneously.
Thanks in advance!
Ryan

 

[4Run4Fun]

The one thing I was sure was not causing the problem - guess what - it was causing the problem. got the ski out on the trailer and looked in the grate. There sat about 8 inches of ski rope wrapped around the driveshaft. I am always very careful where I ride and we don't even pull skiers, so I was sure there was no way anything was sucked into the grate, but alas, there it was. Oh well, glad to have that fixed and for free to boot!
Thanks guys, I'll be joining as a premium member soon.
Ryan