• This site contains eBay affiliate links for which Sea-Doo Forum may be compensated.

1996 Seadoo GTX 787 losing a cylinder? Cant find pressure leak!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Needs to align the Sleeve Ports to the Block Ports also...

In the video, the Guy just slides them in but is not even wearing gloves to grab the Sleeve and rotate it for Port alignment.
 
Thanks for the info on sleeve. On another note... just pulled jug off. Im going to get clearance checked by a pro to see where that stands. Maybe that was the issue like you mentioned.

 
Alright....dropped off cylinder to get checked... Its in spec with what WSM lists. The shops only suggestion was improper warm up potentially, or wasn't cooling properly... So I'm at a loss here still. I guess rebuild and pressure test, measure oil output? and go from there?
 
What I am seeing is a hot spot on the piston and cylinder wall. Something is heating up that area enough to gall the aluminum and melt it into your cylinder wall.
I don’t think it’s a water flow cooling issue as the other cylinder, and about 3/4 of this cylinder is fine. There would probably be more uniform damage if overheated.
It looks to me like a tight spot in the cylinder causing friction heating in one spot. I’m shooting in the dark here, but It’s possible your lower cases are deformed and as soon as you bolt your good cylinder down it pulls the cylinder out of round. Is it possible to check the clearances when the jug is torqued in place? Piston removed of course.
Also, I haven’t seen where you replaced the oil pump and check valves. This damage could also be caused by lack of lubrication. Although not a common issue, I would do that or run premix for the next break-in. I personally run 1/75 premix or so all the time in addition to the oil pump. Cheap insurance and unlikely to cause harm.
The fact that this is a reoccurring issue and you’ve already done the obvious stuff would lead me to start looking at other, more strange root causes.
 
Last edited:
What I am seeing is a hot spot on the piston and cylinder wall. Something is heating up that area enough to gall the aluminum and melt it into your cylinder wall.
I don’t think it’s a water flow cooling issue as the other cylinder, and about 3/4 of this cylinder is fine. There would probably be more uniform damage if overheated.
It looks to me like a tight spot in the cylinder. I’m shooting in the dark here, but It’s possible your lower cases are deformed and as soon as you bolt your good cylinder down it pulls the cylinder out of round. Is it possible to check the clearances when the jug is torqued in place? Piston removed of course.
Also, I haven’t seen where you replaced the oil pump. Although not a common issue, I would do that or run premix for the next break-in. I personally run 1/75 premix or so
The fact that this is a reoccurring issue and you’ve already done the obvious stuff would lead me to believe
Thanks man. Just weird the oil would pump fine on the other side right? Going to replace both of the little oil lines to be on the safe side. Yeah and I'll premix first tank as well. Interesting theory on cases being deformed.... I hate that you just suggested that LOL now I'm thinking about it.

Also... I'll have to get a picture but the shop pointed out the base of the cylinder on the back side almost looks like it had a little slant in one spot... So minor but you could kind of see something. Like instead of perfectly straight it almost angled inside lip to outside lip a bit... Weird. That would be more of a pressure test fail spot though I would imagine if it's not sealing. Anyway getting machining done will report back later.
 
Well I finally got the piston in for an autopsy with a two-stroke expert. After he was a finished with his metallurgy analysis lol, he is confident it's an oiling issue in this case. He also agrees that the mikuni oil pumps are bulletproof but there could be a restriction or something causing the oiling issue. So next step is testing flow output to verify. Will report back. Also if anyone found an easy way to maintain 1500 RPMs when bench testing pump let me know. I assume find a drill that has that output....
 
Most drills have a two speed gearbox where low speed would be close to 1,500 rpm. If not just run it at 1/3 speed. A common single speed drill runs at 4,000 rpm wide open.
 
Just did oil pump bench test for fun while waiting for parts. 5 minutes at 1500rpm. 10ml each side. Not surprises there i suppose.... Mikuni oil pump working lol. Both check valves held vacuum as well. Vacuumed to 5psi. PXL_20230624_010136142.jpg
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20230624_010128381.jpg
    PXL_20230624_010128381.jpg
    184.3 KB · Views: 6
Last edited:
Hey @mikidymac . How do you like the look of this chamfer. Better?
 

Attachments

  • PXL_20230701_041911148.jpg
    PXL_20230701_041911148.jpg
    233.7 KB · Views: 5
  • PXL_20230701_041918830.jpg
    PXL_20230701_041918830.jpg
    151.9 KB · Views: 6
  • PXL_20230701_041928079.jpg
    PXL_20230701_041928079.jpg
    246.8 KB · Views: 6
  • PXL_20230701_042014708.jpg
    PXL_20230701_042014708.jpg
    267.6 KB · Views: 6
  • PXL_20230701_042024761.jpg
    PXL_20230701_042024761.jpg
    269.5 KB · Views: 6
Alright motor is back together. Just did pressure test and failed.

Before I took it apart to rebuild top end, it had a slow pressure draw down but couldn't pinpoint it. So now it's all rebuilt and put back together and it has the same pressure loss somewhere. Been soaking this thing in soapy water, even using inspection camera to watch behind the motor can't seem to find any bubbles. Sprayed the pressure tester as well of course....nothing there. Being that the cylinder keeps having issues (4th piston).... Do I need to be looking at a crank seal inspection? So annoyed but maybe that's been the source of the problems?
 
Make sure you check the oil fittings for the rotary cavity to see if the crank seals are leaking into it. I put a bubble of soap over them and see if they blow up from the pressure test.
At this point you are going to have to find that leak and probably should pull the engine to find it.
 
"Make sure you check the oil fittings for the rotary cavity to see if the crank seals are leaking into it"

Talking about the little oil injection lines fittings? Sorry if that a dumb question lol
 
Air could be leaking into the RV cavity, if you block the nipple for the RV and the vent nipple at the back for the RV and it stops your air leak you will know it’s one of the inner oil seals
 
Burt do you just pinch off the lines? Was trying to but might need some bigger pinchers mine were slipping off.
 
I have a mityvac and it comes with these rubber caps of all different sizes. I used those. I have 2 hose pinchers but I don’t trust them.
 
Sweet they got those in stock near me! That's my next test. I'm jumping the gun here but if it holds pressure after doing that what is my next step....
 
What are you testing right now? The RV cavity or are you testing the bottom and top
End through the pulse nipple and now blocking the RV oil lines to see if it will stop
Losing pressure?
 
What are you testing right now? The RV cavity or are you testing the bottom and top
End through the pulse nipple and now blocking the RV oil lines to see if it will stop
Losing pressure?
No I'll grab some tomorrow to test. I'm pumping through pulse line to pressurize.... Was going to block the rotary oil lines in and out amd then see if pressure keeps dropping?
 
No I'll grab some tomorrow to test. I'm pumping through pulse line to pressurize.... Was going to block the rotary oil lines in and out amd then see if pressure keeps dropping?
Personally I would just test the RV cavity. If you block off those RV lines and pressurize through the pulse you will still lose pressure until the rv cavity gets to the same pressure which may take a minute or 2. If you determine from your testing that it’s the inner crank seals leaking then you could instal a shut off valve on the oil line to the RV cavity and turn it off while the machine is not in use. The inner oil seals leaking will not cause the engine to run lean., You could also put ballons over those oil line fittings. If the leak is coming from somewhere else you will need to find it, leaking from outer oil seals or the crankcase mating surface will cause a lean issue.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top