1996 seadoo gtx won’t go in water

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Jpwat

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Hello. I just bought two 1996 seadoo gtx a couple months ago
The ski I’m having issues with was basically rebuilt before I bought it.
New engine. Oil pump bypassed so now I have to premix.
Rebuilt carb
New battery.

1st trip out ski ran great until we breaked for lunch. After lunch, it would rev all the way up but not move, very heavy vibration. This lasted about twenty minutes and then started running fine again.

trip two -had the same problem symptoms for the first ten minutes, ran great the rest of the day even after stopping for lunch.

Trip 3 today - same problem symptoms for first ten minutes, ran fine until lunch. After lunch, ski would not rev past 3000 rpms and moved at a crawl. Would not improve and is still in that state.
I’ve pulled the pump off and there was nothing caught in impeller. Also changed pump oil while it was off. Wear ring also does not seem damaged, and ski will crank and rev fine out of water.

any ideas?
 
Sounds like cavitation, so you are on the right path. It could be an air leak around your carbon ring/ carrier seal. Have you tried riding without the seat on, and the PTO cover removed to see if you are taking on water?

I don't have a 96, but I came across this post which sounded similar, good luck!
 
I hVe not tried riding without the seat, and am not sure what the pto cover is. When I unplug it after the ride there isn’t much water coming out, if any at all
 
Hey jpwat, this is the PTO area usually a black or grey cover is covering the PTO can be removed by wing nuts if need be.







pto area.jpg
Please note this in not my picture grabbed it off another post for visual clarification of PTO area for OP.
 
I was on the train thinking this was cavitation until I read the part that stated it would not rev past 3k. That leads me to believe fuel delivery/carb issue.
 
i guess it could be both. I would imagine that vibrations and wave impacts could be affecting the seals on the fuel system and or the drivetrain, causing variable performance patterns. This could explain why he saw max rpm with no propulsion on days 1-3, then limited rpms on day 3.

In my experience, it is hard to diagnosis a small air leak on land since you cannot generate the same type if load and fuel demand. I have ran fine on a hose, just to get to the lake and fall on my face just outside the no wake zone.

Question for the experts, if the pump is suffering severe cavitation, is it still able to provide cooling water to engine? If not, could this trip any engine safety interlocks or high temp alarms, that would generate a "limp mode' or no run condition?
 
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If the tale tell pee hole has a good water stream coming out then it should not be overheating. Overheating is usually indicated by a loud beep via the beeper. If the beeper is functioning, you should be able to hear any indications of overheating.
 
Water is coming out of the small whole. Engine temp was 90 degrees according to gauge on the hour limp back to the dock
 
In the mean time I’ve bought two rave valve gaskets. To pull those off and clean them, but they were also installed new as well
 
My driveline appears to be in good shape
 

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Update, took the carbs off today and took them apart. They were both crystal clear. Will put them back. Still going to check and wipe up the rave valves, and also ordered a rectifier. If those don't do it I'm out of ideas.
 
Just looking at the carbs typically won't fix any issues.
You need to rebuild them with Genuine Mikuni parts and follow the carb rebuild sticky to the letter.
 
I bet your regulator is bad. I have the exact same seadoo, exact same symptoms (runs well after it warms up), and I tested my regulator as per the video in this post (>15V at 5500 RPM) and it was bad:
1996 GTX Surging and won't rev

Ordered a new one and I'll let you know if it fixes the issue. Supposed to arrive Friday.

If you want to be really sure the regulator is the problem, you can pull the red wire from the regulator, and go use the ski. It should run just fine--but it won't charge the battery. Reports are you can go for about 30 mins before the battery dies completely in that state.

Are you sure on trip #1 & #2 it revved up while running rough and producing no thrust? Were you going by sound or did you look at the RPM gauge? If the regulator is bad, you should get low RPM.

P.S. I wouldn't bypass the oil injector, but that's just me. They tend to be really reliable, save significant oil (since they inject only what's needed based on throttle) and means that you don't have to deal with premixing gas.
 
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mikidymac said:
Just looking at the carbs typically won't fix any issues.
You need to rebuild them with Genuine Mikuni parts and follow the carb rebuild sticky to the letter.
Click to expand...
The carbs were rebuilt before I bought them. Was just checking to make sure it was the case.
 
Lothsahn said:
I bet your regulator is bad. I have the exact same seadoo, exact same symptoms (runs well after it warms up), and I tested my regulator as per the video in this post (>15V at 5500 RPM) and it was bad:
1996 GTX Surging and won't rev

Ordered a new one and I'll let you know if it fixes the issue. Supposed to arrive Friday.

If you want to be really sure the regulator is the problem, you can pull the red wire from the regulator, and go use the ski. It should run just fine--but it won't charge the battery. Reports are you can go for about 30 mins before the battery dies completely in that state.

Are you sure on trip #1 & #2 it revved up while running rough and producing no thrust? Were you going by sound or did you look at the RPM gauge? If the regulator is bad, you should get low RPM.

P.S. I wouldn't bypass the oil injector, but that's just me. They tend to be really reliable, save significant oil (since they inject only what's needed based on throttle) and means that you don't have to deal with premixing gas.
Click to expand...
The oil bypass was done before hand. I think I was checking the RPMs. The sounds was definitely loud and it felt like I had an unbalanced washing machine under me.
 
Jpwat said:
The oil bypass was done before hand. I think I was checking the RPMs. The sounds was definitely loud and it felt like I had an unbalanced washing machine under me.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what mine feels like. Specifically, it feels like there's an imbalance or the engine is running rough, and if you let off the throttle, it smooths right out and idles correctly. Give it gas and the problem comes right back.
 
I put the carb back on. Now the thing won’t even crank. Just turning over. Im getting the 12v low message while trying to crank. Did I put the carbs back together wrong perhaps? Hope all this is pointing to rectifier. I’m waiting on one in the mail
 
Carbs can't really prevent it from cranking.

Put your 12V on an external charger, after disconnecting it from the sea doo. Let it charge up. if the rectifier is bad, it may not be charging the battery properly, but generally the behavior you're seeing is from overvoltage, not under. Your battery may just be dead. Hopefully.
 
Jpwat said:
Awesome! I hope so too. I’m very worried now that it won’t crank
Click to expand...

Is your 12V battery charged? If so, then you either have a failed starter, electrical problem, or some serious problem with the engine. Hope for the former...

Are you running an aftermarket starter? Those are *notoriously* unreliable. You need an OEM starter, potentially rebuilt.

Also possibly bad is the starter solenoid, a fuse, the start stop button, or the dess post. There are a ton of videos online about no start diagnosis.
 
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