1996 XP No Beep and No Start but Good DESS Post

[seadoontstart]

Good afternoon all,

I recently purchased a 1996 Seadoo XP. At the point of sale, it fired up immediately and beeped twice as normal. Seller mentioned it had not beeped once for him just recently, but it went away and suspected it was a DESS issue. Before taking it to the lake, I had swapped some fuel lines and just generally got it ready. Before taking it to the water, I had attached it to hose and ran fuel thru the new lines and once it again it gave the two beeps and started fine.

I took it to the lake to test it today and of course, once in the water, after attaching the key I have no beeps and no crank. I attempted to enter advanced diagnostics for DESS by pressing the start button 5 times (with key off), but received no beeps from this either. Once returning to my garage, I tested the DESS post for continuity within the MPEM and everything seemed to check out... including with the key on the post. I had tested the YELLOW/RED wire for the starter button which tested at 0 Ohms with it pressed.

Is it still possibly a bad starter button? Anyone have any other ideas? I'm not good at electricals, so I'm sure it's something obvious that I haven't checked.

As a side note, I haven't yet tried jumping the starter solenoid and the battery is supposed to be just about brand new, and gives 12V.

Thanks!

 

[DaddyLoafin]

the beepers are a common fail point and when they fail they work intermittently. But it'll still start and function normally when the beeper fails. Check the fuses in the back electrical box by the battery. When I bought my spx I had a problem where it would lose all power randomly and it turned out to be the fuse holder in the rear electrical box was make a bad connection.

 

[seadoontstart]

I'll take a look, thanks for the recommendation. Will update once the precise issue is located.

 

[seadoontstart]

I took a look in the the rear box. The 7.5 amp fuse was pretty corroded, so I swapped it with a new one. The 15 amp wasn't too terrible, but I swapped it also. Upon reconnecting everything, I am still experiencing no beep and no crank. At what point should I suspect the MPEM being shot?

 

[DaddyLoafin]

I took a look in the the rear box. The 7.5 amp fuse was pretty corroded, so I swapped it with a new one. The 15 amp wasn't too terrible, but I swapped it also. Upon reconnecting everything, I am still experiencing no beep and no crank. At what point should I suspect the MPEM being shot?

if you have the ability to try a known good MPEM, then that would be the way to go. But it could be a bad ground somewhere or the fuse holder itself has a bunch of corrosion on it and isn't making a connection. Electrical problems are the worst

 

[seadoontstart]

if you have the ability to try a known good MPEM, then that would be the way to go. But it could be a bad ground somewhere or the fuse holder itself has a bunch of corrosion on it and isn't making a connection. Electrical problems are the worst

I certainly agree. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that both of the bolts connecting the starter solenoid to the box were stripped out when it had been replaced by the previous owner and the bolts were free floating inside the box... That could cause issues... But also I noticed most of the connections weren't super tight, so I tightened those. As of right now, the ski will crank and run and the gauges will light up, so it could've just been the connections not being super tight or it could've been those bolts touching wires. I will still check grounds also, but if it doesn't happen again then we will know what it was.

 

[DaddyLoafin]

I certainly agree. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that both of the bolts connecting the starter solenoid to the box were stripped out when it had been replaced by the previous owner and the bolts were free floating inside the box... That could cause issues... But also I noticed most of the connections weren't super tight, so I tightened those. As of right now, the ski will crank and run and the gauges will light up, so it could've just been the connections not being super tight or it could've been those bolts touching wires. I will still check grounds also, but if it doesn't happen again then we will know what it was.

When I first bought my spx it would randomly die on the water when hitting big chop or boat wake. Turned out the main fuse holder was making a bad connection and needed to be replaced. The only reason I was able to figure that one out was because the first time I went to look at it, it was getting power but not turning over and the guy pulled the fuse out and flipped it around a couple of times. If I had never seen him do that I would of never figured it out.

 

[artr]

You should also check the bolt at the base of the ignition coil that attaches a number of grounds together. The bolt and the ring connectors on it have a tendency to corrode causing a similar problem to what you described. Clean them all up and reassemble to avoid a future problem