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1997 Seadoo GTX Slow Acceleration

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LoyolaCub68

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Hey everyone, I just bought a 1997 Seadoo GTX and it runs great but has a weird problem accelerating from a standstill. If I pin the throttle and try to really get on it from a standstill, the engine revs up to the rev limiter and moves like I'm towing a 300 pound guy behind me. If I let off on the throttle a little bit and allow the ski to gradually get up to speed and get on plane, I can hammer it and it runs great. I have got the ski up to about 54mph doing this. It seems to only have a problem just accelerating from a standstill.

I have read that this can be a problem with the wear ring. Is there anything else it could be? I have attached a few pictures I took of the impeller to this post. Thanks!
 
Don't see any pics.

That is bad cavitation. I would look for a leak at the carbon seal. (driveshaft seal) Remove the gray cover behind the engine. You will see the carbon seal.

1) Make sure there is about a 1" gap between the boot of the PTO, and the stainless ring. On some skis, thy used an o-ring to hold it in place. If it drys out, and falls off, the stainless ring will slid toward the engine, and doesn't put enough pressure on the carbon seal. The replacement is a metal clip

2) Make sure the carbon seal isn't cracked.

3) make sure the clamps are tight. BUT... don't make them overly tight, as you could crush the carbon seal.


If all that checks out... Put a blob of grease on the face of the carbon seal, and take it for a ride. The grease will temporarily seal up the carbon seal. If the cavitation goes away... it's time to replace it. (carbon seal, corrugated boot, and the sealing O-rings in the stainless ring)
 
Sorry, I have attached the pictures to this thread.

impeller2.jpgimpeller.jpg

This is the first jet ski I have owned so I don't have much experience working on them, but I do have experience working on cars. Are these types of repairs easy for a DIY?

Also, where would a good place be to pick up these parts.

Thanks.

Dr Honda said:
Don't see any pics.

That is bad cavitation. I would look for a leak at the carbon seal. (driveshaft seal) Remove the gray cover behind the engine. You will see the carbon seal.

1) Make sure there is about a 1" gap between the boot of the PTO, and the stainless ring. On some skis, thy used an o-ring to hold it in place. If it drys out, and falls off, the stainless ring will slid toward the engine, and doesn't put enough pressure on the carbon seal. The replacement is a metal clip

2) Make sure the carbon seal isn't cracked.

3) make sure the clamps are tight. BUT... don't make them overly tight, as you could crush the carbon seal.


If all that checks out... Put a blob of grease on the face of the carbon seal, and take it for a ride. The grease will temporarily seal up the carbon seal. If the cavitation goes away... it's time to replace it. (carbon seal, corrugated boot, and the sealing O-rings in the stainless ring)
Click to expand...
 
It's hard to tell from the pics. but the wear ring looks O.K. I would look for the problem to be with the carbon seal.

Lou
 
Yep. X2 on the wear ring. Looks OK.

It's not hard. take your seat off, and you will see a gray cover. Normally, it has 2 wing nuts on either side. Remove them, and the cover will slide up, and off. (there may be a little pin in the center) Then... you will see the driveshaft. Don't do anything, but take a pic, and post it. (close enough that all we will see is the boot on one side, and the PTO/flywheel on the other)
 
Here are pictures of the seal, tell mw what you think.

seal.JPG



Dr Honda said:
Yep. X2 on the wear ring. Looks OK.

It's not hard. take your seat off, and you will see a gray cover. Normally, it has 2 wing nuts on either side. Remove them, and the cover will slide up, and off. (there may be a little pin in the center) Then... you will see the driveshaft. Don't do anything, but take a pic, and post it. (close enough that all we will see is the boot on one side, and the PTO/flywheel on the other)
Click to expand...
 

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The seal looks OK... but can you move the stainless ring in a rocking movement? There are 2 o-rings in it, and if they cracked, you will draw air past them.
 
I will have to check this and get back to you, are you talking about the ring that sits right against the carbon seal? I should be able to move it back and forth?
 
Is it possible that the impeller is just worn out? It seems like it has more wear than other people's that I've seen. Acceleration is great once under way, maybe a problem with the intake grate?
 
The good news, if it were me I would clean up the impeller with either a dremel or a file, and reuse it. While you're at it, you could get by without replacing the wear ring, but I would go ahead and replace the wear ring also. I don't think either one is bad enough to cause cavitation.

You should also take a look at the carbon seal, and rebuild the drive shaft if necessary.

Lou
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lou,

If you look up earlier in this thread you can see that I did look at the carbon seal. I was told that the seal appears to be in good shape. The wear ring has a good amount of gouges all along it and there are the two larger gouges with chunks missing as I showed above. Maybe I am mistaken but I had been told that is usually where the problem is.
 
Sorry, I'm just going by what I'm seeing. The only damage I'm seeing is on the outer edge of the wear ring. I did advise you to go ahead and replace it. I'll refrain from offering my opinion anymore on this thread. I'm not a professional mechanic, but I have worked on mine and friends SeaDoo's for a long time.

Lou
 
Lou,

Please don't take my prior post as an attack. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and I appreciate your input. After having a little while to think about everything, I decided to go ahead and buy the carbon seal rebuild kit which includes a new carbon seal, stainless ring, o-rings, C-clip, and rubber boot. That in addition to the wear ring.

This is my first time owning a PWC and a think that there is too much water coming in the ski, which I have discovered can be due to the carbon seal. So since I have the jet pump already pulled apart, I figure I might as well replace all that and remove all questions regarding the cavitation issues I've been having.

Thanks!
 
Lou,

Just wanted to let you know I discovered what the problem was. The carbon ring did have a slight chip in it that I discovered only after removing the whole driveshaft. Additionally, we had been having an issue where it seemed like a lot of water was coming into the hull, this was because the boot was torn. You could only tell that it was torn after removing the whole driveshaft.

Additionally, upon removing the driveshaft, I also discovered that the shaft was bent! The prior owner must have sucked up a rope or wood or something. So I went ahead and purchased a new driveshaft, new carbon and stainless ring, o-rings and c-clip, and a new boot. She runs like a champ!

We had already bought the wear ring, so I'll probably save it for this winter when I'm planning on changing over to a new impeller.

Thanks for your help!
 
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