1998 Speedster with Broken Driveshaft

[lsutigre22]

I was running up the lake last fall (about 35mph) with three people in the boat. When out of no where a loud boom followed by one motor reving to redline ,8000rpm and the boat slowing. After turning the boat off, I discovered that the drivers side motor had snapped the driveshaft completley in two. The fracture is maybe 2 to 3 inches out of the back of the motor. The motor runs fine, actually with out any resistatance it revs too high and quickly. And the impeller spins freely too, by hand with the still attached broken driveshaft. I checked and there was no material found around the shaft or impeller under the boat or any strange sounds or damage to the impeller when spinning the broken driveshaft. Since this occured I parked the boat in the garage and haven't touched it. I did purchase a new driveshaft. What I want to know is WHAT HAPPENED? And then how do I fix it so it doesn't happen again? I have really enjoyed this boat, and haven't had any problems till this one. Help!

 

[kustomkarl]

You will have to remove the old shaft and inspect it to see if it had a bad shaft or maybe a flaw in the metal. Do you have a seadoo shop manual? here is an idea for you. You could join as a "premium member". As a premium member you can down load a authentic seadoo manual from the seadoo manual library. In the library is a variety of manuals for almost all years and models. You can view as many as you like on line as a PDF file, or download it and print it for your personal and privet use. There are operator manuals and repair manuals for you to do your own repairs on your seadoo. The repair manuals have everything from troubleshooting, repair procedures to winterizing. It contains wire diagrams torque specs and pictures for disassemble and assemble instructions. In the spec sheets it tells everything needed to maintain oil changes, spark plug gaps, carburetor rebuilds and impeller wear ring tolerances. Click on the "Seadoo Manuals" link at the top of the page for more details. If you need any help or get in a jam, we are always here to answer your questions too. Premium members get priority when it comes to getting quick detailed answers.


Karl

 

[lsutigre22]

Thanks Karl.

I have a shop manual that came with the boat. I am looking for some advise on both why this happened and how to swap out the driveshaft. The manual will provid ethe techinical data, i am looking for some tips, heads up, advise that kind of info, from somebody who been then there and swapped out driveshafts before. Plus am i doing something wrong that caused this part failure? Or can I just yet this go as one of those things that jusat happen?