Agh! Why can't anything just go right and not fight me every step of the way?! D:
So I took out the rebuilt ski today for the first time... totally started off fine... but did not end fine...
The ski started up and ran on the trailer perfectly. Got it idling and warmed up for a few mins in the water, looking over everything and all seems well.
Took it out and it was fine for a few minutes and then I lost all power, idling stalled it, WOT stalled it, and anything in between did nothing really helpful but keep it running. So I had to limp it, feathering the throttle to get it back to the trailer the best I could.
Had minimal tools on me, so I trailered it and took the running ski out for some fun for the day. Got home, cleaned the running ski and started digging into the problem child... Pulled the plugs, first thing I see... water. :,( So I pull the water jacket head off to assess the damage... completely full! So there has to be a clog somewhere not allowing it to drain properly.
On the back of these skis it has a little water line that shoots a tiny steam out to show you have proper cooling system flow. Was fine on the water, didn't think anything of it. Well I pulled all the lines in the T split in the back of the hull. 2 of 3 were fine (mostly). The line feeding the T and the one running out the back to indicate flow, both ok. Of course the most important one that actually does the draining was clogged and hard as a rock. Once the line was removed the jacket drained right away. Replaced those lines...
Now to deal with the water that got into the cylinder and likely into the crankcase along the way... path of least resistance. Wiped out as much as I could, blew the rest out with the compressor and then hand oiled the piston and cylinders. Put it all back together and grabbed some fresh plugs. Fired right up, ran well, full power. Blipped it a ton until I didn't see any more water coming out of the back each time. Kept it running a bit longer to get it fairly warm/hot. Then pulled the plugs and let it vent the steam. Did that a few times.
I pulled the head off again and left it that way for tonight, freshly oiled it all again, poured a little bit of oil down into the crank and rolled it over by hand a number of times. Lightly misted with WD40. Hoping to have cleared it out as much as possible until I can take it back out tomorrow.
Expelled / Evaporated / Chemically Displaced / Lubed and hopefully protected a bit extra with more oil poured in. I've read that as long as you prevent rust or anything from setting in, you'll be OK even if water gets in the engine. And that the best way to clear it up is to take it out and blast it full throttle for a good bit to make sure everything bad gets burned off. That's my plan for tomorrow, put it back together and then take it out and go crazy with it, assuming it isn't taking on water still...
Moral of the story, check all your hoses dang it! Regardless of if it looks like it should be OK!
I threw a splash or two more of oil into the premix to not only help the break in, but help with this issue as well. Do you experts think I should do anything else, or shouldn't have done something I did? Let me know your thoughts, or if you've seen or experienced something similar and how it was addressed.
- A.
