Capt Propsmasher
New Member
Hi,
I'm brand new to the forum and have joined because I'm starting to hate my 250 Optimax (on a seadoo Utopia 205) and am thinking of separating from it....I was hoping you folks could give me a little "therapy" before I do that....
OK, here goes: I bought this boat 1 year ago at the end of the season and immediately took it out on a 4 day fishing trip. It ran beautifully the whole time except on the last day, it stalled a few times but immediately started back up. I figured it was plugs and put new ones in it prior to putting it away for the winter. I also ran it in my driveway before storing it and it ran perfectly (of course....). Fast forward to this year: it still runs beautifully in my driveway but it seems to have a fear of water...apparently when it's under load it has issues and stalls as soon as I start moving forward or backward. After it does that, it appears to throw a tantrum and won't start for about 24 hrs. But after 24 hrs....you guessed it.....it starts beautifully in my driveway....
I took it to Marine One to have him read the codes and it came up with a MAP issue, 1 old overheating code (has never overheated for me), and something about an ambiguous neutral starting code (I don't know....).
Here's what I've done so far:
1) rebuilt the throttle shifter mechanism to make sure the neutral sensor reads neutral when starting
2) Adjusted the throttle cable correctly per manual instructions
3) Put in a new MAP and TPS sensor and bought a new TPS to throttle body link
4) Put in a new fuel pick up tube and anti-siphon valve (this was definitely clogged so I really thought I had figured it out when I put a new one in)
5) Rebuilt and thoroughly cleaned the VST and seemingly successfully bench tested all three pumps, put in a new needle valve.
6) Spark test showed strong and consistent spark to each plug.
7) Compression test yielded no less then 100 psi in all cylinders and most were between 110 and 118 psi
8) Oh, yeah: the gas in this thing was lacquer brown so I removed 40 gallons of it and put in fresh fuel (91 octane)
9) Don't have a good adapter so I haven't checked air pressure yet. For what it's worth, I turned the compressor pulley by hand and felt strong compression from it.
10) Checked the fuel pressure today: it bounced between 80 and 100 and when I shut the engine off, it stopped bang on 90 but immediately dropped 10 psi and sat on 80. Does that mean anything?
I strongly suspect the pumps (high pressure at least) but really don't relish the thought of spending 1k on it if I don't have to. What do folks think??? Should I get a divorce??....
I'm brand new to the forum and have joined because I'm starting to hate my 250 Optimax (on a seadoo Utopia 205) and am thinking of separating from it....I was hoping you folks could give me a little "therapy" before I do that....
OK, here goes: I bought this boat 1 year ago at the end of the season and immediately took it out on a 4 day fishing trip. It ran beautifully the whole time except on the last day, it stalled a few times but immediately started back up. I figured it was plugs and put new ones in it prior to putting it away for the winter. I also ran it in my driveway before storing it and it ran perfectly (of course....). Fast forward to this year: it still runs beautifully in my driveway but it seems to have a fear of water...apparently when it's under load it has issues and stalls as soon as I start moving forward or backward. After it does that, it appears to throw a tantrum and won't start for about 24 hrs. But after 24 hrs....you guessed it.....it starts beautifully in my driveway....
I took it to Marine One to have him read the codes and it came up with a MAP issue, 1 old overheating code (has never overheated for me), and something about an ambiguous neutral starting code (I don't know....).
Here's what I've done so far:
1) rebuilt the throttle shifter mechanism to make sure the neutral sensor reads neutral when starting
2) Adjusted the throttle cable correctly per manual instructions
3) Put in a new MAP and TPS sensor and bought a new TPS to throttle body link
4) Put in a new fuel pick up tube and anti-siphon valve (this was definitely clogged so I really thought I had figured it out when I put a new one in)
5) Rebuilt and thoroughly cleaned the VST and seemingly successfully bench tested all three pumps, put in a new needle valve.
6) Spark test showed strong and consistent spark to each plug.
7) Compression test yielded no less then 100 psi in all cylinders and most were between 110 and 118 psi
8) Oh, yeah: the gas in this thing was lacquer brown so I removed 40 gallons of it and put in fresh fuel (91 octane)
9) Don't have a good adapter so I haven't checked air pressure yet. For what it's worth, I turned the compressor pulley by hand and felt strong compression from it.
10) Checked the fuel pressure today: it bounced between 80 and 100 and when I shut the engine off, it stopped bang on 90 but immediately dropped 10 psi and sat on 80. Does that mean anything?
I strongly suspect the pumps (high pressure at least) but really don't relish the thought of spending 1k on it if I don't have to. What do folks think??? Should I get a divorce??....
