I recently bought a 96 GTI from a buddy who states it ran great last year. I bought it transferred everything over registration wise. Take it out to the lake, and won’t accelerate. Bogs down, smoking pretty bad, won’t go above idle. So I change the fuel filter, all fuel lines, oil injection lines, rebuilt the carbs, changed out the fuel selector, and replace the battery. Take it out this morning and it will not start. Continued trying to get it started. Battery died. Replaced battery, and now I’m home and it still will not start. Starter is not spinning, but it doesn’t sound like it has enough juice to turn the motor over to get it started. I’m extremely frustrated and am debating on junking the ski due to not having the time or patience to continue to fix things that I find wrong with it. No shops in my area will work on skis this old, And the wife is really pissed. Any help would be appreciated. Hooked the battery up to a battery trickle charger to see if I can get it going tomorrow. I have had no issues starting it on the trailer or connected to my garden hose but as soon as it goes in the water, it will not start. Any help appreciated.
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96 GTI Endless Issues
- Thread starter Josborn
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Take your spark plugs out and see if it will turn over now. If you didn't use genuine Mikuni carb rebuild kit the needle/seats may be leaking. Your engine may be hydrolocked. Also, if you kept trying to crank the motor and didn't allow the starter to cool off, you may have damaged your starter.
It started last night before I ran it to the lake this morning. I'm going to replace the starter. And check all the ground connections. I also have not gotten the two beeps when I connect the key fob. I did originally this morning, but not when I got to the lake. I'm afraid I bought a pile of junk. And I'm not wanting to put several thousand into the ski to continue to have problems.
Beepers do go out. You bought one of the most dependable motors. Make sure your battery is fully charged. Also, fully disconnect your battery when charging it. Sometimes the Dess post goes bad too. Clean the dess post and take a pencil eraser and clean inside of your key fob. They can be finicky some times. Does your gauges come on?
They do come on but no beep and I get the battery light. I just replaced the battery. I just pulled my plugs and they are wet. It appears to be with oil.
Main crank seals may be leaking Install a 1/2 " barbed shut off valve between the big oil line that comes from under the bottom of the tank to the large brass nipple under the rotary valve cover. That line feeds the rotary bath. After you shut off the oil, take out your spark plugs and ground the plug wires and turn the motor over until you've cleared the oil. I bought my shut off valve off of Amazon. Your local hardware will also have them. Look on youtube and there is a video showing this specific fix. I just did the same thing on a 2000 GTI yesterday. Oh yeah, the most important part....grab and old throw away towel and place over the spark plug holes cause oil will shoot 15' up in the air and rain all over everything!
LOL sounds like we been to the same rodeo a few times. LOL Good Stuff.
I'm thinking of buying a couple of bolts that screw into the spark plug holes. Drill thru the bolt and tap for 1/4" pipe thread and screw on a 1/4 fitting with a hose barb. That way I can connect a long enough hose and route it to a container rather than spew oil or nasty water everywhere inside the engine compartment when I'm trying to clear the engine. I fixed a couple of skis with the shut off valve on the rotary valve feed line. That reminds me I need to order a couple more just in case.
Well never run that long on the hose. It will burn up your carbon seal. I’d say your in business now, other than the carbon seal. Hopefully it’s ok. It will leak there if it’s bad. Change out your pump oil. These are the shut off valves I used on my ski. Depending on how fast your main seals leak, you may want to take a plastic hose clamp and clamp off that rotary bath oil line or it will fill your cylinders again. Once you get the shut off valve you won’t have to worry. When I buy a used ski, I always replace the fuel lines, the o ring on the fuel filter basket, rebuild carbs with genuine Mikuni rebuild kits, in that ski use the Seadoo mineral oil(never mix oils, would need to drain all the oil oil out. I bought a battery powered oil pump), I change the o ring on the jet pump nose cone and fill with new oil, the on/off/reserve fuel switch I always put an OEM one in there too. I drain all the old gas too. Etemplet, I think I learned all my tricks on here. I have a good bottom end I could swap out for my ski, but the shut off valve is much easier.
Sorry I meant to include it earlier.
Yes open when riding and close when stopped. Some people hang their Dess key on that valve as a reminder. Never want to forget and run while closed. Until the rotary valve comes in take a set of vice grips and put two flat pieces of something in between the jaws and clamp off the line.
Here’s a pic of where to install.
Oh yeah not my ski. Can’t stand one dirty.
The inside of mine looks like that. I've been debating pressure washing the inside to get all the nastiness out and let it drain
I use Super Clean on the inside of my ski. If it’s really bad I mix some Dawn dishwashing liquid and some bleach in a spray bottle and then use a toilet brush to get the tough spots. Here’s a shot of my shop. It’s like a maze right now. Five of the skis will be up for sale soon. 3 are my personal skis.
I have noticed that when I give my ski gas, and let off, it dies. Or it has done that since I tried to run it in the water the 3 times I have taken it out. I was thinking the carb needed to be adjusted but wasnt sure.
Make sure your ski idles around 3000 rpm out of water and 1500 rpm in the water
That can be set with the idle screw nearest the fuel tank on the carburetor correct?
Yes. I use this tach I bough off Amazon to set my skis RPMs.
Where does it plug in?
The red wire you wrap around a spark plug wire. The white wine you just ground it somewhere. Some people permanently mount these tachs. I just use for diagnostics
That one has a black wire. Either way it comes with directions. It’s very simple
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