I am wondering if part of my cavitation issue during acceleration from stopping is being contributed to by the solis curved Leading Edge blade on the impeller. I understand that most sit down watercraft will tend to over rev and maybe cavitate a small amount before they get up to speed. But I'm wondering if the design of this Solis impeller that came with this used jet ski could be part of the problem? The stock impeller is a straight blade at the front and rear ends of the blade. The gap between the blade and the wear ring is within spec, and I also added a neoprene gasket between the pump housing and the nozzle housing, even though for some reason it was not shown in Sea-Doo parts list for this watercraft. I just wanted to get some opinions on this, before I go to the trouble of swapping out the impeller back to the stock impeller with the straight Leading Edge blades.
96 GTX cavitation solas
- Thread starter Jetskiron
- Start date
I'm by no means and expert on impellers but anytime I have a rev limiter on launch I look for a problem and generally find one. Perhaps your new impeller doesn't have the correct pitch for the application. You could also have "not enough" tension on the water seal. That will cavitate the pump in an instant. Good Luck !!
kenneth.mccoy1
Member
Do you know the last time the carbon seal was replaced if it has one? When the rubber boot that the carbon seal sits in gets old sometimes it can allow air to get into the pump resulting in cavitation
Wow great advice people. I'll see if I can increase the torque on those water seal bolts without stripping them LOL.
Reboot over the carbon seal looks good from the top, but I didn't think to look at the bottom part with the mirror. So now I'm thinking that maybe if I flood the hole with water above that boot, and if that solves the cavitation problem, then that would tell me that it's sucking air from that boot? The spring tension on that carbon seal is pretty comparable to another Sea-Doo that I have that does not have a cavitation problem. How do you know if the carbon seal itself is too worn?
Reboot over the carbon seal looks good from the top, but I didn't think to look at the bottom part with the mirror. So now I'm thinking that maybe if I flood the hole with water above that boot, and if that solves the cavitation problem, then that would tell me that it's sucking air from that boot? The spring tension on that carbon seal is pretty comparable to another Sea-Doo that I have that does not have a cavitation problem. How do you know if the carbon seal itself is too worn?
Wow great advice people. I'll see if I can increase the torque on those water seal bolts without stripping them LOL.
The boot over the carbon seal looks good from the top, but I didn't think to look at the bottom part with the mirror. So now I'm thinking that maybe if I flood the hole with water above that boot, and if that solves the cavitation problem, then that would tell me that it's sucking air from that boot? The spring tension on that carbon seal is pretty comparable to another Sea-Doo that I have that does not have a cavitation problem. How do you know if the carbon seal itself is too worn?
The boot over the carbon seal looks good from the top, but I didn't think to look at the bottom part with the mirror. So now I'm thinking that maybe if I flood the hole with water above that boot, and if that solves the cavitation problem, then that would tell me that it's sucking air from that boot? The spring tension on that carbon seal is pretty comparable to another Sea-Doo that I have that does not have a cavitation problem. How do you know if the carbon seal itself is too worn?
DaddyLoafin
Active Member
cavitation on takeoff and more water than normal in the hull
kenneth.mccoy1
Member
If it’s the original rubber boot with that ski and you have the pump off it wouldn’t hurt to change it out, I think a whole kit is about $60 from Bay Area Powersports on eBay, the boot from them is very good
Popps, hopefully I can get the ski in the water and try your test this week. In the meantime, I compared the tension on the Water Seal with this jet ski to the tension on the Water Seal with my 1998 Sea-Doo XP Limited, and the tension on this 96 Seadoo GTX was quite a bit less. In looking at the parts list, I do not see a spring giving the tension, it looks like all of the tension would be in the rubber Water Seal itself? Would anyone have a link to that whole kit on eBay? What search phrase would I use to find that listing on eBay?
Actually what Popps is saying, would explain why the hull had about 5 gallons of water in it after I could only idle the watercraft back to the launch for about 3/4 of a mile? But then, with all of that water in the bottom of the boat covering the drive shaft, then the drive shaft could not have been sucking air through the boot, and that should have ended the cavitation, right?
DaddyLoafin
Active Member
Be careful with stuff on eBay and bay area powersports specifically. I've seen the boots be too small when brand new to make a seal and there's an 1/8-inch gap between the carbon and the top hat. Its an awful feeling spending all that time, money and effort fixing something only to find out you have to do it all over again because of crappy parts.
sense your going to be there anywase, order some new drive shaft bumpers as well. there like $5
DaddyLoafin
Active Member
Well, I was able to tighten the bolts about 1/8 of a turn on the neoprene seal between the pump and the housing. And then taking pops advice, I backed the ski on the trailer into the water, and fired it up, but there was no water that came gushing out between the carbon seal and top hat. So while the motor was idling, I pulled the rubber boot back, opening up that Gap, and no water came gushing through. I didn't have time to take the ski back out on the water to see if it still cavitated after having tightened up the neoprene seal bolts. I did receive a new carbon and boot drive shaft seal kit, but I'm still waiting for the drive shaft bumpers to arrive. I will try to get the ski back out on the lake today or tomorrow to see if it is still cavitating.