97 GTX 2 nd dead mpem .Never been on the water

[RCL]

Long story short my dad bought 2 skis from his neighbor. The 97 gtx ran fine with a rebuilt engine, then started to do random no turn overs. Hit start button, nothing. No click, no noise nothing. Then all all of a sudden it would work fine. Put them away for the Florida winter. April I went over, to get all 3 skis running.2 start and run fine. 97 started its intermittent start again. New button and starter problem still existed. Traced all the wires, 12 volts to the mpem, only 4.5 to the start circuit. Called around and verified mpem was dead. Should be 12 volts all the way around from what I was told by 2 different dealers. Order new after market, it comes in, put it in,go to program the ignition number, and find the warning horn is bad. dc it, put a c cell battery to it, nothing. Replaced that. Still no beep or noise when I insert dess key or try to program the mpem. Test it with a c cell again and it works fine. use a different speaker and could faintly hear noises. Program the mpem. Now the starter solenoid just clicks multiple times. Trace all of the wires, replace the deutche connector, follow the power all the way back to the mpem, and sure enough 12 volts to the mpem, only 4.5 out to the starting circuit. So hears my 2 questions as the dealer is going to warranty the new mpem. and I don't want to kill a 2nd new one.
1.What will kill an mpem with out even being in the water, and never even starting the engine.
2. On the same note, the ski will kill a battery really quick if it sits more then 24 hours with out disconnecting the battery. Brand new battery out of the box with a top off charge. Just tracking the voltage the other day the battery went from 12.56 to 11.8 in the space of maybe 3 hours. Any ideas on that? My gut says the 2 are related, but I cant think of anything that would not only short an mpem out, but kill a battery. Any yes, I did get a nice little spark when I connect the power cable, but not since I traced and cleaned all of the connections.

 

[mwat65]

Metal shavings in the stator area will cause all of the above symptoms .

 

[mwat65]

I’m surprised it’s not popping fuses. It’s shorting out and your skis power is staying on because of it draining your battery. Sometimes the negative post will spark when hooking up battery. I’ve seen this issue several times. It’s probably in the stator.

 

[mwat65]

Sorry for the multiple posts it’s early. Just saw where you purchased an aftermarket mpem. Most are junk and will short out right out of the box but check that stator.

 

[RCL]

No big deal with the multiple posts. Ive done that on more then 1 occasion on a boating forum I'm on. The arc and spark started with the old mpem last year. When ever we were done with the ski we'd take the battery out but it wasnt until this April when it finally died. It was the original mpem. The new one seemed to work fine even though the arc and spark seemed to have gone away when I cleaned all of the connections and changed the connector to the back box. I was trying to avoid it but I'll have to pull the stator maybe Friday when we go up to ride the 2 running skis. The only other thing I noticed was the starter bendix had a lot of muddy type rust on it. I was wondering if water was getting into the stator case somehow.

 

[mwat65]

The good thing is you can access the stator on the 787 without pulling the flywheel. It’s on the outside of the flywheel unlike the 720 which is on the inside. You will have to remove the front motor mount to access the bottom cover bolts. I lift the front of the motor and slide a short 2x4 under the front of the motor to hold it up.

 

[RCL]

I'm pretty sure I moved the stator from the dead engine to the rebuilt one we got with the cover. Don't remember off hand. I was actually looking at the cover last week when I was working with that ski. Any way to test a stator to see if it's something other then metal flakes?

 

[mwat65]

Yes u can go by the manual for testing. If your solenoid is just clicking your starter is probably shot. Try jumping the solenoid with a screwdriver. If it doesn’t turn over replace starter. As you said it appeared to have gotten water in it.

 

[RCL]

actually took the starter out and hooked it to a battery charger and it did what it was supposed to. Even opened the starter up to check and it looks like the day it was made. Bendix was dirty but we cleaned that before reinstall. When I tested the solenoid voltage it was 12.5 in and like .3 out on the battery cables at most. the switch side never got above 4.5, same as the mpem so I'm thinking the solenoid isn't getting enough power to open complety.

 

[mwat65]

Mpems rarely just die. You need to find out why it died. Did you ever jump start the ski? If not the stator can fry your mpem. It could have shavings or it could’ve gotten water in it and rusted it up. Also the starter could’ve shorted out from water in it. Jump the solenoid before u do anything else. I will reiterate on the aftermarket mpem. They are junk and most on here will tell u the same thing. Minnetonka4me on here will sell u a tested oem one. You will have trouble with the aftermarket one.

 

[mwat65]

actually took the starter out and hooked it to a battery charger and it did what it was supposed to. Even opened the starter up to check and it looks like the day it was made. Bendix was dirty but we cleaned that before reinstall. When I tested the solenoid voltage it was 12.5 in and like .3 out on the battery cables at most. the switch side never got above 4.5, same as the mpem so I'm thinking the solenoid isn't getting enough power to open complety.

Did the starter jump and hit hard when u tested it? Many will spin on the bench but are too weak in the ski

 

[RCL]

Did the starter jump and hit hard when u tested it? Many will spin on the bench but are too weak in the ski

It jumped. tried it at 12 volts 2 Amps first then a higher amperage. It was just the bendix that was dirty. cleaned it up. Brand new starter put in same time as the mpem in April. I agree I need to find the cause of the short which is why I'm leaning towards the stator as the issue. I'll play with that on fri and double check jumping the solenoid. It's a brand new solenoid also.

 

[mwat65]

Is the starter aftermarket ? The 787 will eat it if so. Try the jumping solenoid just to make sure. Aftermarket starters and mpems will break your heart and your wallet on a Seadoo .

 

[RCL]

I had it turning over right up to the point where the mpem burned out. I'll double check on fri when I'm over there.

 

[RCL]

So I tried taking g the stator plate off and can't get 2 bolts free. can't get a wrench on them because of the way that they are sitting. 1 is at the very bottom of the plate behind the mount block and the other is port side next to the mount block. Coming back on Thursday with different wrenches to see if they'll fit.If not I'm pulling the motor to get them out. Everything else checks out fine. starter turns the ski over if I jump the solenoid, engine turns over freely.

 

[mwat65]

Remove the front motor mount. Lift the front of the motor and slide a short piece of 2x4 under it to access the bottom bolts.

 

[RCL]

I'm still here with the ski. I'll go out and look in a few. Still won't be able to pull it until Thursday though. The skeeters up here have numbers on their wings.

 

[RCL]

Just had an epiphany . correct me if I'm wrong but looking at the service pdf, the flywheel, magnets, and stator are all in the same housing. So if there was mud like rust on the starter bendix, it would stand to reason that there is most likely either dirt, rust etc on at least 2 of the stator pickups. if not more.

 

[mwat65]

Yes it’s probably in your stator too

 

[RCL]

So got to the ski today and not even bothering to test the stator it has rust all down it and the chamber is full of condensation a d rust. new stator and trigger on the way.

 

[mwat65]

Yes it’s pretty rough looking.

 

[RCL]

When I saw it I knew it wouldnt make sense to even test it. pretty sure the water was coming in thru the starter seal. going to put form a gasket on when I reinstall the parts.

 

[mwat65]

Glad you found the issue.