98 GSX Limited- Fuel Return Fitting Broken

[Pope]

Also - I'm like a kid at Christmas and working from home is killing me.

During "lunch" I put the air box on, battery in and bolted up the panel at the back of the ski. Fired it up and it sounds soo much better than it ever did. Guess the old o-ring was either leaking the whole time or never fit. After I killed the engine I could hear the slightest hissing sound from the carbs. I think I know where the problem is....hose connecting to the T fitting opposite the return line. It needs to be 1/2" longer to seat better on the T fitting.

 

[Pope]

Slight leak fixed. Idles a little high...turned it down but will fine tune in the water tomorrow.

 

[Pope]

I took the ski to a neighbor's farm today where he had a couple of small ponds that hes let me use. Backed in the ski and it fired right up! Got the idle screw set to about 1350 in the water. Unhooked and the fun began!! After riding for a bit then letting it go to idle would get ti 1400 then steadily fall down to 1300 then climb to 1400 and back and forth. Also had a lot of hesitation when you accelerated from idle. Backed the low speed screws out 1/4 turn and tested again. Better acceleration (less delay) but still falling and rising idle rpm. Backed out another 1/4 turn and it seems to be very close to perfect. The idle is much more consistent, though lower 1250 - 1280.

Listening to the motor at 1/2 to WOT it sounds great but when cruising at 1/4 throttle or so it sounds a little off....(didn't realize how hard it would be to type a sound). Right now both carbs are set at about 1 3/4 out. Should the PTO be set at the same or slightly further out?

Also - THANK YOU!! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to have this thing running again....not just running, but running hard!

 

[Pope]

I'm starting to line up the other projects I want to complete.
1. Oil Level Low - (I'm premixing) I read in another thread to either tie them together or permanently separate. Easy enough.
2. Fuel Gauge doesn't work. No bars showing. I've borrowed a friend's multimeter to test Ohms like it said in another thread. If I get 0 Ohms, I guess that means I'm pulling the baffle out and cutting a hole to solder over the F1 fuse?

 

[mikidymac]

With 0 Ohms and no continuity the F1 fuse is the #1 suspect.

 

[Pope]

With 0 Ohms and no continuity the F1 fuse is the #1 suspect.

Do I have to pull the baffle out to test that or can I do it in the ski? I feel like I need to get my mind right before I pull that thing out if that becomes the issue.

 

[mikidymac]

No continuity check can be done with it in the ski.

 

[Pope]

No continuity check can be done with it in the ski.

And no beep on the multimeter. Looks like I found a project for when I get this damn golf cart fixed.

How much of a pain is it to get the fuel baffle out?? After removing fuel lines and steering column I would assume there's a seal or something to unseat?

 

[mikidymac]

Just a hose clamp and pull the rubber seal off with the sending unit.

 

[Pope]

Just a hose clamp and pull the rubber seal off with the sending unit.

Got it off. Took the steering column out, unhooking the steering rod from the handle bars. Getting the thing out of the hull was tricky.

I used a hack saw and cut at an angle toward the 1 inch mark for the F1 fuse. Then laid a very ugly wad of solder over the posts. Then used the flat tip on the solder gun to melt a zip tie over the flap to close. Again, ugly but effective. I got continuity on the multimeter.

looking at the bottom of the baffle, I would think I'm missing a cap to hold the float against the bottom?? I'm also missing the float which would have fallen out either long ago or when I was pulling it out.

What do I do about that???

 

[JeremyD615]

Yes, you’re missing the screen on the bottom of the baffle. You’ll have to dig that out of the tank, as well as the float...

 

[Pope]

How the heck am I supposed to do that? I guess starting this one with a full tank was bad timing.

 

[JeremyD615]

Unfortunately I think you’re going to be siphoning that tank out to get it fixed. There’s just no good way around it.

 

[Pope]

Any idea for fishing the screen or float out once it is siphoned out?

 

[Pope]

Got the tank drained and can see the screen on the bottom of the tank. Got it pushed to the side so it's out of the small bit of gas. Any ideas to getting it out? Duct tape on a stick (secured to the stick) is about the best I can think of. I know one of you has dealt with this before.

 

[JeremyD615]

Got the tank drained and can see the screen on the bottom of the tank. Got it pushed to the side so it's out of the small bit of gas. Any ideas to getting it out? Duct tape on a stick (secured to the stick) is about the best I can think of. I know one of you has dealt with this before.

That may work. The only other options are one of the “grabber” tools, or pulling the tank and moving it around until you can grab it with a pair of long pliers... You should have the float in there somewhere also.

 

[Pope]

Got the screen out of the tank last night. Shop vac could get suction on it and lifted straight up.

I'm in a holding pattern until the new float gets here Thurs. My other project is waiting on parts. So...I found this write up on cleanings Rave valve's. How to service Rave Valve---Pictorial---

I took the cap off last night and saw greasy moisture around the end of the post. I didn't take the allen screws out to remove the base. My question is "are you supposed to grease them when putting them back together?" The write up doesn't mention it and leads me to believe I'll be looking at filthy valves. But i also don't want to not give it the lube it needs to function.

 

[JeremyD615]

Nope, there’s no grease on the raves. They get lubricated by the fuel/oil mixture.

 

[Ckrawiec]

Got the screen out of the tank last night. Shop vac could get suction on it and lifted straight up.

I'm in a holding pattern until the new float gets here Thurs. My other project is waiting on parts. So...I found this write up on cleanings Rave valve's. How to service Rave Valve---Pictorial---

I took the cap off last night and saw greasy moisture around the end of the post. I didn't take the allen screws out to remove the base. My question is "are you supposed to grease them when putting them back together?" The write up doesn't mention it and leads me to believe I'll be looking at filthy valves. But i also don't want to not give it the lube it needs to function.

Not 100% sure but I doubt greasing the RAVEs upon re-assembly will provide any benefit. The RAVEs function with hot exhaust gases so the grease will just melt away and bugger up the works just like the exhaust gases eventually bugger up the RAVE blades themselves. Pull them, clean them up really good, check the O-rings and replace if necessary, check the rubber bellows for cracks, etc and that the bellows are attached at top and bottom (I found in my ski (new to me) that one of the bellows was not attached at the bottom and was therefore "leaking"), re-assemble with NEW gaskets and make sure you put the blades back in in the proper orientation - the blades say TOP on them so you know....it's an easy job compared to some of the other things these older skis need

 

[Pope]

I'm sure these aren't the worst you've ever seen...but holy crap....

Couple of questions...
1. This engine was an SBT rebuild that I installed 6 or 7 years ago. I barely got into the break-in period when it was put up for the years then we had kids.. at the top of the valve there was a slimy oil. Could that be something for breaking it in or was that from running the wrong oil? Or just what they look like?


2. When reinstalling, the socket would slip on the rubbery nut. I think I got them 100% tight, but what would be the symptoms if I didn't? Want to know what to look for to make it an easy fix at the lake.

 

[Pope]

Hey guys - any ideas on what to watch for in case I didnt get the bellows screwed on tight enough?

 

[JeremyD615]

Your valves really didn’t look too bad. Normally they’ve got jobs of carbon build up on them, some so bad that they’re difficult to physically pull out of the slots!

Don’t overthink things too much! If you don’t get the bellows on tight, you’ll see that the ski feels soft up top or that it has a bad miss in the midrange and won’t rev anymore. You’ll also have that inky goo running down from the rave housings onto the motor. They don’t have to be super tight on there. As long as they’re snug and sealed you’re good to go...

 

[Pope]

Got to the lake today and have another fuel leak. On the bottom right corner under the pulse pump housing. Shooting a small stream with every compression. I went out a ways before stopping to take the seat off and investigate. On the way back to the boat ramp, I was able to get it up to 5k RPMS. I guess that point the vacuum inside the engine pulls the fuel past the leak enough to keep feeding it. I hit 61 on the speedo (so really 45ish) and that felt awesome. I'm so damn close and come home again knowing what to work on but I'm ready to thrash on this thing after spending so many hours under it.

Fuel gauge update: I soldered over the F1 fuse. Have continuity and replaced the float. When it is plugged in, it reads full tank no matter where the float is positioned. I could have mucked up with the solder gun I guess and gotten it too hot or something....ever seen something like that?? Either way I wasn't hearing a beep every minute, so that's a win.

 

[Pope]

I'm at a loss.. took the pulse housing off last night and checked all the gaskets/ plastic pieces. Everything it's in the right place, no bent corners. When cranked up, gas is coming out of the screw hole (bottom of the pulse housing where the throttle cable bracket is attached) I can't get that screw to turn any tighter.... any ideas??

 

[JeremyD615]

Take a look at the fuel pump cover where the pulse line fitting is. Are there any gouges or is it a nice smooth surface? Sometimes those things are difficult to get to seal up, but I think it’s usually from corrosion or gouges in either the carb body or the pump cover.